Tom Waits
Thomas
Alan "Tom" Waits (born December 7, 1949) is an American
singer-songwriter, composer, and actor. Waits has a distinctive voice,
described by critic Daniel Durchholz as sounding "like it was soaked in a
vat of bourbon, left hanging in the smokehouse for a few months, and then taken
outside and run over with a car." With this trademark growl, his
incorporation of pre-rock music styles such as blues, jazz, and vaudeville, and
experimental tendencies verging on industrial music, Waits has built up a distinctive
musical persona. He has worked as a composer for movies and musical plays and
has acted in supporting roles in films including Paradise Alley and Bram
Stoker's Dracula; he also starred in the 1986 film Down by Law. He was
nominated for an Academy Award for his soundtrack work on One from the Heart.
Lyrically,
Waits' songs frequently present atmospheric portrayals of grotesque, often
seedy characters and places—although he has also shown a penchant for more
conventional ballads. He has a cult following and has influenced subsequent
songwriters despite having little radio or music video support. His songs are
best-known through cover versions by more commercial artists: "Jersey
Girl", performed by Bruce Springsteen, "Ol' '55", performed by
the Eagles, and "Downtown Train", performed by Rod Stewart. Although
Waits' albums have met with mixed commercial success in his native United
States, they have occasionally achieved gold album sales status in other
countries. He has been nominated for a number of major music awards and has won
Grammy Awards for two albums, Bone Machine and Mule Variations. In 2011, Waits
was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Waits
lives in Sonoma County, California with his wife, Kathleen Brennan, and three
children.
Birth
name: Thomas Alan Waits
Born:
December 7, 1949 (age 62), Pomona, California, United States
Genres:
Rock, experimental
Occupations:
Singer-songwriter, musician, actor, composer
Instruments:
Vocals, piano, guitar
Years
active: 1972–present
Labels:
Asylum Records, Island Records, ANTI-
Pictures:
Song:
Concert:
Tom Waits - Burma Shave Full video
Album:
Tom Waits - Bad As Me Full Album 2011
Interestingly:
Tom Waits reads Charles Bukowski
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