Birth Name: Thomas Baptiste Morello
Place of Birth: Harlem, New York, US
Date of Birth: May 30, 1964
Ethnicity:
*Kikuyu Kenyan (father)
*Italian/Sicilian, Irish (mother)
Tom Morello is an American guitarist and activist. He is known as member of rock bands Rage Against The Machine and Audioslave.
He was born to Kenyan-born Ngethe Njoroge, who served as Kenya’s first ambassador to the United Nations, and Mary Rose Morello, an American of Italian/Sicilian and Irish descent. His parents met in August 1963 while attending a pro-democracy protest in Nairoby, Kenya. After discovering her pregnancy, Mary returned to the United States with Njoroge in November, and married in New York City. When Tom was 16 months old, Njoroge returned to his native Kenya, and denied his paternity of his son. Tom was raised solely by his mother in Libertyville, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago.
Tom’s paternal great-uncle, Jomo Kenyatta, was the first elected president in Kenyan history.
Two of Tom’s paternal great-grandparents were Muigai wa Kung’u and Wambui.
Tom’s maternal grandparents were John Baptist “Bab” Morello (the son of Quinto Nicolao Morello and Rosa T. Mussatto) and Gladys I. John was born in Illinois, to Italian parents. Gladys had Irish ancestry.
Sources: Tom’s mother on the 1930 U.S. Census – https://familysearch.org
Tom’s maternal grandfather, John Baptist “Bab” Morello, on the 1920 U.S. Census – https://familysearch.org
Photo by Prphotos.com