When Morello was 16 months old, Njoroge returned to his native Kenya and denied his paternity of his son. Morello was raised by his mother in Libertyville, Illinois and attended Libertyville High School, where his mother was a U.S. history teacher. She was the homeroom teacher for Morello's classmate and fellow guitarist Adam Jones, later of the band Tool. Morello sang in the school choir and was active in speech and drama club; a prominent role was Oberon in "A Midsummer Night's Dream".