Tom Waits
Thomas Alan Waits (born December 7, 1949) is an American musician, composer, songwriter and actor. His lyrics often focus on the underbelly of society and are delivered in his trademark deep, gravelly voice. He worked primarily in jazz during the 1970s, but his music since the 1980s has reflected greater influence from blues, rock, vaudeville, and experimental genres. Waits was born and raised in a middle-class family in Whittier, California. Inspired by the work of Bob Dylan and the Beat Generation, he began singing on the San Diego folk music circuit as a young boy. He relocated to Los Angeles in 1972, where he worked as a songwriter before signing a recording contract with Asylum Records. His first albums were the jazz-oriented Closing Time (1973) and The Heart of Saturday Night (1974), which reflected his lyrical interest in nightlife, poverty, and criminality. He repeatedly toured the United States, Europe, and Japan, and attracted greater critical recognition and commercial success with Small Change (1976), Blue Valentine (1978), and Heartattack and Vine (1980). He produced the soundtrack for Francis Ford Coppola's film One from the Heart (1981), and subsequently made cameo appearances in several Coppola films. In 1980, Waits married Kathleen Brennan, split from his manager and record label, and moved to New York City. With Brennan's encouragement and frequent collaboration, he pursued a more experimental and eclectic musical aesthetic influenced by the work of Harry Partch and Captain Beefheart. This was reflected in a series of albums released by Island Records, including Swordfishtrombones (1983), Rain Dogs (1985), and Franks Wild Years (1987). He continued appearing in films, notably starring in Jim Jarmusch's Down by Law (1986), and also made theatrical appearances. With theatre director Robert Wilson, he produced the musicals The Black Rider (1990) and Alice (1992), first performed in Hamburg. Having returned to California in the 1990s, his albums Bone Machine (1992), The Black Rider (1993), and Mule Variations (1999) earned him increasing critical acclaim and multiple Grammy Awards. In the late 1990s, he switched to the record label ANTI-, which released Blood Money (2002), Alice (2002), Real Gone (2004), and Bad as Me (2011). Despite a lack of mainstream commercial success, Waits has influenced many musicians and gained an international cult following, and several biographies have been written about him. In 2015, he was ranked at No. 55 on Rolling Stone's "100 Greatest Songwriters of All Time". He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2011. Description above from the Wikipedia article Tom Waits, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
In 19th century England, Count Dracula travels to London and meets Mina Harker, a young woman...
Movie page
A post-apocalyptic tale, in which a lone man fights his way across America in order to protect a...
Movie page
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
as Prospector (segment "All Gold Canyon")Vignettes weaving together the stories of six individuals in the old West at the end of the...
Movie page
The Outsiders
as Buck MerrillWhen two poor Greasers, Johnny and Ponyboy, are assaulted by a vicious gang, the Socs, and...
Movie page
Two troubled men face their terrible destinies and events of their past as they join together on...
Movie page
The story of Gary Valentine and Alana Kane growing up, running around and going through the...
Movie page
One from the Heart
as Trumpet player (uncredited)The five-year romance of a window dresser and her boyfriend breaks up, as each of them finds a...
Movie page
A travelling theatre company has more to it than meets the eye.
Movie page
The Two Jakes
as Plainclothes Policeman (uncredited)Real estate developer Jake Berman hires private investigator and war veteran Jake Gittes for...
Movie page
The Dead Don't Die
as Hermit BobIn a small peaceful town, zombies suddenly rise to terrorize the town. Now three bespectacled...
Movie page
Coffee and Cigarettes
as Tom (segment "Somewhere in California")Coffee And Cigarettes is a collection of eleven films from cult director Jim Jarmusch. Each film...
Movie page
Short Cuts
as Earl PiggotMany loosely connected characters cross paths in this film, based on the stories of Raymond...
Movie page
Domino
as WandererThe story of the life of Domino Harvey, who abandoned her career as a Ford model to become a...
Movie page
Seven Psychopaths
as Zachariah RigbyA struggling screenwriter inadvertently becomes entangled in the Los Angeles criminal underworld...
Movie page
New York City, 1957. Lionel Essrog, a private detective living with Tourette syndrome, tries to...
Movie page
Ironweed
as RudyAn alcoholic drifter spends Halloween in his hometown of Albany, New York after returning there...
Movie page
When Champion City's hero Captain Amazing is kidnapped by the recently paroled supervillain...
Movie page
Paradise Alley
as MumblesThree Italian-American brothers, living in the slums of 1940's New York City, try to help each...
Movie page
Roy Orbison and Friends: A Black and White Night
as Self - Organ/GuitarRecorded live at the Coconut Grove in Los Angeles, Roy is joined by an eclectic ensemble of rock...
Movie page
Until the End of the World
as Singer in BarIn 1999, a woman's life is forever changed after she survives a car crash with two bank robbers,...
Movie page
The Old Man & the Gun
as WallerThe true story of Forrest Tucker, from his audacious escape from San Quentin at the age of 70 to...
Movie page
Twixt
as Narrator (voice)A struggling horror writer visiting a small town on a book tour gets caught up in a murder...
Movie page
Rumble Fish
as BennyRusty James, an absent-minded street thug, struggles to live up to his legendary older brother's...
Movie page
Down by Law
as ZackA disc jockey, a pimp and an Italian tourist escape from jail in New Orleans.
Movie page
Wristcutters: A Love Story
as KnellerZia, distraught over breaking up with his girlfriend, decides to end it all. Unfortunately, he...
Movie page
At Play in the Fields of the Lord
as WolfMartin and Hazel Quarrier are small-town fundamentalist missionaries sent to the jungles of...
Movie page
Mystery Train
as Radio DJ (voice)In Memphis, Tennessee, over the course of a single night, the Arcade Hotel, run by an eccentric...
Movie page
The Cotton Club
as Irving StarkHarlem's legendary Cotton Club becomes a hotbed of passion and violence as the lives and loves...
Movie page
Bukowski: Born Into This
as SelfDirector John Dullaghan’s biographical documentary about infamous poet Charles Bukowski,...
Movie page
Wolfen
as Drunken Bar Owner (uncredited)A New York City cop and an expert criminologist trying to solve a series of grisly deaths in...
Movie page
The Tiger and the Snow
as Self / Sè stessoLove and injury in time of war. Attilio de Giovanni teaches poetry in Italy. He has a romantic...
Movie page
One Fast Move or I'm Gone: Kerouac's Big Sur
as Self"One Fast Move or I'm Gone: Kerouac's Big Sur" examines Jack Kerouac's escape from post "On The...
Movie page
The Absence of Eden
as HunleyAn ICE Agent struggling with the moral dilemmas of border security and an undocumented woman...
Movie page
Keith Richards: Under the Influence
as SelfA portrait of Keith Richards that takes us on a journey to discover the genesis of his sound as...
Movie page
Queens Logic
as MonteWhen childhood friends Al, Dennis and Eliot get together for Ray's wedding, which may or may not...
Movie page
Tom Waits: Tales from a Cracked Jukebox
as SelfTom Waits is one of the most original musicians of the last five decades. Renowned for his...
Movie page
The Stone Boy
as Petrified man at carnival (uncredited)12-year-old Arnold Hillerman and his 17-year-old brother Eugene live with their family on a farm...
Movie page
Bearskin: An Urban Fairytale
as SilvaJohnny Fortune (Damon Lowry) is no good to anyone, not mean, but just no good. Surrounded by...
Movie page
Candy Mountain
as Al SilkA mediocre musician goes on the road in search of the world's greatest guitar maker
Movie page
Coffee and Cigarettes III
as TomThis shortcut repeats the structure of Coffee and Cigarettes. This time, Iggy Pop and Tom Waits...
Movie page
Luck, Trust & Ketchup: Robert Altman in Carver Country
as SelfA documentary insight behind the scenes of Roberts Altman's Short Cuts.
Movie page
This Is Sparklehorse
as SelfAn comprehensive look at the life and music of Mark Linkous, a influential figure in the...
Movie page
Wildwood
as (voice)Set beyond Portland’s city limits, in Wildwood. You’re not supposed to go there. You’re not even...
Movie page
Poetry in Motion
as SelfMore than 20 contemporary North American poets recite, sing, and perform their work. Early in...
Movie page
Red Hot + Blue: A Tribute to Cole Porter
as SelfThis music special is dedicated to dispelling the prejudices associated with the HIV infection...
Movie page
The Making of 'One from the Heart'
as SelfA short documentary on the Francis Ford Coppola musical One From the Heart.
Movie page
A Brief History of John Baldessari
as NarratorThe epic life of a world-class artist, jammed into six minutes.
Movie page
Tom Waits: Glitter and Doom Concert Experience
as SelfA compilation of professional footage and fan films to reconstruct an entire Tom Waits concert...
Movie page
Big Time
as SelfBringing his unique sense of humor to this bizarre and original piece of moviemaking, Tom Waits...
Movie page
The Moon’s Milk
as Captain Millipede (voice)At a time when the moon could be reached by ladder, Captain Millipede, his daughter, a deaf milk...
Movie page
Tom Waits: Romeo Bleeding - Live from Austin
as SelfTaped in 1978, Waits and his band of Herbert Hardesty, Arthur Richardson, John Thomassie and...
Movie page
Roy Orbison: Black and White Night 30
as SelfBlack and White Night 30 is a re-imagined, re-edited, remastered and expanded version of the...
Movie page
Cold Feet
as KennyThree criminals run into complications when they attempt to smuggle emeralds across the Mexican...
Movie page
The Monster of Nix
as Virgil (Voice)Life is good in the idyllic fairytale village of Nix... until an all-devouring monster appears....
Movie page
Star.Wav
as The CallerAfter prophesying the end of humanity, a reclusive conspiracy theorist receives a troubling call...
Movie page
Robert Wilson: The Beauty of the Mysterious
as SelfWe look back at more than half a century of mysterious artistic creation while trying to crack a...
Movie page
John Lurie: A Lounge Lizard Alone
as Zack (Archive footage)"Lounge Lizard" John Lurie — actor, performer, and musician — talks about love and life and...
Movie page
Tom Waits - No Visitors After Midnight
as SelfTom Waits live: Chicago, IL, USA, PBS Soundstage 1975 & London, UK, BBC Studios, "Live in...
Movie page
Guy Maddin: Waiting for Twilight
as Narrator (voice)Interviews with Guy Maddin and his pals are included in this documentary about the Canadian...
Movie page
Tom Waits - Burma Shave [Live Concert]
as SelfSinger/songwriter extraordinaire Tom Waits has become an American musical institution over the...
Movie page
Tom Waits: Rockpalast '77
as SelfExcellent quality recording of Tom Waits, live at WDR Studios, in Koln, Germany on April 18th,...
Movie page
Tom Waits at Theatre le Palace
as SelfTom Waits performs at Theatre le Palace in Paris, France. It was recorded for French television...
Movie page
The Daily Show
as SelfThe World's Fakest News Team tackle the biggest stories in news, politics and pop culture.
TV Show page
The Simpsons
as Lloyd (voice)Set in Springfield, the average American town, the show focuses on the antics and everyday...
TV Show page
Saturday Night Live
as Self - Musical GuestA late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels. The...
TV Show page
The Mike Douglas Show
as SelfThe Mike Douglas Show is an American daytime television talk show hosted by Mike Douglas that...
TV Show page
Late Night with Conan O'Brien
as Self - Musical GuestLate Night with Conan O'Brien is an American late-night talk show hosted by Conan O'Brien that...
TV Show page
Austin City Limits
as SelfNow the longest-running music series in American television history, ACL showcases popular music...
TV Show page
Ultra City Smiths
as The Narrator (voice)Two detectives must contend with dangerous corruption as they investigate the mysterious...
TV Show page
Fishing with John
as SelfMusician John Lurie knows nothing about fishing, but that doesn't stop him from embarking on...
TV Show page