1949-12-07 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. Description above from the Wikipedia article Tom Waits, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
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The Absence of Eden | Hunley | 2024-04-12 |
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Tom Waits: Glitter and Doom Concert Experience | Self | 2024-01-16 |
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This Is Sparklehorse | Self | 2022-11-12 |
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Robert Wilson – Die Schönheit des Geheimnisvollen | Self | 2022-01-16 |
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Licorice Pizza | Rex Blau | 2021-11-26 |
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Motherless Brooklyn | News Stand Owner (uncredited) | 2019-10-31 |
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The Dead Don't Die | Hermit Bob | 2019-05-15 |
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The Moon’s Milk | Captain Millipede (voice) | 2018-07-23 |
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The Old Man & the Gun | Waller | 2018-09-27 |
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The Ballad of Buster Scruggs | Prospector (segment "All Gold Canyon") | 2018-11-09 |
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Roy Orbison: Black and White Night 30 | Self | 2017-02-24 |
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Tom Waits: Tales from a Cracked Jukebox | Self | 2017-02-19 |
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Keith Richards: Under the Influence | Self | 2015-09-18 |
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The Laughing Heart | Narrator | 2013-01-01 |
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Seven Psychopaths | Zachariah Rigby | 2012-10-12 |
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A Brief History of John Baldessari | Narrator | 2012-03-10 |
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Twixt | Narrator (voice) | 2011-09-30 |
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The Monster of Nix | Virgil (Voice) | 2011-06-01 |
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The Book of Eli | Engineer | 2010-01-14 |
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The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus | Devil | 2009-10-01 |
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Tom Waits: Romeo Bleeding - Live from Austin | Himself | 2009-02-06 |
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Tom Waits: Under Review | Himself | 2008-05-13 |
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One Fast Move or I'm Gone: Kerouac's Big Sur | Himself | 2008-05-11 |
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Wristcutters: A Love Story | Kneller | 2007-10-19 |
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Tom Waits - Burma Shave [Live Concert] | Himself | 2006-01-01 |
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Domino | Wanderer | 2005-10-14 |
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La tigre e la neve | Himself / Sè stesso | 2005-10-14 |
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Coffee and Cigarettes | Tom (segment "Somewhere in California") | 2004-03-12 |
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Bukowski: Born Into This | Himself | 2003-01-18 |
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Tom Waits: VH1 Storytellers | Himself | 1999-04-01 |
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Mystery Men | Doc Heller | 1999-08-06 |
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Tom Waits - Bridge School Benefit | Himself | 1999-10-30 |
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Guy Maddin: Waiting for Twilight | The Narrator | 1997-09-07 |
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Coffee and Cigarettes III | Tom | 1997-04-11 |
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Short Cuts | Earl Piggot | 1993-09-05 |
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Luck, Trust & Ketchup: Robert Altman in Carver Country | Self | 1993-03-26 |
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Bram Stoker's Dracula | R.M. Renfield | 1992-11-13 |
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Queens Logic | Monte | 1991-02-01 |
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Bis ans Ende der Welt | Singer in Bar (uncredited) | 1991-09-12 |
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At Play in the Fields of the Lord | Wolf | 1991-12-06 |
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The Fisher King | Disabled Vet (uncredited) | 1991-09-20 |
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John Lurie: A Lounge Lizard Alone | Zack (Archive footage) | 1990-01-01 |
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The Two Jakes | Plainclothes Policeman (uncredited) | 1990-08-10 |
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Red Hot + Blue: A Tribute to Cole Porter | Self | 1990-12-01 |
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Bearskin: An Urban Fairytale | Silva | 1989-11-05 |
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Cold Feet | Kenny | 1989-05-19 |
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Mystery Train | Radio DJ (voice) | 1989-09-06 |
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Big Time | Himself | 1988-12-30 |
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Roy Orbison and Friends: A Black and White Night | Self - Organ/Guitar | 1988-01-03 |
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Candy Mountain | Al Silk | 1988-01-20 |
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Ironweed | Rudy | 1987-12-18 |
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Down by Law | Zack | 1986-09-20 |
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The Cotton Club | Irving Stark | 1984-12-14 |
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The Stone Boy | Petrified man at carnival (uncredited) | 1984-04-04 |
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The Outsiders | Buck Merrill | 1983-03-25 |
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Rumble Fish | Benny | 1983-10-09 |
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The Making of 'One from the Heart' | Self | 1982-08-14 |
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Poetry in Motion | Himself | 1982-09-17 |
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One from the Heart | Trumpet player (uncredited) | 1982-02-11 |
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Wolfen | Drunken Bar Owner (uncredited) | 1981-07-24 |
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Tom Waits at Theatre le Palace | Himself | 1980-12-19 |
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Tom Waits for No One | Himself | 1979-01-01 |
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Tom Waits - No Visitors After Midnight | Himself | 1979-07-27 |
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Tom Waits: A Day in Vienna | himself | 1978-01-01 |
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Paradise Alley | Mumbles | 1978-09-22 |
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Tom Waits: Rockpalast '77 | Himself | 1977-04-18 |
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Tom Waits - One Star Shining : The First Decade | Himself | |
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Star.Wav | The Caller | |
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Wildwood | (voice) |
