Thomas Alan "Tom" Waits 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 as a supporting actor in films, including Down By Law, Bram Stoker's Dracula and Wristcutters: A Love Story. 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 to the general public in the form of cover versions by more visible 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 2010, Waits was chosen to be inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2011. Waits currently lives in Sonoma County, California with his wife, Kathleen Brennan, and three children. Description above from the Wikipedia article Tom Waits, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Movie | The Absence of Eden | 2024-04-12 | |
Movie | Licorice Pizza | 2021-11-26 | |
Series | Ultra City Smiths | Narrator | 2021-09-13 |
Movie | Motherless Brooklyn | News Stand Owner (uncredited) | 2019-10-31 |
Movie | The Dead Don't Die | Hermit Bob | 2019-05-15 |
Movie | The Ballad of Buster Scruggs | Prospector (segment "All Gold Canyon") | 2018-11-09 |
Movie | The Old Man & the Gun | Waller | 2018-09-27 |
Movie | Tom Waits: Tales from a Cracked Jukebox | Himself | 2017-02-19 |
Movie | Keith Richards: Under the Influence | Himself | 2015-09-18 |
Movie | Seven Psychopaths | Zachariah Rigby | 2012-10-12 |
Movie | Twixt | Narrator (voice) | 2011-09-30 |
Movie | The Monster of Nix | Virgil (Voice) | 2011-06-01 |
Movie | The Book of Eli | Engineer | 2010-01-14 |
Movie | The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus | Devil | 2009-10-01 |
Movie | Wristcutters: A Love Story | Kneller | 2007-10-19 |
Movie | Domino | The Wanderer | 2005-10-14 |
Movie | The Tiger and the Snow | Himself / Sè stesso | 2005-10-14 |
Movie | Coffee and Cigarettes | Tom | 2004-03-12 |
Movie | Bukowski: Born Into This | Himself | 2003-01-18 |
Movie | Mystery Men | Doc Heller | 1999-08-06 |
Movie | Short Cuts | Earl Piggot | 1993-09-05 |
Movie | Luck, Trust & Ketchup: Robert Altman in Carver Country | Himself | 1993-03-26 |
Movie | Bram Stoker's Dracula | R.M. Renfield | 1992-11-13 |
Movie | Until the End of the World | Himself/Singer in bar (uncredited) | 1991-09-12 |
Movie | Queens Logic | Monte | 1991-02-01 |
Movie | At Play in the Fields of the Lord | Wolf | 1991-12-06 |
Movie | The Fisher King | Disabled Vet | 1991-09-20 |
Series | Fishing with John | 1991-11-20 | |
Movie | Red Hot + Blue: A Tribute to Cole Porter | Himself | 1990-12-01 |
Movie | The Two Jakes | Plainclothes Policeman | 1990-08-10 |
Movie | Bearskin: An Urban Fairytale | Silva | 1989-11-05 |
Movie | Mystery Train | Radio DJ (voice) | 1989-09-06 |
Movie | Cold Feet | Kenny | 1989-05-19 |
Movie | Big Time | Himself | 1988-12-30 |
Movie | Candy Mountain | Al Silk | 1988-01-20 |
Movie | Roy Orbison and Friends: A Black and White Night | Himself | 1988-01-03 |
Movie | Ironweed | Rudy | 1987-12-18 |
Movie | Down by Law | Zack | 1986-09-20 |
Movie | The Cotton Club | Irving Stark | 1984-12-14 |
Movie | The Stone Boy | Petrified man at carnival (uncredited) | 1984-04-04 |
Movie | Rumble Fish | Benny | 1983-10-09 |
Movie | The Outsiders | Buck Merrill | 1983-03-25 |
Movie | Poetry in Motion | Himself | 1982-09-17 |
Movie | The Making of 'One from the Heart' | Himself | 1982-08-14 |
Movie | One from the Heart | Trumpet player (uncredited) | 1982-02-11 |
Movie | Wolfen | Drunken Bar Owner (uncredited) | 1981-07-24 |
Movie | Paradise Alley | Mumbles | 1978-09-22 |