Play Tom Waits Radio

Tom Waits

30,123,680 plays (652,616 listeners)

Listening now: l-bot, Shmelly

2,297 shouts

Add to my Library Share

Pomona, Los Angeles CA, United States (early 1970s – present)

Tom Waits (Thomas Alan Waits, Pomona, California, December 7, 1949 ) is a prolific American , composer, and actor.

He started his career in the early 1970s as a singer in spit ‘n’ sawdust bars. Initially, he was deeply influenced by the beat generation (poets like Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, William S. Burroughs). He could not make a living from his music, although he was well accepted by the critics. The people at that time didn’t like his classical bar music, pre-rock and styles reminiscent of musical genres of the 40’s and 50’s, such as , , and .

Waits has a devoted cult following and has influenced subsequent songwriters, despite having little radio or music video support. In fact, his songs are perhaps best known to the general public in the form of cover versions by more visible artists, such as the Eagles, Bruce Springsteen, and Rod Stewart.

Although Waits’ albums have met with mixed commercial success in his native United States, they have occasionally achieved gold album sales status in other countries.

Lyrically, Waits’ songs are known for atmospheric portrayals of bizarre, seedy characters and places, although he has also shown a penchant for more conventional and touching ballads.

While opening for Frank Zappa, the audience catcalled and refused to listen to him. It appeared that Wait’s classical and Zappa’s Rock were a less than a perfect match. Waits’ voice back then was soft, warm and clear. He sang songs about the losers on the streets: alcoholics, junkies, prostitutes and social outcasts.
Read more… Edit

Top Albums

See more

Top Tracks

1 Play
1,984
2 Play
Clap Hands full track
1,797
3 Play
Downtown Train full track
1,753
4 Play
Singapore full track
1,685
5 Play
Rain Dogs full track
1,484
6 Play
Cemetery Polka full track
1,477
7 Play
Time full track
1,460
8 Play
Hang Down Your Head full track
1,386
9 Play
Big Black Mariah full track
1,344
10 Play
1,343
11 Play
Gun Street Girl full track
1,247
12 Play
1,052
13  
1,027
14 Play
Walking Spanish full track
1,007
15 Play
Union Square full track
996
See more

Shoutbox

Leave a comment. Log in to Last.fm or sign up (it’s free).
See all 2,297 shouts

Videos

See more

Events

Add event See more

News

Tom Waits Donates Art to Benefit Local School

13 May 2009 | from blog.myspace.com/tomwaits

Ever the charitable soul, Tom Waits has donated one of his rare photos — signed, framed and truly one-of-a-kind — from his “Oil Stain” series to a charity auction that will go to benefit the tuition a. …

Add comment

See more

Listeners

See more

Recent Activity

Related Journals

See more

More Information

Links
Labels

Email Newsletter

Universal Music Group Get exclusive tour, release & promotion updates on Tom Waits from Universal Music.