Rucker founded Hootie & The Blowfish in 1986 with bandmates Mark Bryan, Jim “Soni” Sonefeld and Dean Felber. The outfit apparently came about when Bryan heard Rucker singing in the shower of the college dorms and was awestruck by his vocal prowess.
Ruckers mainstream success with Hootie & The Blowfish was the 1994 release “Cracked Rear View”, which was a staggering success. It was the best selling album of 1995 and went platinum 16 times over in the United States. The album contained the outfit’s best known tune “Only Wanna Be with You”, which peaked at Number 6 and the other hits “Hold My Hand”, “Let Her Cry” and “Time”.
After a small hiatus and an R’n’B styled debut solo album, “Back to Then” (2002), which amounted to modest success, Rucker’s solo career kicked off properly with his country release “Learn to Live” in 2008. The album achieved gold status with the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and later received a platinum certification in 2009. The album’s single “History in the Making” peaked at Number 3 on the Billboard Country Chart. Three singles topped it at Number 1: "Don't Think I Don't Think About It", "It Won't Be Like This for Long" and "Alright", making Ruckers the first black man to chart a number one on the Hot Country Songs charts since 1983. He was also first black man to win the Country Music Association’s New Artist Award.
The album was released on Capitol Records, which would become Rucker’s rock in his solo career, going on to record “Charleston, SC 1966” in 2010, which included the Number 1 singles “Come Back Song” and “This”, and 2012’s “True Believers”, which got him yet another Number 1 with his cover of Old Crow Medicine Show’s “Wagon Wheel” featuring vocals from Lady Antebellum.
Ruckers announced a Christmas album in 2014 that would feature a collaboration with Sheryl Cole on the track “Baby It’s Cold Outside”.
Darius Rucker was a hard ticket to get. His show was in a smaller place in my town and luckily I had a friend that was able to get an extra ticket.
The place only holds about 2500 people and Darius is very popular these days so I was really lucky to get it. The crowd was a mix between pop music people and country music fans. There were some people with cowboy hats but it was mostly 35 and up professional people who grew up listening to his music. The show itself was great. It was high energy from start to finish.
His bandmates were top notch and Darius sounded great. He did some of his Hootie songs but mostly he did his country songs. The great thing about the show was that he interacted so great with the audience. You really felt like you knew him and could sit and have a beer with him after the show. He also smiled a lot and you can tell her really enjoyed doing this and performing.
He closed with his cover hit song of “Wagon Wheel” by Old Crow Medicine Show. The crowd was great and the music was awesome, really great night.
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