托马斯·艾伦·韦茨（Thomas Alan Waits，1949年12月7日-），美国音乐家、作曲家、词曲作者和演员。他的歌词经常关注社会的底层，并以他标志性的深沉、沙砾的声音传达。他在 1970 年代主要从事爵士乐工作，但自 1980 年代以来，他的音乐反映了布鲁斯、摇滚、杂耍和实验流派的更大影响。

Waits 在加利福尼亚州惠蒂尔的一个中产阶级家庭出生和长大。受到鲍勃·迪伦（Bob Dylan）和垮掉的一代（Beat Generation）作品的启发，他从小就开始在圣地亚哥的民间音乐巡回演出中唱歌。他于 1972 年搬到洛杉矶，在与 Asylum Records 签订唱片合同之前，他在那里担任词曲作者。他的第一张专辑是以爵士乐为导向的《Closing Time》（1973）和《The Heart of Saturday Night》（1974），这反映了他对夜生活、贫困和犯罪的抒情兴趣。他多次在美国、欧洲和日本巡回演出，并凭借《小变化》（1976）、《蓝色情人节》（1978）和《心脏病发作与藤蔓》（1980）获得了更大的评论界认可和商业成功。他为弗朗西斯·福特·科波拉（Francis Ford Coppola）的电影《One from the Heart》（1981）制作了配乐，随后在几部科波拉电影中客串演出。

1980年，韦茨与凯瑟琳·布伦南（Kathleen Brennan）结婚，与他的经纪人和唱片公司分手，并搬到了纽约市。在布伦南的鼓励和频繁的合作下，他追求一种更具实验性和折衷主义的音乐美学，受到哈里·帕奇和牛心船长作品的影响。这反映在Island Records发行的一系列专辑中，包括Swordfishtrombones（1983），Rain Dogs（1985）和Franks Wild Years（1987）。他继续出演电影，特别是主演了吉姆·贾穆什（Jim Jarmusch）的《法律》（1986），并在戏剧中露面。他与戏剧导演罗伯特·威尔逊（Robert Wilson）一起制作了音乐剧《黑骑士》（1990年）和《爱丽丝》（1992年），首次在汉堡演出。1990 年代回到加利福尼亚后，他的专辑《Bone Machine》（1992 年）、《The Black Rider》（1993 年）和《Mule Variations》（1999 年）为他赢得了越来越多的好评和多项格莱美奖。在 1990 年代后期，他转投唱片公司 ANTI-，该唱片公司发行了 Blood Money （2002）、Alice （2002）、Real Gone （2004） 和 Bad as Me （2011）。

尽管缺乏主流商业上的成功，但 Waits 影响了许多音乐家并获得了国际狂热的追随者，并且已经写了几本关于他的传记。2015 年，他在滚石杂志的“有史以来最伟大的 100 位词曲作者”中排名第 55 位。他于2011年入选摇滚名人堂。

Thomas Alan Waits (born December 7, 1949) is an American musician, composer, songwriter and actor. His lyrics often focus on the underbelly of society and are delivered in his trademark deep, gravelly voice. 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.

Waits was born and raised in a middle-class family in Whittier, California. Inspired by the work of Bob Dylan and the Beat Generation, he began singing on the San Diego folk music circuit as a young boy. He relocated to Los Angeles in 1972, where he worked as a songwriter before signing a recording contract with Asylum Records. 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 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). He produced the soundtrack for Francis Ford Coppola's film One from the Heart (1981), and subsequently made cameo appearances in several Coppola films.

In 1980, Waits married Kathleen 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 experimental and eclectic musical aesthetic influenced by the work of Harry Partch and Captain Beefheart. This was reflected in a series of albums released by Island Records, including Swordfishtrombones (1983), Rain Dogs (1985), and Franks Wild Years (1987). He continued appearing in films, notably starring in Jim Jarmusch's Down by Law (1986), and also made theatrical appearances. With theatre director Robert Wilson, he produced the musicals The Black Rider (1990) and Alice (1992), first performed in Hamburg. 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. 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).

Despite 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. In 2015, he was ranked at No. 55 on Rolling Stone's "100 Greatest Songwriters of All Time". He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2011.

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Músico, cantante, compositor y actor estadounidense, famoso por sus canciones de tono áspero, inspiradas en escritores como Charles Bukowski y coetáneos de la Generación Beat como Jack Kerouac. Líricamente, sus canciones suelen presentar complejos retratos de lugares y personajes muy variados. En 2011 Waits ingresó en el Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.