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Tom Waits

Tom Waits

Actor · b. 1949 · 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.

Movies24

  • Movie7.4

    Bram Stoker's Dracula

    1992 · 5.9K votes

  • Movie6.9

    Licorice Pizza

    2021 · 2.8K votes

  • Movie
  • Movie6.8

    The Book of Eli

    2010 · 6.9K votes

  • Movie7.2

    The Outsiders

    1983 · 1.6K votes

  • Movie7.1
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    Seven Psychopaths

    2012 · 4.4K votes

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    The Dead Don't Die

    2019 · 2.9K votes

  • Movie7.3

    The Fisher King

    1991 · 1.5K votes

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    Motherless Brooklyn

    2019 · 1.6K votes

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  • Movie7.0

    Rumble Fish

    1983 · 785 votes

  • Movie5.9

    Domino

    2005 · 1.3K votes

  • Movie5.9

    Mystery Men

    1999 · 950 votes

  • Movie6.4

    The Old Man & the Gun

    2018 · 1.5K votes

  • Movie5.9

    Paradise Alley

    1978 · 164 votes

  • Movie6.5

    The Cotton Club

    1984 · 454 votes

  • Movie7.3

    Mystery Train

    1989 · 535 votes

  • Movie7.2

    Short Cuts

    1993 · 711 votes

  • Movie6.7

    Bis ans Ende der Welt

    Until the End of the World

    1991 · 251 votes

  • Movie6.0

    The Two Jakes

    1990 · 289 votes

  • Movie7.5

    Final Cut: Hölgyeim és uraim

    Final Cut: Ladies and Gentlemen

    2012 · 91 votes

Series9

  • TV8.0

    The Simpsons

    1989 · 11K votes

  • TV6.4

    The Daily Show

    1996 · 660 votes

  • TV6.9

    Saturday Night Live

    1975 · 527 votes

  • TV5.8

    The Mike Douglas Show

    1961 · 11 votes

  • TV7.3
  • TV6.3

    Austin City Limits

    1975 · 19 votes

  • TV10.0

    Rockpalast

    1974 · 1 votes

  • TV6.6

    Ultra City Smiths

    2021 · 21 votes

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    Fishing with John

    1991 · 38 votes