Darius Rucker

Darius Rucker

Darius Carlos Rucker (born May 13, 1966 in Charleston , South Carolina ) is an American rock , R&B and country singer . He became known in the 90s as the singer of the band Hootie and the Blowfish .

Career

Rucker attended Middleton High School in his hometown and then went to the University of South Carolina . There he met the three fellow students with whom he founded Hootie and the Blowfish in 1989 . As of 1994, they had several single hits and three top 5 albums in the United States. Then they took a break, which Rucker used for a solo excursion. Instead of staying true to the band's pop-rock style, he turned to R&B and completed the album The Return of Mongo Slade . The release on the band label Atlantic failed due to contractual problems, so that his solo debut only appeared in 2002 on the indie label Hidden Beach under the new name Back to Then . The album remained relatively unsuccessful and only reached the lower ranks of the R&B and sales charts.

A year later, Hootie and the Blowfish recorded a new album together. But after this and the following album were only moderately successful, the band broke up in 2008.

Darius Rucker then made a new attempt with his solo career and this time turned towards country music . The music was familiar to him from his youth in South Carolina and he had tried to bring it to Hootie and the Blowfish , but was overruled by his bandmates. In 2005 he also appeared in a commercial as a singing cowboy.

His first single Don't Think I Don't Think About It was released in 2008 and immediately became a huge success. It worked its way up to number 1 on the country charts , making him the first African American with a country number one hit since Charley Pride in 1983. His album Learn to Live then also came to number 1 on the country charts. Albums and It Won't Be Like This for Long became the second number-one single in a row. Rucker was also successful in the official Hot 100 and Billboard 200 charts with singles and an album. On October 2, 2012, he became a member of the Grand Ole Opry .

Darius Rucker had his biggest hit in 2013 with the song Wagon Wheel . Not only was it his third number one on the country charts and number 15 on the Hot 100, it sold over two million copies and went double platinum . He was also named the best country solo performance of the year at the 2014 Grammy Awards .

In late July 2013, the mayor of Rucker's hometown of Charleston, South Carolina, announced that a street would be named after the successful citizen. Coliseum Drive will be called Darius Rucker Boulevard from mid-August.

In an interview with the music magazine Rolling Stone, Darius Rucker revealed that he and his old bandmates want to record a new Hootie & the Blowfish album and go on tour.

Discography

Albums

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)			Remarks
		UK	US	Country
2002	Back to Then	-	US127 (2 weeks) US	-
2008	Learn to Live	-	US5 platinum (112 weeks)US	Country1 (82 weeks) Country
2010	Charleston, SC 1966	-	US2 gold (41 weeks)US	Country1 (78 weeks) Country
2013	True Believers	UK89 (1 week) UK	US2 platinum (47 weeks)US	Country1 (77 weeks) Country
2014	Home for the Holidays	-	US25 (13 weeks) US	Country3 (10 weeks) Country
2015	Southern style	-	US7 (16 weeks) US	Country1 (42 weeks) Country
2017	When Was the Last Time	-	US8 (7 weeks) US	Country2 (31 weeks) Country

Singles

year	Title album	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes)		Remarks
		US	Country
2008	Don't Think I Don't Think About It Learn to Live	US35 gold (20 weeks)US	Country1 (28 weeks) Country
	It Won't Be Like This for Long Learn to Live	US36 gold (20 weeks)US	Country1 (27 weeks) Country
2009	Alright learn to live	US30th × 2 Double platinum (20 weeks)US	Country1 (21 weeks) Country
	History in the Making Learn to Live	US61 (20 weeks) US	Country3 (27 weeks) Country
	Winter wonderland	-	Country49 (2 weeks) Country
	Candy Cane Chistmas	-	Country32 (4 weeks) Country
2010	Come Back Song Charleston, SC 1966	US37 gold (20 weeks)US	Country1 (21 weeks) Country
	This Charleston, SC 1966	US51 gold (20 weeks)US	Country1 (25 weeks) Country
2011	I Got Nothin ' Charleston, SC 1966	US84 (10 weeks) US	Country17 (28 weeks) Country
2012	True Believers True Believers	-	Country24 (19 weeks) Country
2013	Wagon Wheel True Believers	US15th × 8 Eight times platinum (26 weeks)US	Country1 (41 weeks) Country
	Radio True Believers	US65 (15 weeks) US	Country14 (21 weeks) Country
2014	Homegrown Honey Southern Style	US53 (20 weeks) US	Country6 (32 weeks) Country
2015	Southern Style Southern Style	-	Country38 (10 weeks) Country
2016	If I Told You When Was the Last Time	US53 platinum (11 weeks)US	Country4 (43 weeks) Country
2017	For the First Time When Was the Last Time	US58 (10 weeks) US	Country7 (31 weeks) Country
2020	Beers and Sunshine	-	Country25 (... weeks) Country
The following songs did not appear as single, but were made available for download and streaming through the album and were thus able to achieve a placement:
2017	Don't When Was the Last Time	-	Country39 (1 week) Country

Guest Posts

year	Title album	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes)		Remarks
		US	Country
2016	Forever Country	US21st gold (4 weeks)US	Country1 (18 weeks) Country	as part of Artists of Then, Now & Forever
The following songs did not appear as single, but were made available for download and streaming through the album and were thus able to achieve a placement:
2016	My Place Kuntry Livin '	-	Country49 (1 week) Country	Big Smo feat. Darius Rucker

More singles

• 2002: Exodus
• 2003: Wild One
• 2014: Miss You
• 2018: Straight to Hell (feat. Jason Aldean , Luke Bryan & Charles Kelley)

swell

1. ↑ Entry at aceshowbiz.com
2. ↑ http://www.country.de/2012/10/03/darius-rucker-ist-member-of-the-grand-ole-opry/
3. ^ Wagon Wheel in the RIAA Certification Database
4. ↑ http://www.charlestoncitypaper.com/FeedbackFile/archives/2013/07/26/coliseum-drive-to-become-darius-rucker-boulevard/
5. ↑ http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/darius-rucker-on-wagon-wheel-and-the-future-of-hootie-20130719/
6. ↑ ^{a b c} US chart history
7. ↑ Music Sales Awards: US

Web links

• Official MySpace page
• official website (English).
• Biography at About.com (English)
• Darius Rucker at Allmusic (English)