With the rich, bluesy vocals of Darius Rucker and gleeful harmonies of guitarist Mark Bryan, bassist Dean Felber and drummer Jim "Soni" Sonefeld, Hootie & The Blowfish sold over 25 million records world wide after their infectious melodies hit the airwaves in 1994 with hits such as "Hold My Hand", "Let Her Cry" and "Only Wanna Be With You."
The quartet met when they were freshman at the University of South Carolina in Columbia. Mark Bryan heard Darius Rucker singing in the showers of the dor...
Read MoreWith the rich, bluesy vocals of Darius Rucker and gleeful harmonies of guitarist Mark Bryan, bassist Dean Felber and drummer Jim "Soni" Sonefeld, Hootie & The Blowfish sold over 25 million records world wide after their infectious melodies hit the airwaves in 1994 with hits such as "Hold My Hand", "Let Her Cry" and "Only Wanna Be With You."
The quartet met when they were freshman at the University of South Carolina in Columbia. Mark Bryan heard Darius Rucker singing in the showers of the dorm they shared and was impressed by his vocal ability. Bryan and Rucker began playing cover tunes as The Wolf Brothers; eventually Bryan and Rucker hooked up with Felber, a former high school band mate of Bryan's, and Jim "Soni" Sonefeld as Hootie & The Blowfish. (The unlikely moniker was borrowed from the nicknames of two college friends.)
In the next five years Hootie & The Blowfish worked their way up the food chain from local draw to gigs all over the Carolinas and finally, the entire East Coast. Their blend of pop, folk, blues, soul and rock made them hard to pigeonhole, but easily accessible to anyone who loved good music. Atlantic Records, impressed by their regional draw, signed them and released Cracked Rear View in 1994. The album had been out for six months before the band played on the Late Show with David Letterman. Letterman told his audience "If you don't have this album, there's something wrong with you." The day after the show aired, sales went from four or five thousand a week to 17,000 a week, and eventually Number One on the Billboard charts the following spring. It remains a strong seller today. "It became dream-like," Rucker recalled. "I'd wished for it, but I'm not sure I believed it, even as it was happening. We were on tour constantly; the whole thing is still kind of a blur."
At the end of the year, Cracked Rear View and the band won two Grammy's - Best New Artist and Song of the Year by duo or group for "Let Her Cry." They also took home an MTV Video Music Award for Best New Artist for "Hold My Hand," a Billboard Music Award for album of the year, a People's Choice Award for Album of the Year and a People's Choice Award for Best Selling Artist, a feat they duplicated in 1996.
Cracked Rear View went on to earn the band Billboard's Band of the Year Award in 1996 and the RIAA's Diamond Award for sales of 10 million units. Cracked Rear View remains the 12th best selling album in music business history, and all albums combined, have moved over 25 million worldwide.
The band kept touring, remaining a top draw nationwide and released five more albums for Atlantic: Fairweather Johnson, (three million); Musical Chairs, (one million); Scattered, Smothered & Covered; Hootie & The Blowfish and The Best of Hootie & The Blowfish as well as a solo album by Mark Bryan 30 on the Rail. Rucker has also released a solo effort, Back To Then on the Hidden Beach label. The band left Atlantic by mutual agreement in 2004; Looking For Lucky released in 2005 was their first album on their own Sneaky Long Records, manufactured and distributed by Vanguard. LIVE in Charleston, The Homegrown Concert Event DVD and CD was released in August of 2006.
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