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Tom Waits Edit
- Born:
- December 7, 1949, he's 59 and American.
- Birthname:
- Thomas Alan Waits.
- Snapshot:
- An artist with 52 releases, and credited 7 times on others' music. 15 collaborations and 2 musical relatives.
Profile Edit
When singer-songwriter and actor Tom Waits sings, he sounds like a ragged and slightly mad drunkard regaling stories from a smokey underground jazz bar. His deep, growling voice is highly distinctive, and his narrative lyrical style often tells tales of outsiders, lovers, drunks and low-lifes. His music incorporates jazz and blues styles, as well as burlesque, industrial, vaudeville, cabaret, folk and Tin Pan Alley.
In the 70s, Waits released several albums of gin-soaked jazzy ballads, but his 1983 album Swordfishtrombones marked a change in direction as he took on a more experimental bent, not dissimilar to Captain Beefheart. He adopted a wide range of eclectic instruments and incorporated them into his songs, whatever his proficiency at playing each one. He also explored different ways to use his voice, from soft croons to harsh growls, aggressive barks and wailing falsettos. This made for an idiosyncratic collection of songs that sounded unlike anything else that was being released at the time. Swordfishtrombones and Rain Dogs (1985) were hugely critically acclaimed, and are often listed by music critics as among the best albums of the 80s.
Waits continues to record in his own unique style, and occasionally acts. Subsequent albums such as Bone Machine (1992), Mule Variations (1999), Real Gone (2002) and rarities collection Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers & Bastards (2006) have been especially noted by critics, though most of his albums tend to find favour with writers. On-screen, he has appeared in films such as The Outsiders, The Fisher King, Bram Stoker's Dracula, Coffee and Cigarettes and Domino.
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Alternative Rock,
Experimental,
Rock,
Rock and Roll,
Singer-Songwriter,
Folk,
Blues,
Indie,
Jazz,
Pop.
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Trivia Edit
- Tom Waits once claimed to have been born in the back of a taxicab. This is a lie. He was born in Park Avenue Hospital in Pomona, California on 7 December 1949.
Websites Edit
Top editors for Tom Waits
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