Chris DeGarmo
| Chris DeGarmo | |
|---|---|
| Born |
June 14, 1963 Wenatchee, Washington, United States |
| Genres | Progressive metal |
| Instruments | Guitar, keyboards, piano, vocals |
| Years active | 1974–present |
| Associated acts | Queensrÿche, Spys4Darwin, Jerry Cantrell, The Rue |
Christopher Lee "Chris" DeGarmo (born June 14, 1963) is an American heavy metal and hard rock guitarist and songwriter, best known for being a lead guitarist and primary songwriter in the progressive metal band Queensrÿche from their formation in 1980 until 1998, and with whom he played during their most commercially successful period. Since departing from the band, DeGarmo has made his living as a professional charter pilot. In recent years, he has been making music with his daughter Rylie DeGarmo under the name The Rue. He was nominated for three Grammy Awards as a songwriter.
DeGarmo was born in Wenatchee, Washington. The family he grew up in was struggling as his father had abandoned them. DeGarmo thinks his father could not handle the pressure of being a provider to his family. He would later write about this in two songs: "Bridge" is about his father trying to make amends after years of absence, while DeGarmo explored how he would be as the father to his own children in the song "Best I Can".
In sixth grade, he was in the same class as his future bandmate Scott Rockenfield. DeGarmo joined Interlake High School as a sophomore in 1979, and joined his school-mates in garage bands such as Joker, which included guitarist Michael Wilton. After he was kicked out of Joker to be replaced with a guitarist who could afford more expensive equipment, DeGarmo formed the band Tempest with singer and bass player Mark Hovland and drummer Kevin Hodges on drums, who left and was replaced by Mark Welling, after which the band was renamed to D-H-W (DeGarmo-Hovland-Welling).
In 1980, Wilton and Rockenfield, who was a drummer, had founded a band called Cross+Fire, and DeGarmo and Hovland joined shortly thereafter. They played covers of popular heavy metal bands such as Iron Maiden and Judas Priest. Hovland left because he had to commute quite far and wasn't really into Iron Maiden. In his place came bassist Eddie Jackson, a high school friend of Rockenfield. The band name was changed to The Mob. In 1982, they switched from playing cover songs to writing original material, and recruited Geoff Tate as their vocalist. After recording what was to become the group's debut EP at Triad studios in Redmond, WA, the band settled on the name Queensrÿche (derived from the DeGarmo composition, and opening EP track "Queen of the Reich").
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