Tom Waits

1949 – 20??

Thomas Alan Waits is an American singer, songwriter, and actor whose distinctive gravelly voice and lyrical attention to society's underbelly have made him one of the most idiosyncratic figures in late-20th-century American popular music. Across albums from Closing Time (1973) and Small Change (1976) to the experimental Swordfishtrombones, Rain Dogs, and Bone Machine, he reinvented himself by drawing on rock, jazz, blues, Weill-influenced cabaret, and found-instrument percussion. He has also pursued a parallel acting career in films by Jim Jarmusch, Francis Ford Coppola, and the Coen brothers.

Last checked: May 11, 2026, 4:01 AM