Darius Rucker

Profile Overview

Darius Carlos Rucker (born May 13, 1966) is an American singer-songwriter. He first gained fame as the lead vocalist of the rock band Hootie & the Blowfish, which he founded in 1986 at the University of South Carolina along with Mark Bryan, Brantley Smith, and Dean Felber. The band released six 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.
His debut studio album, an R&B record titled Back to Then, was released through Hidden Beach Recordings in 2002. 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, Rucker 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 in 2010. It 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 and was 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. In 2025, he debuted a new supergroup, Howl Owl Howl.