Advertisement |
Music is not a pastime, it is a necessity in my life
'Morning Becomes Eclectic' turns 30 May 28, 2007
We need to go to Tennessee to pick up some fireworks, and someone owes me money in Kentucky
Tom Waits plans 8-day August tour Jul 05, 2006
And Anti- is the biggest piece of the equation. I was signed based on a body of work, not my most recent demos. And you have to admit, I'm in very flattering company
Rock News Two: The week in pop May 10, 2003
I lived on nothin'/but dreams and train smoke/Somehow my watch and chain got lost
Buglisi/Foreman Dance bridges cultures Mar 17, 2003
John Hammond learned from the masters, Muddy, John Lee Hooker, Skip James, Son House, Johnny Shines, Sonny and Brownie, Albert King, Hendrix, James Cotton, and now he is a master. John Hammond has made all these songs his own songs that carry secrets and cautions, truths, confessions and shadows
Rock News: Music's high and low notes Dec 11, 2002
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 as a supporting actor in films, including Down By Law and Bram Stoker's Dracula. 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 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.