Thomas Alan Waits (born December 7, 1949) is an American singer, songwriter, composer and actor. His lyrics often focus on society's underworld and are delivered in his trademark deep, gravelly voice. He began in the folk scene during the 1970s, but his music since the 1980s has reflected the influence of such diverse genres as rock, jazz, Delta blues, opera, vaudeville, cabaret, funk and experimental techniques verging on industrial music.

Tom Waits was born in a middle-class family in Pomona, California and grew up there. Inspired by the work of Bob Dylan and the Beat Generation, he began singing on the San Diego folk circuit. He moved to Los Angeles in 1972, where he worked as a songwriter before signing a recording contract with Asylum Records. His debut album was Closing Time (1973) and The Heart of Saturday Night (1974) and Nighthawks at the Diner (1975) followed. He toured the United States, Europe, and Japan finding greater critical and commercial success with Small Change (1976), Blue Valentine (1978), and Heartattack and Vine (1980). During that time, Waits entered the world of film, acting in Paradise Alley (1978) where he met Kathleen Brennan.

In 1980, Waits married Brennan, split from his manager and record label, and moved to New York City. With Brennan's encouragement and frequent collaboration, he pursued a more eclectic and experimental sound influenced by Harry Partch and Captain Beefheart, as heard on the loose trilogy Swordfishtrombones (1983), Rain Dogs (1985) and Franks Wild Years (1987). In 1990, he collaborated with theater director Robert Wilson on the musical The Black Rider, the songs for which were released on the album of the same name. Waits and Wilson reunited for the musicals Alice (1992) and Woyzeck (2000). In 2002, the songs from them were released on the albums Alice and Blood Money. Waits won Grammys for Best Alternative Music Album and Best Contemporary Folk Album for Bone Machine (1992) and Mule Variations (1999). Waits went on to release Real Gone (2004), the compilation Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers & Bastards (2006), the live album Glitter and Doom Live (2009) and Bad as Me (2011). Waits has not toured since 2008 and has not issued new music since 2011, though he continues to make isolated (and widely-spaced) appearances guesting at concerts and special events. He also has published poetry and has continued his acting career, which began with a small part in 1978's Paradise Alley and has encompassed a range of off-beat character roles ever since.

Waits has influenced many artists and gained an international cult following. His songs have been covered by Bruce Springsteen, Tori Amos, Rod Stewart, and the Eagles and he has written songs for Johnny Cash and Norah Jones among others. In 2011, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Introducing him, Neil Young said "This next man is indescribable, and I'm here to describe him. He's sort of a performer, singer, actor, magician, spirit guide, changeling." Accepting the honor, Waits mused: "They say that I have no hits and I'm difficult to work with. And they say that like it's a bad thing!"

Thomas Alan Waits was born on December 7, 1949, in Pomona, California. He has one older and one younger sister. His father, Jesse Frank Waits, was a Texas native of Scots-Irish descent, and his mother, Alma Fern (née Johnson), hailed from Oregon and had Norwegian ancestry. Alma, a regular church-goer, managed the household. Jesse taught Spanish at a local school and was an alcoholic; Waits later related that his father was "a tough one, always an outsider." They lived at 318 North Pickering Avenue in Whittier, California. He recalled having a "very middle-class" upbringing and "a pretty normal childhood". He attended Jordan Elementary School, where he was bullied. There, he learned to play the bugle and guitar. His father taught him to play the ukulele.

During the summers, he visited maternal relatives in Gridley and Marysville, both in California. He later recalled that it was an uncle's raspy, gravelly timbre that inspired his own singing voice. In 1959, his parents separated and his father moved away from the family home, a traumatic experience for the 10-year-old Waits. Alma took her children and relocated to Chula Vista, a middle-class suburb of San Diego. Jesse visited the family there, taking his children on trips to Tijuana. In nearby Southeast San Diego, Waits attended O'Farrell Community School, where he fronted a school band, the Systems, which he described as "white kids trying to get that Motown sound." He developed a love of R&B and soul singers like Ray Charles and Wilson Pickett, as well as country music and Roy Orbison. Bob Dylan later became an inspiration; Waits placed transcriptions of Dylan's lyrics on his bedroom walls.

Waits recalls: "I was fifteen and I snuck in to see Lightnin' Hopkins. Amazing show. Every time he opened his mouth he had that orchestra of gold teeth, and I was devastated... He walked through a door, and slammed the door behind him, and on the door it said, I swear to God, 'KEEP OUT. This room is for entertainers ONLY.' And I knew, at that moment, that I had to get into show business as soon as possible." He recalls: "I first saw James Brown in 1962 at an outdoor theatre in San Diego and it was indescribable ... it was like putting a finger in a light socket... It was really like seeing mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral on Christmas." By the time he was studying at Hilltop High School in Chula Vista, California, he later said he was "kind of an amateur juvenile delinquent", interested in "malicious mischief" and breaking the law. He later said that he was a "rebel against the rebels", eschewing the hippie subculture which was growing in popularity for the 1950s Beat generation, especially Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, and William S. Burroughs. In 1968, at age 18, Waits dropped out of high school. He was an avid watcher of Alfred Hitchcock Presents and The Twilight Zone. Another influence was the comedian Lenny Bruce.

Waits worked at Napoleone's pizza restaurant in National City, California, and both there and at a local diner developed an interest in the lives of the patrons, writing down phrases and snippets of dialogue he overheard. He worked in the forestry service as a fireman for three years and served with the U.S. Coast Guard. He enrolled at Southwestern Community College in Chula Vista to study photography, for a time considering a career in the field. He continued pursuing his musical interests, taking piano lessons. He began frequenting venues around San Diego, being drawn into the city's folk scene.