Thomas Alan Waits was born on the eighth anniversary of the
bombing of Pearl Harbor. He was born on December 7, 1949 in
Pomona, California. He and his two sisters grew up moving around
from city to city in California. His parents who are both school
teachers divorced when he was 10. They then moved to National
City. Tom's grandfather was christened Jesse Frank Waits and his
father Frank Waits. Tom is Scottish and Irish from his father's side
of
the family and Norwegian from his mother's side.
Tom became interested in music early and began tacking up sheets
of Bob Dylan's lyrics in his room and even framed some in the rest
of his house. He would keep a pad of paper and pencil by his bed
so that he could remember the lyrics that he would think up in the
middle of the night. He taught himself how to play the piano at a
neighbor's house and then learned the guitar on a Gibson.
As well as creating music at an early age, the persona that Tom is
famous for soon appeared. He enjoyed entertaining his classmates
and his teachers as soon as his secondary schooling. An art class
teacher would let him play his harmonica for the class and
sometimes he would be asked to get up on the tables and do his
version of a "soft shoe". He also tried as soon as possible to grow
a
mustache and a goatee. Sal, Tom's employer at "Napoleone's Pizza
House", used to joke that he had more hair growing wild on his ass
than Tom could cultivate on his face.
During his adolescence, Tom spent quite some time keeping his
cars running. He first had problems with his '54 Ford station wagon
that he called a "bato wagon". He then worked on his '55 Buick
which was to be inspiration for the song "Ole '55" which the Eagles
covered. He then progressed to the '61 white volkswagen where he
finally learned how to drive a stick shift.
Waits has told at least two different ways of how he got the big break
into the music business:
Break #1: Herb Cohen is impressed when he sees
the
doorman of LA's Heritage Club sing a few of
his original
songs, and then signs him to Asylum Records.
Break #2: Herb Cohen falls into conversation
with Tom Waits
at Ben Frank's on Sunset Strip, and signs
him to his
management roster on the strength of his shoes.
He began his career living in the famed Tropicana Motel on Santa
Monica Blvd. in LA which is somewhat near the corner of Hollywood
and Vine. He toured alot where he supposedly opening for such
varied acts like C&W superstar Charlie Rich, pianist Billy Preston,
John Hammond, Jerry Jeff Walker, and even Buffalo Bob & The
Howdy Doody Review?. During this time he was dating Rickie Lee
Jones whom was featured on the "Blue Valentine" album cover.
After his career was more stable and while on the Zoetrope set of
"One From The Heart", directed by Francis Ford Coppola, Tom met
his future wife, Kathleen Brennan, who was a script editor at the
time.
Kathlen Brennan was born in Johnsburg, Illinois. Waits described
their courtship as a little unorthodox: "She can lie down on nails,
stick a knitting needle through her lip and still drink coffeee, so
I
knew she was the girl for me." They were married in August 1980
and honeymooned in Tralee, Co. Kerry. When Patrick Humphries
asked Tom Waits about the marriage ceremony, he said: "I found
the Marriage Chapel in the Yellow Pages, right next to 'Massage'.
The registrar's name was Watermelon and he kept calling me Mr.
Watts! My mother likes what I do, I guess she's happier now that I'm
married. I think she was a little bit worried about me for a while."
Kathleen Brennan has been a major factor in his music and his life
ever since.
And the rest of his story may be included somewhere on the Tom
Waits Digest...
With help from Patrick Humphries' book 'Small Change: A
Life of Tom Waits'
Closing Time---His 1973 debut LP was hailed by critics for the
inventiveness of the
songwriting, the beauty of the melodies, and the promise of things
to come. The
Eagles recorded its leadoff track, "Old '55," and many still consider
"Midnight
Lullaby" to be one of Waits' great songs.
The Heart of Saturday Night---Regarded as a great leap forward
from Closing Time,this 1974 work was still comparatively embryonic material.
It was also critically
endorsed, and lauded for the poignance of songs like "San Diego Serenade,"
"Shiver Me Timbers," and the pithy ode to the American night, its title
song, "The
Heart of Saturday Night."
Nighthawks At The Diner---This 1975 live double-album brought attention to Waits,correctly or otherwise, as a beat storyteller given to stroking his goatee, smoking alot, and singing anthems to alienation and hash browns (over easy.) "Eggs and Sausage" is still regarded as a minor Waits classic.
Small Change---Although Waits has remarked that it's difficult
for him to listen to
some of his earlier albums, there is no denying the enduring potency
of this
completely remarkable 1976 record. Backed by the late Shelly Manne,
Jim Hughart
(bass), and Lew Tabackin (sax), Waits hit his first great stride with
Small Change. He
recently opened his fund- raising concert for unrest-ravaged Los Angeles
with the
title track ---a story of untimely and unnecessary death.
Foreign Affairs---On this 1977 work, Waits worked with orchestra
arranger on what
can legitimately be called a symphonic poem, "Potter's Field," and
sang a witty and
tender duet with Bette Midler, "I Never Talk To Strangers."
Blue Valentine---Waits managed another tour-de-force of songwriting
excellence in
1978, maintaining a very difficult album-a-year pace. "Kentucky Avenue,",
remains
an arresting bit of poetry about a crippled child. The musically kinetic
little drama,
"Romeo is Bleeding," the title track, "Blue Valentines," and "Christmas
Card From A
Hooker In Minneapolis" became concert staples for Waits, who was almost
perpetually on tour in the 70s.
Heartattack and Vine-Waits Played a lot of electric guitar on
this more R&B-oriented1980 record, which yielded a song that eventually
became part of Bruce
Springsteen's repertory, "Jersey Girl." The album also included Waits'
poetic title
song from Ralph Waite's film, "On The Nickel." The album had a grittier
edge than
anything previous; Waits seemed to be pushing himself stylistically,
perhaps as
much out of restlessness as artistic drive.
One From The Heart---For eighteen months beginning in 1980, Waits
worked with
Francis Ford Coppola on what the director termed his "lounge operetta."
Waits
composed and wrote according to Coppola's descriptions of the movie,
rather from a
prepared script. With Crystal Gayle sharing the vocals, Waits Academy
Award-nominated soundtrack album came out in 1982.
Swordfishtrombones---This 1983 critically hailed work was a breakthrough
for Waits.It was far more abstract than anything he's done before, musically
and thematically,featuring everything from calliopes to Balinese metal
aunglongs. Waits said he tried to "listen to the noise in my head and invent
some junkyard orchestral deviation" to create a "demented journal of exotic
design." While a precursor of even larger experiments in noise-making,
the album somehow also yielded one of his most
affecting songs, "Soldier's Things."
Raindogs---This 1985 LP was the second part of what Waits has
come to regard as asort of trilogy, beginning with Swordfishtrombones.
It pushed the tentative forays of its predecessor further, notably in the
new ways Waits began to manipulate his voice
(including using a megaphone; Waits described his pipes at this point
in his career
as "the right horn for my car.") It was also critically lauded, and
is one of the richest
collections of Waits songs on one record. A landmark recording. (A
"raindog,"
incidentally, is a dog befuddled by the rain erasure of canine territorial
markings; this
is a phenomenon Waits observed during two years in New York City in
the mid-80s.)
Frank's Wild Years---Dubbed "un operachi romantico in two acts,"
this 1987 work
was made of the songs from Waits' stage musical of the same name, co-written
with
Brennan. The show was a parable, Waits said, a story of one accordion
player's
redemption and baptism. The album rivals Raindogs for its rich array
of songs and
textures. Styles ranged from Edith Piaf-ian melodies to what Waits
termed "Jerry
Lewis going down on the Titanic".
Big Time--A mostly live concert album released in 1988 along
with a concert film of
the same name, it also featured two new studio tracks: "Falling Down,"
and "Strange
Weather." Critics loved both the album and the film.
Night On Earth---The soundtrack to the just-released Jim Jarmusch
film features
three songs by Waits and Brennan: "Back in the Good Old World (Gypsy),"
"Good
Old World (Waltz)," and "On The Other Side Of The World,"---and fourteen
instrumental tracks by Waits.
Actor filmography
1.Short Cuts (1993) .... Earl Piggot
2.Coffee and Cigarettes III (1993) .... Tom Waits
3.Dracula (1992) .... R.M. Renfield
... aka Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992)
4.Fisher King, The (1991) .... Disabled Veteran
5.At Play in the Fields of the Lord (1991) .... Wolf
6.Queens Logic (1991) .... Monte
7.Two Jakes, The (1990) .... Plainclothes Policeman
8.Mystery Train (1989) (voice) .... Radio D.J
9.Bearskin: An Urban Fairytale (1989)
... aka Bearskin (1989)
10.Cold Feet (1989) .... Kenny
11.Big Time (1988) .... Tom Waits
12.Candy Mountain (1987) .... Al Silk
13.Ironweed (1987) .... Rudy
14.Down by Law (1986) .... Zack
15.Cotton Club, The (1984) .... Irving Stark
16.Outsiders, The (1983) .... Buck Merrill
17.Rumble Fish (1983) .... Benny
18.Poetry in Motion (1982) .... Himself
19.Paradise Alley (1978) .... Mumbles
Composer filmography
1.Dead Man Walking (1995)
2.Smoke (1995) (also sings)
3.Little Criminals (1995) (song)
4.Twelve Monkeys (1995) (song "Earth Died Screaming")
... aka 12 Monkeys (1995)
5.Léolo (1992)
6.American Heart (1992) (songs)
7.Night on Earth (1991) (also songs)
... aka LANewYorkParisRomeHelsinki (1991)
(working title)
8.Big Time (1988)
9.Candy Mountain (1987)
10.Down by Law (1986) (songs)
11.Streetwise (1984)
12.Prénom Carmen (1983)
... aka First Name: Carmen (1983) (US title)
13.One from the Heart (1982) (also songs) (A:AAN)
14.Wedding, A (1978)
Writer filmography
1.Big Time (1988)
Get your own Free Home Page