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.
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.
External links
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/nm0001823
Wikipedia: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q184805
Facebook: No data
Instagram: No data
X: No data
Filmography (Movies)
Father Mother Sister Brother
Character:Father
Release Date:01/12/2025
The Last Ride
Character:Self
Release Date:25/02/2025
Human Nature in Eleven Parts
Character:Narrator "Laughing Heart" (archive footage)
Release Date:11/02/2025
The Absence of Eden
Character:Hunley
Release Date:12/04/2024
Tom Waits: Glitter and Doom Concert Experience
Character:Self
Release Date:16/01/2024
This Is Sparklehorse
Character:Self
Release Date:12/10/2022
Robert Wilson: The Beauty of the Mysterious
Character:Self
Release Date:16/01/2022
Licorice Pizza
Character:Rex Blau
Release Date:26/11/2021
Motherless Brooklyn
Character:News Stand Owner (uncredited)
Release Date:31/10/2019
The Dead Don't Die
Character:Hermit Bob
Release Date:15/05/2019
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
Character:Prospector (segment "All Gold Canyon")
Release Date:09/11/2018
The Old Man & the Gun
Character:Waller
Release Date:27/09/2018
The Moon’s Milk
Character:Captain Millipede (voice)
Release Date:23/07/2018
Roy Orbison: Black and White Night 30
Character:Self
Release Date:24/02/2017
Tom Waits: Tales from a Cracked Jukebox
Character:Self
Release Date:19/02/2017
Keith Richards: Under the Influence
Character:Self
Release Date:18/09/2015
The Laughing Heart
Character:Narrator
Release Date:01/01/2013
Seven Psychopaths
Character:Zachariah Rigby
Release Date:12/10/2012
A Brief History of John Baldessari
Character:Narrator
Release Date:10/03/2012
Final Cut: Ladies and Gentlemen
Character:(archive footage)
Release Date:04/02/2012
Twixt
Character:Narrator (voice)
Release Date:10/09/2011
The Monster of Nix
Character:Virgil (Voice)
Release Date:01/06/2011
The Book of Eli
Character:Engineer
Release Date:14/01/2010
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
Character:Devil
Release Date:01/10/2009
Tom Waits: Romeo Bleeding - Live from Austin
Character:Self
Release Date:06/02/2009
Tom Waits: Under Review
Character:Self
Release Date:13/05/2008
One Fast Move or I'm Gone: Kerouac's Big Sur
Character:Self
Release Date:11/05/2008
Wristcutters: A Love Story
Character:Kneller
Release Date:19/10/2007
Tom Waits - No Visitors After Midnight
Character:Self
Release Date:09/11/2006
![Tom Waits - Burma Shave [Live Concert]](https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w185/lxpmTfyfn20JnsbJmjfUKlT7ugU.jpg)
Tom Waits - Burma Shave [Live Concert]
Character:Self
Release Date:01/01/2006
The Tiger and the Snow
Character:Self / Sè stesso
Release Date:14/10/2005
Domino
Character:Wanderer
Release Date:14/10/2005
Coffee and Cigarettes
Character:Tom (segment "Somewhere in California")
Release Date:12/03/2004
Bukowski: Born Into This
Character:Self
Release Date:18/01/2003
Tom Waits - Bridge School Benefit
Character:Self
Release Date:30/10/1999
Mystery Men
Character:Doc Heller
Release Date:06/08/1999
Tom Waits: VH1 Storytellers
Character:Self
Release Date:01/04/1999
Tom Waits - Dead Man Walking, Shrine Auditorium, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
Character:Self
Release Date:29/03/1998
Guy Maddin: Waiting for Twilight
Character:Narrator (voice)
Release Date:07/09/1997
Coffee and Cigarettes III
Character:Tom
Release Date:11/04/1997
Short Cuts
Character:Earl Piggot
Release Date:01/10/1993
Luck, Trust & Ketchup: Robert Altman in Carver Country
Character:Self
Release Date:26/03/1993
Bram Stoker's Dracula
Character:R.M. Renfield
Release Date:13/11/1992
At Play in the Fields of the Lord
Character:Wolf
Release Date:06/12/1991
The Fisher King
Character:Disabled Vet (uncredited)
Release Date:20/09/1991
Until the End of the World
Character:Singer in Bar
Release Date:12/09/1991
Queens Logic
Character:Monte
Release Date:01/02/1991
Red Hot + Blue: A Tribute to Cole Porter
Character:Self
Release Date:01/12/1990
The Two Jakes
Character:Plainclothes Policeman (uncredited)
Release Date:10/08/1990
John Lurie: A Lounge Lizard Alone
Character:Zack (Archive footage)
Release Date:01/01/1990
Bearskin: An Urban Fairytale
Character:Silva
Release Date:05/11/1989
Mystery Train
Character:Radio DJ (voice)
Release Date:06/09/1989
Cold Feet
Character:Kenny
Release Date:19/05/1989
Big Time
Character:Self
Release Date:30/12/1988
Candy Mountain
Character:Al Silk
Release Date:20/01/1988
Greasy Lake
Character:Narrator
Release Date:13/01/1988
Roy Orbison and Friends: A Black and White Night
Character:Self - Organ/Guitar
Release Date:03/01/1988
Ironweed
Character:Rudy
Release Date:18/12/1987
Tom Waits - Live at Premio Tenco in Sanremo Italy
Character:Himself
Release Date:22/11/1986
Down by Law
Character:Zack
Release Date:20/09/1986
Tom Waits - Live On The Tube
Character:Self
Release Date:16/10/1985
The Cotton Club
Character:Irving Stark
Release Date:14/12/1984
The Stone Boy
Character:Petrified man at carnival (uncredited)
Release Date:04/04/1984
Rumble Fish
Character:Benny
Release Date:09/10/1983
The Outsiders
Character:Buck Merrill
Release Date:25/03/1983
Poetry in Motion
Character:Self
Release Date:17/09/1982
The Making of 'One from the Heart'
Character:Self
Release Date:14/08/1982
One from the Heart
Character:Trumpet player (uncredited)
Release Date:11/02/1982
Wolfen
Character:Drunken Bar Owner (uncredited)
Release Date:24/07/1981
Tom Waits at Theatre le Palace
Character:Self
Release Date:19/12/1980
Tom Waits for No One
Character:Self
Release Date:01/01/1979
Paradise Alley
Character:Mumbles
Release Date:22/09/1978
Tom Waits: A Day in Vienna
Character:Self
Release Date:01/01/1978
Tom Waits: Rockpalast '77
Character:Self
Release Date:18/04/1977
Tom Waits - Elephant Beer Blues - Songs After Closing Time
Character:Self
Release Date:01/06/1976
Television Appearances
Ultra City Smiths
Character:The Narrator (voice)
The Daily Show
Character:Self
Late Night with Conan O'Brien
Character:Self - Musical Guest
Fishing with John
Character:Self
The Simpsons
Character:Lloyd (voice)
Saturday Night Live
Character:Self - Musical Guest
Austin City Limits
Character:Self
Rockpalast
Character:
The Mike Douglas Show
Character:Self
Images
