There, he learned to play the bugle and guitar, while his father taught him to play the ukulele. He attended Jordan Elementary School, where he was bullied. He described having a "very middle-class" upbringing and "a pretty normal childhood". The family lived at 318 North Pickering Avenue in Whittier, California. Jesse taught Spanish at a local school and was an alcoholic Waits later related that his father was "a tough one, always an outsider". Alma, a regular church-goer, managed the household. His father, Jesse Frank Waits, was a Texas native of Scots-Irish descent, while his mother, Alma Fern (née Johnson), hailed from Oregon and had Norwegian ancestry. He has one older sister and one younger sister. Thomas Alan Waits was born on December 7, 1949, in Pomona, California. Greenleaf Street in Waits' childhood town of Whittier, California He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2011. 55 on Rolling Stone 's " 100 Greatest Songwriters of All Time". In the late 1990s, he switched to the record label ANTI-, which released Blood Money (2002), Alice (2002), Real Gone (2004), and Bad as Me (2011).ĭespite a lack of mainstream commercial success, Waits has influenced many musicians and gained an international cult following, and several biographies have been written about him. Having returned to California in the 1990s, his albums Bone Machine (1992), The Black Rider (1993), and Mule Variations (1999) earned him increasing critical acclaim and multiple Grammy Awards. With theatre director Robert Wilson, he produced the musicals The Black Rider and Alice, first performed in Hamburg. He continued appearing in films, notably starring in Jim Jarmusch's Down by Law (1986), and also made theatrical appearances.
#Pinnacle studio wedding project free download series
This was reflected in a series of albums released by Island Records, including Swordfishtrombones (1983), Rain Dogs (1985), and Franks Wild Years (1987). With Brennan's encouragement and frequent collaboration, he pursued a more experimental and eclectic musical aesthetic influenced by the work of Harry Partch and Captain Beefheart.
In 1980, Waits married Kathleen Brennan, split from his manager and record label, and moved to New York City. He produced the soundtrack for Francis Ford Coppola's film One from the Heart (1981), and subsequently made cameo appearances in several Coppola films. He repeatedly toured the United States, Europe, and Japan, and attracted greater critical recognition and commercial success with Small Change (1976), Blue Valentine (1978), and Heartattack and Vine (1980). His first albums were the jazz-oriented Closing Time (1973) and The Heart of Saturday Night (1974), which reflected his lyrical interest in nightlife, poverty, and criminality. He relocated to Los Angeles in 1972, where he worked as a songwriter before signing a recording contract with Asylum Records. Inspired by the work of Bob Dylan and the Beat Generation, he began singing on the San Diego folk music circuit as a teenager. Waits was born and raised in a middle-class family in Pomona, California. He worked primarily in jazz during the 1970s, but his music since the 1980s has reflected greater influence from blues, rock, vaudeville, and experimental genres. His lyrics often focus on the underbelly of society and are delivered in his trademark deep, gravelly voice. Thomas Alan Waits (born December 7, 1949) is an American singer, musician, songwriter, composer, and actor.