Tom Waits
Biography
Thomas Alan Waits (born December 7, 1949) is an American musician, composer, songwriter and actor. His lyrics often focus on the underbelly of society and are delivered in his trademark deep, gravelly voice. He worked primarily in jazz during the 1970s, but his music since the 1980s has reflected greater influence from blues, rock, vaudeville, and experimental genres. Waits was born and raised in a middle-class family in Whittier, California. Inspired by the work of Bob Dylan and the Beat Generation, he began singing on the San Diego folk music circuit as a young boy. He relocated to Los Angeles in 1972, where he worked as a songwriter before signing a recording contract with Asylum Records. His first albums were the jazz-oriented Closing Time (1973) and The Heart of Saturday Night (1974), which reflected his lyrical interest in nightlife, poverty, and criminality. He repeatedly toured the United States, Europe, and Japan, and attracted greater critical recognition and commercial success with Small Change (1976), Blue Valentine (1978), and Heartattack and Vine (1980). He produced the soundtrack for Francis Ford Coppola's film One from the Heart (1981), and subsequently made cameo appearances in several Coppola films. In 1980, Waits married Kathleen Brennan, split from his manager and record label, and moved to New York City. With Brennan's encouragement and frequent collaboration, he pursued a more experimental and eclectic musical aesthetic influenced by the work of Harry Partch and Captain Beefheart. This was reflected in a series of albums released by Island Records, including Swordfishtrombones (1983), Rain Dogs (1985), and Franks Wild Years (1987). He continued appearing in films, notably starring in Jim Jarmusch's Down by Law (1986), and also made theatrical appearances. With theatre director Robert Wilson, he produced the musicals The Black Rider (1990) and Alice (1992), first performed in Hamburg. Having returned to California in the 1990s, his albums Bone Machine (1992), The Black Rider (1993), and Mule Variations (1999) earned him increasing critical acclaim and multiple Grammy Awards. In the late 1990s, he switched to the record label ANTI-, which released Blood Money (2002), Alice (2002), Real Gone (2004), and Bad as Me (2011). Despite a lack of mainstream commercial success, Waits has influenced many musicians and gained an international cult following, and several biographies have been written about him. In 2015, he was ranked at No. 55 on Rolling Stone's "100 Greatest Songwriters of All Time". He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2011.
Known For
Buck Merrill
The Outsiders
Benny
Rumble Fish
Tom (segment "Somewhere in California")
Coffee and Cigarettes
Rex Blau
Licorice Pizza
Zack
Down by Law
Earl Piggot
Short Cuts
Singer in Bar
Bis ans Ende der Welt
Self / Sè stesso
La tigre e la neve
Engineer
The Book of Eli
Devil
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
Kneller
Wristcutters: A Love Story
Doc Heller
Mystery Men
Self
Roy Orbison: Black and White Night 30
Rudy
Ironweed
Self
Big Time
Self
Tom Waits at Theatre le Palace
Al Silk
Candy Mountain
Self - Organ/Guitar
Roy Orbison and Friends: A Black and White Night
Monte
Queens Logic
Wolf
At Play in the Fields of the Lord
Narrator (voice)
Twixt
Zachariah Rigby
Seven Psychopaths
Kenny
Cold Feet
Narrator
A Brief History of John Baldessari
Self
Tom Waits - Burma Shave [Live Concert]
Self
Tom Waits: Romeo Bleeding - Live from Austin
Self
Tom Waits - Bridge School Benefit
Self
Tom Waits - One Star Shining : The First Decade
Self
Tom Waits: Under Review
Self
Tom Waits - No Visitors After Midnight
Self
One Fast Move or I'm Gone: Kerouac's Big Sur
Self
Tom Waits: A Day in Vienna
Mumbles
Paradise Alley
Wanderer
Domino
(voice)
Wildwood
Zack (Archive footage)
John Lurie: A Lounge Lizard Alone
The Caller
Star.Wav
Silva
Bearskin: An Urban Fairytale
Narrator
The Laughing Heart
Self
Tom Waits: Glitter and Doom Concert Experience
Irving Stark
The Cotton Club
Self
Robert Wilson – Die Schönheit des Geheimnisvollen
Plainclothes Policeman (uncredited)
The Two Jakes
Self
Keith Richards: Under the Influence
Disabled Vet (uncredited)
The Fisher King
Father
Father Mother Sister Brother
Self
Tom Waits: VH1 Storytellers
Self
This Is Sparklehorse
Trumpet player (uncredited)
One from the Heart
Radio DJ (voice)
Mystery Train
Self
Tom Waits for No One
Waller
The Old Man & the Gun
Tom
Coffee and Cigarettes III
Self
Tom Waits: Tales from a Cracked Jukebox
Self
Bukowski: Born Into This
Prospector (segment "All Gold Canyon")
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
Petrified man at carnival (uncredited)
The Stone Boy
Self
Poetry in Motion
Self
Luck, Trust & Ketchup: Robert Altman in Carver Country
Hermit Bob
The Dead Don't Die
Captain Millipede (voice)
The Moon’s Milk
Hunley
The Absence of Eden
Self
Red Hot + Blue: A Tribute to Cole Porter
Self
Tom Waits: Rockpalast '77
Drunken Bar Owner (uncredited)
Wolfen
News Stand Owner (uncredited)
Motherless Brooklyn
Self
The Making of 'One from the Heart'
R.M. Renfield
Bram Stoker's Dracula
Virgil (Voice)
The Monster of Nix
Narrator (voice)
Guy Maddin: Waiting for Twilight
Narrator "Laughing Heart" (archive footage)
Human Nature in Eleven Parts
Wild Horse Nine
Self
Tom Waits - Elephant Beer Blues - Songs After Closing Time
Himself
Tom Waits - Live at Premio Tenco in Sanremo Italy
Self
Tom Waits - Live On The Tube
Narrator
Greasy Lake
Temptation
Self
Ultima fermata
Personal Info
Known For
Acting
Known Credits
78
Gender
Male
Birthday
1949-12-07
Place of Birth
Pomona, California, USA
Also Known As
Thomas Alan Waits