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Tom Waits turned 57 today. LA's own gravel-voiced minstrel got his start at the Troubador in 1970 and gained commercial success primarily through other artists covering his tunes, for example, the Eagles (the Eagles!!!) covering "Ol' 55" on their On the Border album.
Later his songs were covered by the likes of Bruce Springsteen ("Jersey Girl"), Rod Stewart ("Downtown Train"), and even the Ramones ("I Don't Wanna Grow Up").
This is an artist who toured with Laurel Canyon-ite Frank Zappa, Martha and the Vandellas, and countless other iconic performers. He's outlived and outproduced just about everyone, and if you saw him on Letterman last week, there's plenty to come. A tip of the pork-pie hat to an LAist favorite, we wish him many more wild years.
