Tom Waits 1985 Caricature

Tom Waits Caricature, shown here in a photoshoot in 1985 for the release of his album “Rain Dogs”, age 35.

Waits is an American singer, songwriter, musician, composer, and actor. Waits’ music is characterized by his distinctive deep, gravelly singing voice and lyrics focusing on the underside of U.S. society. During the 1970s, he worked primarily in jazz, but since the 1980s his music has reflected greater influence from blues, vaudeville, and experimental genres.

His distinctive trademark growl described 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”.

Waits was born and raised in a middle-class family in California. Inspired by the work of Bob Dylan and the Beat Generation, as a teenager he began singing on the San Diego folk music scene. Relocating to Los Angeles in 1972, he worked as a songwriter before signing a recording contract with Asylum Records. His first albums, the jazz-oriented Closing Time (1973) and The Heart of Saturday Night (1974), reflected his lyrical interest in nightlife, poverty, and criminality. Repeatedly touring the U.S., Europe, and Japan, he attracted greater critical recognition and commercial success with Small Change (1976), which he followed with Blue Valentine (1978) and Heartattack and Vine (1980). He produced the soundtrack for Francis Ford Coppola’s 1981 film One from the Heart and subsequently made cameo appearances in several Coppola films

During the 1970s, he also had relationships with two prominent performers, Bette Midler and Rickie Lee Jones.

To date, he has released 16 studio albums.

His prominent hits: “Hope I Don’t Fall In Love With You”, “Toms Traubert’s Blues”, “Hold On”, “Ol’ 55”, “Jockey Full Of Bourbon”, “Innocent When You Dream”, “Downtown Train”, “Rain Dogs”, “Jersey Girl”, “The Heart Of Saturday Night”, “Step Right Up” and “The Piano Has Been Drinking (Not Me)”.

Musicians who noted their admiration for Waits’ work included Joe Strummer from the punk rock band The Clash, and James Hetfield from the heavy metal band Metallica.

In 2011, Waits was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Waits and his wife and frequent collaborator, Kathleen Brennan, live in Sonoma County, California. They have three children.