Denise “Dee” Moreno — Vocals & Rhythm Guitar
Denise “Dee” Moreno has always been drawn to the creative arts, with a background spanning music, acting, children’s theater, songwriting, play & song writing, and promotion. Experiencing the local underground punk scene after moving to Phoenix in the early 80s, Dee wanted to sing in a band and tried out with some locals until they wanted a ‘chick drummer’ and Eddy Detroit offered to give her drum lessons. With singing being more of a passion and after starting a family in the late 1980s, Dee began singing in church where she sang in a choir, duets, ensembles perfecting vocal harmonies and vibratos, and eventually solo performances. Dee then began playing guitar while married to a drummer in the early 2000’s who encouraged her to learn to play. A few of early bands Dee jammed with never got off the ground, such as she played Bass guitar in Double D (2004) and The Lori Bravo Band (2006-2007).
She was a founding member of The Cosmeticators, (being the member who came up with the iconic name) in 2008-2012, as guitarist, songwriter and vocalist, playing along side Bass player Chela Mischke (The Peeps, Hell on Heels) and Amy Young (French Girls, Sturdy Ladies) on drums.
The Cosmeticators quickly became part of Phoenix’s garage-rock scene, playing throughout the Valley and opening for acts including The Dollyrots, White Flag, Clem Burke of Blondie, Love, and The Love Me Nots. The band also completed two tours through cities across the Southwest and Western United States, performing at venues including the Double Down in Las Vegas, Alex’s Bar in Long Beach, the Redwood Bar in downtown Los Angeles, Mr. T’s Bowl in Pasadena, and various venues in Tucson (The Hut), Portland and Seattle. In a 2011 Phoenix New Times feature, the paper described the trio’s energetic, punky garage-rock sound and highlighted Dee’s songwriting and guitar work. (Phoenix New Times)
From 2017 to 2019, Dee performed with Wild Gift, an X tribute band. In 2019, after Dee and Jessica McGregor performed together at a Girls Rock! Phoenix benefit at Crescent Ballroom when Jessica was in the X-Offenders, a Blondie tribute band, the two began talking about putting their tribute-band days aside and creating an original band of their own. They decided to dust off their instruments, start writing, and see what happened. Thee Bad Janets was born.
Jessica’s husband Kevin McGregor thought up the name, after a character in the TV series ‘The Good Place’.
Dee had various side projects, including a meditation and mantra band called Vishuddha Vibe in 2022-2023 where she composed, sang and played guitar with other musicians to Sanskrit Mantras. Some of those mantras are on Dee’s YouTube channel, InfinitelyDee. In 2024, she formed Queenz of Noize, a Runaways tribute project, playing only a few shows and Dee as the part of Joan Jett.
After recording and releasing music during the pandemic years, Dee and Jessica eventually regrouped and rebuilt the band officially in 2026. Today, Dee is a founding member, vocalist, rhythm guitarist, and songwriter for Thee Bad Janets, bringing her longtime love of raw, original music and a lifelong passion for creativity to the band.
