Tom Waits

Acting

Born Dec 07, 1949

From Pomona, California, USA

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.

Tom Waits

Known For

Bram Stoker's Dracula

The Outsiders

Father Mother Sister Brother

The Book of Eli

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs

Licorice Pizza

Seven Psychopaths

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus

Domino

The Fisher King

Filmography — Acting

Bram Stoker's Dracula

The Outsiders

Father Mother Sister Brother

The Book of Eli

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs

Licorice Pizza

Seven Psychopaths

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus

Domino

The Fisher King

Mystery Men

The Dead Don't Die

Wild Horse Nine

Until the End of the World

The Absence of Eden

Ray Gunn

Rumble Fish

Wristcutters: A Love Story

Short Cuts

Wildwood

Mystery Train

Motherless Brooklyn

Final Cut: Ladies and Gentlemen

Ironweed

Wolfen

Twixt

Down by Law

The Cotton Club

The Old Man & the Gun

The Two Jakes

Coffee and Cigarettes

Paradise Alley

One from the Heart

At Play in the Fields of the Lord

The Tiger and the Snow

The Stone Boy

Queens Logic

Cold Feet

Candy Mountain

Red Hot + Blue: A Tribute to Cole Porter

Roy Orbison and Friends: A Black and White Night

Tom Waits: Big Time

Luck, Trust & Ketchup: Robert Altman in Carver Country

This Is Sparklehorse

Bukowski: Born Into This

Guy Maddin: Waiting for Twilight

Poetry in Motion

Tom Waits: Tales from a Cracked Jukebox

Greasy Lake

Coffee and Cigarettes III

Keith Richards: Under the Influence

Bearskin: An Urban Fairytale

Roy Orbison: Black and White Night 30

The Monster of Nix

Robert Wilson: The Beauty of the Mysterious

The Making of 'One from the Heart'

A Brief History of John Baldessari

Tom Waits: Rockpalast '77

Tom Waits - Dead Man Walking, Shrine Auditorium, Los Angeles, CA, USA.

Tom Waits: Romeo Bleeding - Live from Austin

Tom Waits - Live at Premio Tenco in Sanremo Italy

Tom Waits - Bridge School Benefit

Tom Waits for No One

Tom Waits - Live On The Tube

Tom Waits - Burma Shave [Live Concert]

Tom Waits: A Day in Vienna

The Last Ride