Thomas Alan Waits is an American composer, singer, musician and actor. Born on December the 7th, 1949 in Pomona, California, Waits' recording
career began in 1971, after he relocated to Los Angeles and signed with Herb Cohen, manager of Frank Zappa, among others. After numerous abortive
recording sessions, his first record, the melancholic, country-tinged ''Closing Time_(album)|Closing Time'' (1973) received warm reviews, but he first
gained national attention when his "Ol' 55" was recorded by The Eagles in 1974. ''The Heart of Saturday Night'' showed his roots as a nightclub singer, half
speaking and half crooning ballads, often with a soft jazz background. The 1975 album ''Nighthawks at the Diner'', recorded in a studio but with a small
audience to capture the ambience of a live show, captures this phase of his career, including the lengthy spoken interludes between songs that
punctuated his live act.
The album ''Small Change'' (1976) featuring famed drummer Shelly Manne, was jazzier still, and songs such as "The Piano Has Been Drinking" and
"Bad Liver and a Broken Heart" cemented his hard living reputation, with a lyrical style pitched somewhere between Raymond Chandler and Charles
Bukowski. ''Foreign Affairs'' (1977) and ''Blue Valentine'' (1978) were in a similar vein, but showed further refinement of his artistic voice.
1980 saw the commencement of a long working relationship with Francis Ford Coppola, who asked him to provide music for his film ''One From The
Heart''. Waits tapped singer/songwriter Crystal Gayle as his vocal foil for the album. Tom Waits would also act in Coppola's ''Rumblefish'', ''The
Outsiders'', ''The Cotton Club'' and ''Dracula'' (as the insane Renfield), and work with such directors as Jim Jarmusch and Robert Altman. In August 1980,
he married Kathleen Brennan, whom he had met on the set of ''One From The Heart''. With his wife, he wrote and performed in ''Big Time'', a slightly
surreal concert movie. His wife is regularly credited as co-author of many songs on his later released albums, and is often cited by Waits as a major
influence on his work.
After he left Asylum Records for Island Records in 1983, his music became less mainstream. His trio of albums from the mid-1980s,
''Swordfishtrombones'', ''Rain Dogs'' and ''Frank's Wild Years'', all featured some degree of eclectic instrumentation -- Waits' self described "Junkyard
Orchestra"--often marrying soul music horn sections to avant-garde percussion reminiscent of Harry Partch's, or the distorted guitar of Marc Ribot. He
also gradually altered his singing style, sounding less like the late-night crooner of the 70s, instead adopting a gravelly voice reminiscent of Howling Wolf
and Captain Beefheart. The last of these albums -- an off-Broadway musical co-written with his wife -- and the later collaboration with William S.
Burroughs on ''The Black Rider'' both demonstrated the increasing interest in theatre, which has resulted in a somewhat successful acting career as well
as soundtrack work.
In the popular perception, however, he and his work remain mostly characterised by his rocky voice, his strong personality and theatrical presence on
stage and the "late night smoky bars" humour of his texts ("I'd rather have a free bottle in front of me than a pre-frontal lobotomy."). Waits has been
reported as having bipolar disorder. In essence, however, and despite his songs having been covered by famous stars such as Bruce Springsteen and
Rod Stewart, Waits remains a cult performer, steadfastly outside the mainstream.
Waits has steadfastly refused to allow the use of his songs in commercials and has filed several lawsuits against advertisers who used his material
without permission. The first lawsuit was filed in 1988 against Frito Lay, and resulted in a US$2.6 million judgement in Waits's favor. Frito Lay had
approached Waits to use one of his songs in an advertisement. Waits declined the offer, and Frito Lay hired a Waits soundalike to sing a jingle similar to
"Step Right Up," which is, ironically, a song Waits has called "an indictment of advertising."
In 1993, Levi's used Screamin' Jay Hawkins's version of Waits's "Heartattack and Vine" in a commercial. Waits sued, and Levis agreed to cease all
use of the song, and offered a full page apology in Billboard Magazine. In 2000, an Audi commercial broadcast in Spain featured music very similar to
Waits's "Innocent When You Dream", after Waits first had declined when they approached him about using the original. A Spanish court recognized there
had been a violation of Waits' moral rights, in addition to the infringement of copyright. The production company, Tandem Campany Guasch, was ordered
to pay compensation to Waits through his Spanish publisher.