You wouldn't normally think Tom Waits would share a stage with Neil Diamond or even Michael Jackson -- who he so famously suggested should go to work for Pepsi -- but the raspy voice rocker is about to share a hall with them for eternity.
The Sonoma County resident is being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He will be joined by Neil Diamond, Alice Cooper, Dr. John and Darlene Love as the class of 2011.
The hall nominates 15 artists every year for induction into rock and roll infamy. About 500 music industry types vote on the nominees and those that receive over 50 percent of the vote are inducted.
The honor was a bittersweet honor for Waits. He told the Guardian that he wishes his mother, who passed away earlier this year, could have been around to see the ceremony.
"I wish she was alive to hear the news," he said. "She didn't respond to rock and roll per se, but she would have loved to have a reason to get all dolled up ... [and] the idea of having a Waldorf salad AT the Waldorf Astoria, would for her have been the cat's pajamas."
Waits has been putting out music for more than 40 years and has since gone on to acting and other endeavours.
