Tom Waits
Listen to, buy or share
Buy
-
69,520,406
scrobbles
-
1,216,809 listeners
Tags
Biography
Pomona, Los Angeles CA, United States (1949 – present)
Tom Waits (born Thomas Alan Waits, in Pomona, California, on December 7, 1949) is a prolific American singer, songwriter, 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, novelists like Jack Kerouac and William S. Burroughs, and poets like Allen Ginsberg and Charles Bukowski. Waits is often compared to Charles Bukowski, being similar both in content and lifestyle, although Waits’s views are more egalitarian than Bukowski’s. Waits was unable to make a living from his music in the 70s because his classical bar music, based in pre-rock, and americana, blues, and vaudeville styles were not popular. Waits’s voice back then was soft, warm and clear.
Waits subsequently developed 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 of more visible artists, such as the Eagles, Bruce Springsteen and Rod Stewart.
Although Waits’s albums have met with mixed commercial success in his native United States, they have occasionally achieved gold album sales status in other countries.
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, novelists like Jack Kerouac and William S. Burroughs, and poets like Allen Ginsberg and Charles Bukowski. Waits is often compared to Charles Bukowski, being similar both in content and lifestyle, although Waits’s views are more egalitarian than Bukowski’s. Waits was unable to make a living from his music in the 70s because his classical bar music, based in pre-rock, and americana, blues, and vaudeville styles were not popular. Waits’s voice back then was soft, warm and clear.
Waits subsequently developed 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 of more visible artists, such as the Eagles, Bruce Springsteen and Rod Stewart.
Although Waits’s albums have met with mixed commercial success in his native United States, they have occasionally achieved gold album sales status in other countries.
Top Tracks
Top Albums
-
Rain Dogs
519,841 listeners19 tracks
Released:
-
Closing Time
221,195 listeners16 tracks
Released:
-
Mule Variations
199,378 listeners16 tracks
Released:
-
Bone Machine
207,232 listeners16 tracks
Released:
Listening Trend
1,216,809listeners all time
69,520,406scrobbles all time
#299
in last week’s chart
Recent listeners trend:
Start scrobbling and track your listening history
Last.fm users scrobble the music they play in iTunes, Spotify, Rdio and over 200 other music players.
Create a Last.fm profile