Chino Moreno

Chino Moreno is one of those vocalists who genuinely defies easy categorization, and that's exactly why Deftones have outlasted pretty much every other band that came up alongside them in the late 90s. His voice can drift through this silky, almost shoegaze-y falsetto one second and then detonate into something visceral and raw the next — that contrast is the whole secret to why albums like White Pony still hold up as genuine masterpieces. Growing up in Sacramento rather than the flashier parts of California probably gave him that grounded, slightly left-field perspective. And the fact that he kept side projects like Crosses and Team Sleep going shows he's never been content to just ride the Deftones wave — the guy genuinely has things to say across different sonic spaces. In a genre full of posturing, Chino always struck me as the real deal.

Name (English)

Chino Moreno

Name (Japanese)

チノ・モレノ

Reading

ちの・もれの

Born

June 20, 1973 (age 53)

Zodiac / Chinese zodiac

Gemini / Ox

Origin

Sacramento, California, United States

Occupation

singer / songwriter / guitarist

Motto

Private

• Official sitehttps://www.deftones.com/
• Instagramhttps://www.instagram.com/chinowmoreno/
• Wikipedia (Japanese)https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%81%E3%83%8E%E3%83%BB%E3%83%A2%E3%83%AC%E3%83%8E

Tags

• California
• singer
• songwriter
• guitarist

Last updated

2026-06-02

Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public or unconfirmed items are omitted. English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.