Thomas Alan "
Tom"
Waits (born December 7, 1949) is an American singer-songwriter, composer, and actor. Waits has a distinctive voice, described by critic Daniel Durchholz as sounding like "it was soaked in a vat of bourbon, left hanging in the smokehouse for a few months, and then taken outside and run over with a car." With this trademark growl, his incorporation of pre-
rock music styles such as
blues,
jazz, and
vaudeville, and experimental tendencies verging on
industrial music, Waits has built up a distinctive musical persona. He has worked as a composer for movies and
musicals and has acted in supporting roles in films, including
Paradise Alley and
Bram Stoker's Dracula. He also starred in Jim Jarmusch's 1986 film
Down by Law. He was nominated for an
Academy Award for his soundtrack work on
One from the Heart.