Darius Rucker
Darius Rucker (born May 13, 1966) is an American singer, musician, and songwriter. He first gained fame as the lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of rock band Hootie & the Blowfish, which he founded in 1986 at the University of South Carolina along with Mark Bryan, Jim "Soni" Sonefeld, and Dean Felber. The band released five studio albums with Rucker as a member and charted six top 40 hits on the Billboard Hot 100. Rucker co-wrote most of the songs with the other members of the band.
Darius Rucker
May 13, 1966
Charleston, South Carolina, U.S.
- Singer
- songwriter
- musician
- Vocals
- guitar
1986–present
His debut studio album, an R&B record titled Back to Then (2002) was released through Hidden Beach Recordings. Six years later, Rucker signed to Capitol Nashville as a country singer and released his second album, Learn to Live (2008). Its first single, "Don't Think I Don't Think About It", peaked at number one on Hot Country Songs chart, making it the first song by a Black artist to do so since Charley Pride in 1983. It was followed by three similarly successful singles: "It Won't Be Like This for Long", "Alright", and "History in the Making".
In 2009, he became the first Black American to win the New Artist Award from the Country Music Association, and the second Black person to win any award from the association. His third album, Charleston, SC 1966, was released on October 12, 2010. The album included the number one country singles, "Come Back Song" and "This". His fourth album, True Believers (2013), reached number 2 on the Billboard 200, and spawned the singles "True Believers", "Wagon Wheel", and "Radio". His first country Christmas album, Home for the Holidays (2014) reached number 31 on the US Billboard 200. His sixth album, Southern Style (2014) reached number 6 on the Billboard 200, supported by the singles "Homegrown Honey" and "Southern Style". His seventh and eighth studio albums, When Was the Last Time (2017) and Carolyn's Boy (2023) followed thereafter.
Early life[edit]
Rucker was born and raised in Charleston, South Carolina.[3] His single mother, Carolyn, a nurse at Medical University of South Carolina, raised him with his three sisters and two brothers.[4] According to Rucker, his father was never around, and Rucker saw him only before church on Sundays.[5] His father was in a gospel band called The Traveling Echoes.[5] Rucker has said that he had a typical Southern African-American upbringing.[3] His family attended church every Sunday and was economically poor, and at one point, his mother, her two sisters, his grandmother and 14 children were all living in a three-bedroom house.[3] But he says that he looks back on his childhood with very fond memories.[3] His sister, L'Corine, recalled that singing was always his dream.[3]
Hootie & the Blowfish[edit]
Darius Rucker has been the lead singer of Hootie & the Blowfish since its formation in 1986. He met fellow band members Mark Bryan, Jim "Soni" Sonefeld,[3] and Dean Felber while attending the University of South Carolina. Bryan first heard Rucker singing in the shower, and the two became a duo, playing R.E.M. covers at a local venue.[6] They later recruited Felber and finally Sonefeld joined in 1989.[6] As a member of Hootie & the Blowfish, Rucker has recorded seven studio albums: Cracked Rear View – 1994, Fairweather Johnson – 1996, Musical Chairs – 1998, Scattered, Smothered & Covered – 2000, Hootie & the Blowfish - 2003, Looking for Lucky – 2005 and Imperfect Circle - 2019, also charting within the top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100 six times.[7] All six albums feature songs that Rucker, Bryan, Felber, and Sonefeld wrote. As the frontman, Rucker began to be called simply "Hootie" by fans,[8] though the band title combines the nicknames of his college friends.[4] Before his rise to fame, he lived in the basement of the Sigma Phi Epsilon house at the University of South Carolina, attempting to launch his career through the college bar scene.
Rucker's signature contribution to the band is his baritone voice, which Rolling Stone has called "ingratiating,"[9] TIME has called "low, gruff, [and] charismatic,"[5] and Entertainment Weekly has characterized as a "barrelhouse growl."[10] Rucker said they "flipped" the formula of the all black band with a white frontman, like Frank Sinatra performing with Count Basie.[8] Musically, he has sometimes been criticized or spoofed for not being "black enough".[6] Saturday Night Live ran a sketch of Tim Meadows playing Rucker leading beer-drinking, white fraternity members in a counter-march to Louis Farrakhan's Million Man March.[5][11] He also received death threats for singing the Hootie song "Drowning," a protest song against the flying of the Confederate flag above the South Carolina statehouse.[5]
Shortly after gaining a measure of fame, Felber and Rucker (who consider themselves best friends) moved into an apartment in Columbia, South Carolina.[6] With Rucker's recognition as the frontman of a successful band came increased opportunities. In October 1995, he was asked to sing the national anthem at the World Series.[11] Frank Sinatra invited him to sing at his 80th birthday party; he sang "The Lady Is a Tramp."[12] That same week, he made a voice cameo in an episode of the sitcom Friends.[11] He also joined Nanci Griffith on the song "Gulf Coast Highway" for her 1997 album Blue Roses from the Moons,[13] and sang backing vocals on Radney Foster's 1999 album See What You Want to See.[14] He encouraged Atlantic Records to agree to a deal with Edwin McCain and made a guest appearance on McCain's debut album, Honor Among Thieves.[15]
In regard to the future of Hootie & the Blowfish, Rucker was quoted by CBS news as stating in late 2011, "I don't think we'll ever break up totally. We're Hootie & the Blowfish. ... We'll make another record and do another tour someday. I don't know when, but it will happen. There's one more in us."[16] After a ten-year hiatus, Rucker and the band announced that they would be touring with Barenaked Ladies in 2019 while also releasing a new album that same year.[17]
Their sixth studio album Imperfect Circle was released on November 1, 2019.[18]
Golf[edit]
On November 7, 2016, Rucker told ESPN that he had become a partner in MGC Sports, a sports agency that currently represents golfers (among them Steve Stricker and Kenny Perry), football players, and coaches. He added that he was planning to reduce his performance commitments from 100 dates per year to about 30, and that he thought his experience in the entertainment business would be an asset to potential clients. Rucker will be able to work without restrictions for golfers, but because he is not registered with the NFL players' union, he initially will only be able to meet with NFL players under very limited circumstances.[65]
Rucker has hosted the Darius Rucker Intercollegiate at Long Cove Club in Hilton Head since 2012.[66] The three-day tournament annually hosts some of the top women's intercollegiate golf teams in the country.[67]
Personal life[edit]
Rucker is an ardent South Carolina Gamecocks fan as well as a Miami Dolphins and Cincinnati Reds fan.[68]
Rucker's mother died in November 1992 of a heart attack.[4][6] His grief inspired two Hootie & the Blowfish songs: "I'm Goin' Home" and "Not Even the Trees."[5][6] On April 21, 1995, his then-girlfriend, Elizabeth Ann Phillips, gave birth to Rucker's first child, Carolyn Pearl Phillips.[3] Rucker married Beth in 2000.[69] Their second daughter, Daniela Rose, was born on May 16, 2001,[70] and their son, Jack, on October 27, 2004. The Hootie song "Where Were You" is about Rucker's strained relationship with his father, and was released only in Europe, where Rucker thought that his father would be unlikely to hear it.[5] His country single "Alright" was inspired by his marriage.[71] Rucker and his wife announced their divorce in 2020.[69]
Rucker is a friend of golfer Tiger Woods, whom he met in a bar in 1993 when Woods was 18. Rucker sang at the golfer's wedding with Hootie & the Blowfish and at his father's funeral.[72] His interest in golf goes well beyond his relationship with Woods; he was a VIP guest of Team USA at the 2016 Ryder Cup, and he attended Arnold Palmer's funeral shortly before the Cup.[65]
For the Undercover Boss series episode "Celebrity Undercover Boss: Darius Rucker" which premiered May 12, 2017, Rucker disguised himself as a 62-year-old music teacher, ran an open mic night and worked as a roadie.[73]
On February 1, 2024, Rucker was arrested in Williamson County, Tennessee on two misdemeanor drug charges and one misdemeanor vehicle registration violation.[74] He was released after posting $10,500 bail.[75] In a statement given to The Tennessean, Rucker's lawyer Mark Puryear claimed that Rucker was "fully cooperating with authorities related to the misdemeanor charges."[75]
Philanthropy and impact[edit]
Rucker has regularly worked with charities that support sick and underprivileged children, via benefit concerts, volunteering, the World Golf Foundation's The First Tee Program, and the Hootie & The Blowfish Foundation which has raised nearly $4.5 million to provide funding to public education systems throughout South Carolina.[76]
He serves as a board member of the MUSC Shawn Jenkins Children's Hospital in Charleston, where his mother worked for over thirty years from the time Rucker was a child, and has helped raise millions of dollars to help build a new hospital.[77][78]
He also made a commitment to support St. Jude Children's Research Hospital after touring the facility in 2008. Since then, Rucker has spearheaded an annual event resulting in over $1.6 million raised for St. Jude's to date.[79]
Headlining
Co-headlining
Supporting
