Tom Waits's Real Name: Thomas Alan Waits

Quick answer: The singer and actor is known professionally as Tom Waits. Britannica and Encyclopedia.com independently give the fuller form Thomas Alan Waits and date his birth to December 7, 1949, in Pomona, California. Encyclopedia.com also notes that some sources say Whittier (Britannica; Encyclopedia.com).

Real name and early life

Independent publishers support the documented full name Thomas Alan Waits. Britannica describes him as born into a middle-class California family and says that, enamored of the bohemian lifestyle depicted in Beat literature, he lived in his car and in seedy Los Angeles hotels as he began his career. Encyclopedia.com independently places the birth in Pomona, California, on December 7, 1949, while recording that some sources say Whittier, and it describes him as growing up in Southern California. Britannica says he married songwriter and screenwriter Kathleen Brennan in 1980 and that they have three children; Encyclopedia.com independently dates that marriage to August 10, 1980.

Career highlights

Britannica says his albums found considerable commercial success in Britain beginning in the mid-1980s, though even his best-selling albums, Small Change (1976) and Heartattack and Vine (1980), failed to crack the American Top 40. It says his songs have been recorded by the Eagles ("Ol' 55") and others, that he was nominated for an Academy Award for composing the music for Francis Ford Coppola's 1981 film One from the Heart, that Bone Machine (1992) won a Grammy Award for best alternative music album, and that Mule Variations (1999) won a Grammy for best contemporary folk album. It also lists later albums including Blood Money (2002), Real Gone (2004), and Bad as Me (2011), and records his induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2011. Encyclopedia.com independently lists Small Change and Bone Machine and the 1992 Grammy for that album.

Acting

Britannica traces an alternate career as a film actor from the 1980s, notably in Jim Jarmusch's Down by Law (1986), and later lists Dracula (1992), Short Cuts (1993), Coffee and Cigarettes (2003), and Licorice Pizza (2021), among other credits. Encyclopedia.com independently names work with Jarmusch, including Down by Law, with Robert Altman on Short Cuts, and with Coppola, including Bram Stoker's Dracula.

Name notes for searchers

People looking up Tom Waits or Thomas Alan Waits are looking for the same American singer-songwriter and actor. Independent sources support the fuller form used in the title. This page is about the musician and film actor, not other performers with similar names.