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Christopher Lee DeGarmo (born June 14, 1963) is an American guitarist and songwriter, best known for being the former co-guitarist, backing vocalist, and primary songwriter in the progressive metal band Queensrÿche from their formation in 1980 until 1997, and with whom he played during their most commercially successful period. He briefly returned for collaborations in 2003 and 2007. DeGarmo was a member of Jerry Cantrell's band during his 1998 solo tour, and also contributed to his 2002 album, Degradation Trip. In 1999, he co-founded the short-lived supergroup Spys4Darwin with Alice in Chains drummer Sean Kinney. Since departing from Queensrÿche, DeGarmo has made his living as a professional private jet pilot. Since 2009, he has been making music with his daughter Rylie DeGarmo under the name The Rue, and collaborated with Alice in Chains on their 2018 album, Rainier Fog. DeGarmo was nominated for three as a songwriter.
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 later moved on, and was replaced by Mark Welling, after which the band was renamed to D-H-W (DeGarmo-Hovland-Welling).
As their primary songwriter, DeGarmo was largely responsible for writing the band's intricate compositions together with Wilton and Tate. In 1990, "I Don't Believe in Love" by DeGarmo and Tate, was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance. DeGarmo was the sole writer for the band's 1991 hit "Silent Lucidity", which reached the top ten on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, was Grammy nominated in two categories (Best Rock Song, Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal) at the 1992 awards, as well as five VMA nominations and one win, and which earned the guitarist a BMI songwriter's award.
I was questioning the long term stability of the group by that point. The level of internal and external dysfunction was unacceptable to me. Apparently, no one else was paying attention, or bothered to compare the successful elements and priorities of our past to our current trajectory.
His remarks appear to be in line with later statements from other band members that burnout and a desire to pursue interests outside of Queensrÿche were the reasons for his departure.Waterbury, Mark E. (Aug. 2003). "Crossroads: Scott Rockenfield - Queensrÿche's Drummer" . Music Morsels. Retrieved April 24, 2006.Dargon, Kieran. Geoff Tate interview . The RatHole - Fireworks Magazine. Retrieved April 24, 2006. For example, Rockenfield has said: "He wanted to pursue other things. He felt like he had done what he wanted musically in his life, and wanted to move on." However, Dan Birchall of the fan magazine Screaming in Digital paints a more complex picture of three factors culminating in DeGarmo's decision to quit the band:
DeGarmo was succeeded in Queensrÿche by Kelly Gray (1998–2002), Mike Stone (2002–2009, 2021-present), and Parker Lundgren (2009–2021).
Well, I'll never say never. I don't know how likely it is though. I'm still on good terms with everyone. We're still connected and communicating. We have the chemistry, that's not an issue.
The most profound line-up change for Queensrÿche since DeGarmo's departure in 1997, was when remaining founding members Rockenfield, Wilton and Jackson fired Tate in June 2012, (Exhibit E.) leading to a court case that has temporarily allowed both parties to use the band's name and has caused a division among the fans. Although DeGarmo has refrained from publicly commenting on any of this, both sides have talked with restraint about DeGarmo's opinion regarding the current band situation, and they suggest that he has remained friends with both parties. Tate said about his relationship with DeGarmo: "We're friends. We see each other probably once a month—play golf, have lunch." Wilton commented:
Chris and I have always been good friends. I mean, we grew up together, we were high school buddies and we're still friends. I golf with him all the time. Our families are friends. And, yes, he's aware of what's going on. I'm not going to speak for him, but I can say that he supports everything that we're doing and it's great that Chris and I have a connection. You know, he's got a lot of things in the fire that he wants to do and he's a true connoisseur of great songwriting. That's basically all I can really tell you. Definitely, he's around, we talk a lot, but I really can't say anything.
In 2013, DeGarmo and Rockenfield celebrated their 50th birthdays together, as their birthdays are only one day apart. Other members of Queensrÿche were also present.
DeGarmo's post-Queensrÿche musical career includes collaborations with guitarist Jerry Cantrell (as a touring guitarist in 1998, and an appearance on the 2002 Degradation Trip studio album playing slide guitar on the track Anger Rising), and with singer Vinnie Dombroski from Sponge, Alice in Chains bassist Mike Inez and drummer Sean Kinney in the short-lived project Spys4Darwin, which DeGarmo co-founded with Kinney in 1999 after they toured as part of Jerry Cantrell's band on his Boggy Depot tour. (2015). 9781250048073, Thomas Dunne Books. ISBN 9781250048073 The group released one Extended play in 2001, Microfish, and made their live debut at the Endfest in Seattle on August 4, 2001.
On February 18, 2005, DeGarmo joined the remaining members of the popular rock band Alice in Chains and other Seattle area artists for the Tsunami Continued Care Relief Concert. He assisted the rock band Dredg with the record producer and arrangement of their 2005 studio album Catch Without Arms, and he has written a few film score songs with Dredg's frontman Gavin Hayes.
DeGarmo lives in the Seattle area with his wife and children. He has been working on a project called The Rue with his daughter Rylie DeGarmo since 2009. In 2013, Rockenfield said: "His daughter is a singer and he helps her a little bit on the songs. Otherwise, he mostly does music on the side. Chris recently told me, that he is absolutely happy with his life the way it is." In 2015, The Rue released their self-titled six-song debut EP.
In 2018, DeGarmo played acoustic guitar on the track "Drone" from Alice in Chains' sixth album, Rainier Fog. While the band was recording at Studio X in the summer of 2017, Jerry Cantrell was struggling with the acoustic part that he described as a "spider-chord, weird plucking thing". DeGarmo was at the studio around that time, so Cantrell decided to let him play the acoustic guitar instead.
In 2020, DeGarmo accompanied Lily Cornell Silver on a rendition of Black Gives Way to Blue as part of a tribute made by various artists to Alice in Chains, as they were the receivers of that year's Founders Award by the Museum of Pop Culture. DeGarmo played guitar for Silver, who sang and played the piano.
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