Photo: Published by Asylum Records. Photographer uncredited and unknown. / Public domain (source: Wikimedia Commons)
My Take
Tom Waits is, for my money, the great holdout of American music. Plenty of artists talk about authenticity; Waits built an entire fifty-year career out of it, singing about society's losers and night owls in that gravel-and-whiskey voice no producer could ever polish. What I admire most is his restlessness: folk gave way to jazz, blues, cabaret, and junkyard experimentalism, and he never once chased a trend. The 2011 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction felt less like an honor for him than the Hall finally catching up. Every time I revisit his records I hear the same lesson: a beautiful voice is optional, an honest one is everything.
Overview
Thomas Alan Waits (born December 7, 1949) is an American singer, songwriter, composer and actor. His lyrics often focus on society's underbelly and are delivered in his trademark deep, gravelly voice. He began in the folk scene during the 1970s, but his music since the 1980s has reflected the influence of such diverse genres as rock, jazz, Delta blues, opera, vaudeville, cabaret, funk and experimental techniques verg…
Summary adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
1. Profile
- Name (English)
- Tom Waits
- Name (Japanese)
- トム・ウェイツ
- Reading
- とむ・うぇいつ
- Born
- December 7, 1949 (age 76)
- Zodiac / Chinese zodiac
- Sagittarius / Ox
- Origin
- Pomona, California, United States
- Blood type
- Private
- Height
- Private
- Agency
- Private
- Occupation
- singer-songwriter / singer / actor / composer / jazz pianist
2. Background
- Elementary school
- Private
- Junior high
- Private
- High school
- Hilltop High School
- University
- Southwestern College
Awards & achievements
- 2011 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
3. Relationships
- Spouse
- Private
- Children
- Private
- Parents
- Private
- Siblings
- Private
4. Personality
Motto
Private
6. Links
Singer-songwriter — see all → · Singer — see all → · More people from United States →
7. About this entry
Tags
- Last updated
- 2026-06-11
Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public items are marked "Private / Unknown". English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.