Tom Waits

Tom Waits was born in Pomona, California, in 1949, and he came up singing on the San Diego folk circuit with Bob Dylan and the Beat writers ringing in his ears. He moved to Los Angeles in 1972, worked as a songwriter, and signed with Asylum Records. Closing Time, his 1973 debut, is after-hours piano balladry soaked in cheap whiskey and streetlight, home to "Ol' 55", "Martha" and "I Hope That I Don't Fall in Love with You", all sung in a voice like a gravel road, with lyrics already drawn to the people living on society's underside.

The Heart of Saturday Night followed in 1974 with "San Diego Serenade", then Nighthawks at the Diner, and Small Change, Blue Valentine and Heartattack and Vine won him bigger audiences and better notices. Film work in 1978 brought him Kathleen Brennan, whom he married in 1980; the same year he dropped his manager and his label and moved to New York. With Brennan urging him on, he tore up the barroom template and went hunting for strange noises in the spirit of Harry Partch and Captain Beefheart: Swordfishtrombones, Rain Dogs and Franks Wild Years clank and wheeze like a junkyard carnival.

Grammys came later for Bone Machine and Mule Variations, and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducted him in 2011, the year Bad as Me arrived. Bruce Springsteen, Rod Stewart and the Eagles have all covered his songs.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.