From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 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.
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Movie | Seven Psychopaths | Zachariah Rigby | 2012-10-12 |
Movie | The Monster of Nix | Virgil (Voice) | 2011-06-01 |
Movie | Twixt | Narrator (voice) | 2011-09-10 |
Movie | The Book of Eli | Engineer | 2010-01-14 |
Movie | The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus | Devil | 2009-10-01 |
Movie | One Fast Move or I'm Gone: Kerouac's Big Sur | Self | 2008-05-11 |
Movie | Wristcutters: A Love Story | Kneller | 2007-10-19 |
Movie | The Tiger and the Snow | Self / Sè stesso | 2005-10-14 |
Movie | Domino | Wanderer | 2005-10-14 |
Movie | Coffee and Cigarettes | Tom (segment "Somewhere in California") | 2004-03-12 |
Movie | Bukowski: Born Into This | Self | 2003-01-18 |
Movie | Mystery Men | Doc Heller | 1999-08-06 |
Movie | Coffee and Cigarettes III | Tom | 1997-04-11 |
Movie | Guy Maddin: Waiting for Twilight | Narrator (voice) | 1997-09-07 |
Movie | Short Cuts | Earl Piggot | 1993-09-05 |
Movie | Bram Stoker's Dracula | R.M. Renfield | 1992-11-13 |
Movie | Queens Logic | Monte | 1991-02-01 |
Movie | Until the End of the World | Singer in Bar | 1991-09-12 |
Movie | The Fisher King | Disabled Vet (uncredited) | 1991-09-20 |
Movie | At Play in the Fields of the Lord | Wolf | 1991-12-06 |
Series | Fishing with John | Himself | 1991-11-20 |
Movie | John Lurie: A Lounge Lizard Alone | Zack (Archive footage) | 1990-01-01 |
Movie | Red Hot + Blue: A Tribute to Cole Porter | Self | 1990-12-01 |
Movie | The Two Jakes | Plainclothes Policeman (uncredited) | 1990-08-10 |
Movie | Cold Feet | Kenny | 1989-05-19 |
Movie | Mystery Train | Radio DJ (voice) | 1989-09-06 |
Movie | Bearskin: An Urban Fairytale | Silva | 1989-11-05 |
Movie | Roy Orbison and Friends: A Black and White Night | Self - Organ/Guitar | 1988-01-03 |
Movie | Big Time | Self | 1988-12-30 |
Movie | Candy Mountain | Al Silk | 1988-01-20 |
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 | The Outsiders | Buck Merrill | 1983-03-25 |
Movie | Rumble Fish | Benny | 1983-10-09 |
Movie | Poetry in Motion | Self | 1982-09-17 |
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 |