by ann black

Created on: February 25, 2007

Tom Waits

Born December 7, 1949, Waits has a unique voice best described by Music
Hound Rock Album Guide 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." In the lyrics his songs are best known for their
display of strange and seedy characters. Waits was born in Born in Pomona,

California to parents of Scottish, Irish, and Norwegian descent. He
started working as a doorman at Heritage nightclub where many varieties of
music were played. Soon he began putting together his own musical style
combining spoken word, "poetry" and song. He then took his act to a Monday
night Troubadour in Los Angeles, while many other musicians where waiting
in line all day to be able to play that night. In 1971 he moved to Los
Angles at age 21 and signed with Asylum Records and Herb Cohen (also the
manager for Frank Zappa). In 1973 he released his first album "Closing
Time" which did not get much success until his label mates, the Eagles,
covered Ol"55 in 1974. He then begun touring and opening with bands such
as Charlie Rich, Martha and the Vandellas, and Frank Zappa. He began to
acquire a loyal cult audience for his album The Heart Of Saturday Night
which was released in 1974. This album showed him as a night club signer
who half sings and half croons through the lyrics. He then went on to
produce more jazz-influenced albums such as Small Change (1976), Nighthawks
at the Diner (1975), Foreign Affairs (1977) and Blue Valentine (1978). At
the time he was involved in a high profile romantic relationship with
Rickie Lee Jones who appears on the cover of the album Blue Valentine. In
1980 he emerged with "Heartattack and Vine". Then began a business
relationship with Francis Ford Coppola who asked Waits to provide music for
his film "One From The Heart". He worked with singer/songwriter Crystal
Gayle as his vocal foil for that album. He also began a small acting
career with his appearance in Sylvester Stallone's 1978 film "Paradise
Alley". He then later appeared in "The Outsiders", starred in Jim
Jarmusch's "Down By Law" in 1986, and has supporting roles in movies such
as "Rumble Fish", "The Cotton Club", "Short Cuts", "Mystery Me"n, "Coffee
and Cigarettes" (as himself) and Bram Stoker's "Dracula" (as Dracula's
insane thrall Renfield). August of 1980 he married Kathleen Brennan who he
met on the set of "One From The Heart". She is regularly quoted as a
co-author on many of his songs and often referred to her as one of his
major

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