Hootie & the Blowfish | |
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Background information | |
Origin | Columbia, South Carolina, U.S. |
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Website | hootie |
Hootie & the Blowfish is an American rock band formed in Columbia, South Carolina, in 1986. The band's lineup for most of its existence has been the quartet of Darius Rucker, Mark Bryan, Dean Felber, and Jim Sonefeld. The band went on hiatus in 2008 until they announced plans for a full reunion tour in 2019 and released their first new studio album in fourteen years, Imperfect Circle .
As of 2019 [update] , Hootie & the Blowfish have won two Grammy Awards, landed sixteen singles on various Billboard singles charts, and released six studio albums. The band's debut album, Cracked Rear View (1994), became one of the best-selling albums in the United States and was certified platinum 22 times. The band is known for its three Top 10 singles: "Hold My Hand" (1994), "Let Her Cry" (1994), and "Only Wanna Be with You" (1995). The band is also popular in Canada, having three number-one singles in that country. [1]
Darius Rucker and Mark Bryan met in Columbia, South Carolina, in the mid-1980s when they were both freshmen at the University of South Carolina. [2] Bryan, a guitar player, heard Rucker singing in the showers of the dorm they shared and was impressed by his vocal ability. The pair began playing cover tunes as the Wolf Brothers.
Eventually, they collaborated with bassist Dean Felber, a former high school bandmate of Bryan's, and Brantley Smith, a drummer. In 1986, they adopted the name Hootie & the Blowfish, a conjunction of the nicknames of two of their college friends. [3] The band is routinely featured in articles and polls about badly-named bands. [4] [5] Rucker is often labeled as being the "Hootie" in the band's name. [6] Smith left the group after finishing college to pursue music ministry, but he has made scattered guest appearances with the band (he played cello on their MTV Unplugged performance in 1996 and played drums at Gruene Hall in Gruene, Texas, on June 27, 2008). Smith was replaced full time in 1989 by Jim "Soni" Sonefeld. The band's lineup has remained the same ever since.
The band independently released two cassette demo EPs in 1991 and 1992.[ citation needed ] In 1993, they pressed 50,000 copies of a self-released EP, Kootchypop . They were signed to Atlantic Records in August 1993 after being discovered by Atlantic A&R representative Tim Sommer, a former music journalist and member of the art rock band Hugo Largo. [7] Sommer recalled that other record labels were uninterested in signing Hootie & The Blowfish because their sound was radically different from the grunge music that was popular at the time. [7]
Their mainstream debut album was Cracked Rear View (1994). Released in July 1994, the album's popularity grew after its release, becoming the best-selling album of 1995, and was one of the fastest-selling debut albums of all time. The album was certified platinum in the United States in January 1995, and incrementally rose to 12× platinum by January 1996, and 16× platinum by March 1999. In May 2019, the certification was updated from 16× platinum to 21× platinum.
The album featured four hits, "Hold My Hand" (U.S. No. 10), "Let Her Cry" (U.S. No. 9), "Only Wanna Be with You" (U.S. No. 6), and "Time" (U.S. No. 14). [8] The album's last single, "Drowning", was not as successful as its predecessors, peaking only on the Mainstream Rock chart. In 1995, Hootie & the Blowfish and Bob Dylan reached an out-of-court settlement for the group's unauthorized use of Dylan's lyrics in their song "Only Wanna Be with You". [9] Miami Dolphins' Hall of Fame quarterback Dan Marino appeared along with several other athletes in the band's video for the song "Only Wanna Be with You". [10]
In 1995, Hootie & the Blowfish contributed the song "Hey, Hey, What Can I Do" to the Encomium tribute album to Led Zeppelin. Their cover of Canadian group 54-40's "I Go Blind", released on the soundtrack to the television series Friends in 1995, did not appear on Cracked Rear View or Fairweather Johnson, but became a hit on radio in 1996 after three singles from Fairweather Johnson had been released. Both "Hey, Hey, What Can I Do" and "I Go Blind" were later released on the compilation Scattered, Smothered and Covered.
On February 28, 1996, at the 38th Annual Grammy Awards, Hootie & the Blowfish won the Grammy for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal (for the single "Let Her Cry") and the Grammy for "Best New Artist". [11] [12] [13] The band appeared on MTV Unplugged on the eve of the release of their second album, Fairweather Johnson (1996). The album contained the hit single "Old Man and Me" (U.S. No. 13), and sold four million copies in the United States.
In 1998, the band performed on Frank Wildhorn's concept album of the musical The Civil War . Hootie & the Blowfish released their third studio album, Musical Chairs , on September 15, 1998. It spawned the singles "I Will Wait" and "Only Lonely". [14]
The group covered the 1968 Orpheus hit "Can't Find the Time" for the soundtrack of the Jim Carrey movie Me, Myself & Irene (2000). The song's writer, Bruce Arnold, traded verses with Darius on several occasions when the band played live on the West Coast. The band kept to an extensive touring schedule, including an annual New Year's Eve show at Silverton Las Vegas (formerly known as Boomtown Las Vegas) in Enterprise, Nevada.
The band released a B-sides and rarities compilation titled Scattered, Smothered and Covered (2000). This album is named in tribute of Waffle House, a popular Southern chain of all-night diners. Specifically, the title refers to an order of hash browns—shredded potatoes scattered on the grill, smothered with diced onions, and covered with melted cheese. [15]
In 2003, the band released a self-titled album.
In 2005, the band released Looking for Lucky .
In 2008, Rucker announced in an AOL Sessions interview that the band would go on hiatus for several years so that Rucker could pursue a solo career as a country music performer. Rucker confirmed the band would still perform their scheduled charity concerts but added they would not record or tour. [16] Rucker later clarified the band was not splitting up. [17]
In 2009, Hootie & the Blowfish performed live in a ballet that chronicled their rise and success in the 1990s. [18]
Rucker went on to record the solo albums Learn to Live , Charleston, SC 1966 , True Believers , Home for the Holidays, and Southern Style .
The band reunited for a one-time performance on the Late Show with David Letterman in the run-up to Letterman's retirement from the show in May 2015. In August 2015, Darius Rucker said on The Today Show that the band members were working on new songs and would record a new album when they had enough material. [19]
In 2015, the Irish band Music for Dead Birds released a song titled 'Hooty and the Blowfish', a slight misspelling of the group's name. [20] [ clarification needed ]
On December 3, 2018, the band announced the 44-city Group Therapy Tour with Barenaked Ladies in 2019 to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the release of Cracked Rear View . The tour began on May 30, 2019, in Virginia Beach and concluded on September 13 in their hometown of Columbia, South Carolina. They also signed a new record deal with UMG Nashville." [21] [22]
The band's sixth studio album, Imperfect Circle , was released on November 1, 2019. [23]
In April 2020, the band released a cover version of R.E.M.'s "Losing My Religion". [24]
In 2022, Sonefeld released a memoir entitled Swimming with a Blowfish: Hootie, Healing, and the Ride of a Lifetime ( ISBN 978-1-63576-767-4). In 2024, Rucker released Life's Too Short: A Memoir ( ISBN 978-0-06323-874-9).
In 1996, Hootie & the Blowfish started their own record label, Breaking Records, as a subsidiary of Atlantic. They had planned to focus on signing local Carolina acts. Edwin McCain and Cravin' Melon were associated with the label at one point but did not release any material on it. The Meat Puppets, Jump, Little Children, Virginwool, Treadmill Trackstar, and Treehouse released one album each on Breaking Records. The label folded in 2000.
Tim Sommer, the band's A&R representative at Atlantic Records, said Hootie & The Blowfish donated all the proceeds from a Seattle concert in the 1990s to a rape crisis group that had been set up in memory of Mia Zapata, the lead singer of the punk band The Gits, who had been murdered in 1993. Sommer had originally intended to sign The Gits to Atlantic before Zapata's death and prior to him signing Hootie & The Blowfish. [7]
Hootie & the Blowfish have become known for their charity work. The entire band and crew traveled to New Orleans for five days of building houses in Musicians' Village on October 16–20, 2006. [25] The band's members are avid golfers and have sponsored the annual spring Monday After the Masters Celebrity Pro-Am Golf Tournament, benefiting local charities, since 1995. [26]
Hootie & the Blowfish toured through the Middle East and Europe, supporting American troops during a USO tour. On December 5, 1998, Darius Rucker broke into a cappella solo of the US National Anthem during the lowering of colors on board USS Enterprise (CVN-65), which was docked in Jebel Ali, United Arab Emirates. The band then played an extended concert for crew members of the aircraft carrier. [27]
From 2005 to 2009, Hootie & the Blowfish performed at the Animal Mission's 'Party Animals' silent auction and concert to benefit the shelter animals in Columbia, South Carolina. Each year, the event raised over $100,000 and allowed the organization to provide a free spay/neuter program for the Southern community's pets. On October 18, 2008, Hootie & the Blowfish reunited to do a show at Incirlik Air Base in Turkey.
The band is a member of the Canadian charity Artists Against Racism and has worked with them on awareness campaigns like TV PSAs. [28]
Contrasting with the sound of their grunge contemporaries, the band's music was described as "a mainstream pop variation of blues rock" with "equal parts of jam band grooves and MOR pop." [29] [30] The band's sound was also described as alternative rock, [31] [32] [33] [34] soft rock, [35] roots rock, [36] heartland rock, [37] country rock, [38] blues rock, [39] and college rock. [40]
Title | Album details | Peak chart positions | Certifications (sales threshold) | ||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
US [41] | US Indie [42] | AUS [43] | CAN [44] | GER [45] | NL [46] | NZ [47] | SWE [48] | SWI [49] | UK [50] | ||||||||||
Cracked Rear View |
| 1 | — | 7 | 1 | 45 | — | 1 | — | — | 12 | ||||||||
Fairweather Johnson |
| 1 | — | 12 | 6 | 41 | 37 | 6 | 36 | 37 | 9 | ||||||||
Musical Chairs |
| 4 | — | 54 | 27 | 72 | — | 20 | — | — | 15 |
| |||||||
Hootie & the Blowfish |
| 46 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 161 | ||||||||
Looking for Lucky |
| 47 | 4 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||||
Imperfect Circle |
| 26 | — | — [A] | — | — | — | — | — | — | 100 | ||||||||
"—" denotes releases that did not chart |
Title | Album details | Peak chart positions | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
US [2] | US Indie [42] | ||||||||
Scattered, Smothered and Covered |
| 71 | — | ||||||
The Best of Hootie & the Blowfish: 1993–2003 |
| 62 | — | ||||||
Live in Charleston |
| — | 47 | ||||||
"—" denotes releases that did not chart |
Title | Year | Peak chart positions | Certifications | Album | |||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
US [2] | US Main [58] | US AC [59] | US Adult [60] | AUS [43] | CAN [1] | GER [61] | ICE [62] | NZ [63] | UK [50] | ||||||||||
"Hold My Hand" | 1994 | 10 | 4 | 6 | 25 | 70 | 36 | — | — | 37 | 50 | Cracked Rear View | |||||||
"Let Her Cry" | 9 | 9 | 6 | 16 | 4 | 2 | 78 | 4 | 19 | 75 |
| ||||||||
"Only Wanna Be with You" | 1995 | 6 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 40 | 1 | 65 | 4 | 17 | 85 | ||||||||
"Hannah Jane" [B] | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 23 | — | — | |||||||||
"Time" | 14 | 26 | 4 | 1 | — | 1 | — | 9 | 35 | — | |||||||||
"Hey, Hey, What Can I Do" [C] | — | 15 | — | — | — | 62 | — | — | — | — | Encomium: a Tribute to Led Zeppelin | ||||||||
"Drowning" | — | 21 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Cracked Rear View | ||||||||
"Old Man & Me (When I Get to Heaven)" | 1996 | 13 | 6 | 18 | 4 | 60 | 1 | 75 | 8 | 41 | 57 | Fairweather Johnson | |||||||
"Tucker's Town" | 38 | 29 | 24 | 12 | — | 2 | — | 20 | — | 77 | |||||||||
"I Go Blind" [D] | — [E] | — | 22 | 2 | 17 | 13 | — | — | — | — | Friends Original TV Soundtrack | ||||||||
"Sad Caper" | — [F] | — | — | 26 | — | 32 | — | — | — | — | Fairweather Johnson | ||||||||
"I Will Wait" | 1998 | — [G] | — | 28 | 3 | — | 7 | — | — | — | 57 | Musical Chairs | |||||||
"Only Lonely" | 1999 | — | — | 25 | 29 | — | 20 | — | — | — | 169 | ||||||||
"Wishing" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||||||||
"Innocence" | 2003 | — | — | 25 | 24 | — | — | — | — | — | — | Hootie & the Blowfish | |||||||
"It's Alright" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||||||||
"Goodbye Girl" | — | — | 24 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | The Best of Hootie & the Blowfish | ||||||||
"One Love" | 2005 | — | — | 5 | 20 | — | — | — | — | — | — | Looking for Lucky | |||||||
"Get Out of My Mind" | 2006 | — | — | 17 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||||
"Hold On" [66] | 2019 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Imperfect Circle | |||||||
"Miss California" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||||||||
"Losing My Religion" | 2020 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Added to re-release editions of Imperfect Circle | |||||||
"Won't Be Home for Christmas" [67] | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Non-album singles | ||||||||
"For What It's Worth" [68] | 2024 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||||
"—" denotes releases that did not chart |
Year | Single | Album |
---|---|---|
2000 | "Can't Find the Time to Tell You" | Me, Myself & Irene: Music from the Motion Picture |
Title | Year | Director |
---|---|---|
"Hold My Hand" | 1994 | Adolfo Doring |
"Let Her Cry" | ||
"Only Wanna Be with You" | 1995 | Frank Sacramento |
"Time" | ||
"Old Man and Me (When I Get to Heaven)" | 1996 | Dan Winters |
"Tucker's Town" | Greg Masuak | |
"I Will Wait" | 1998 | Nigel Dick |
"Hold On" | 2019 |
The American Music Award is an annual American music awards show.
Year | Nominee / work | Award | Result |
---|---|---|---|
1996 | Hootie & the Blowfish | Artist of the Year | Nominated |
Favorite Pop/Rock Band/Duo/Group | Nominated | ||
Favorite Pop/Rock New Artist | Won | ||
Favorite Adult Contemporary Artist | Nominated | ||
Cracked Rear View | Favorite Pop/Rock Album | Nominated | |
1997 | Hootie & the Blowfish | Favorite Pop/Rock Band/Duo/Group | Won |
The Grammy Award is an award presented by The Recording Academy to recognize achievement in the mainly English-language music industry.
Year | Nominee / work | Award | Result |
---|---|---|---|
1996 | Hootie & the Blowfish | Best New Artist | Won |
"Let Her Cry" | Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals | Won |
The MTV Video Music Award is an award presented by the cable channel MTV to honor the best in the music video medium.
Year | Nominee / work | Award | Result |
---|---|---|---|
1995 | "Hold My Hand" | Best New Artist | Won |
Viewer's Choice Award | Nominated | ||
1996 | "Only Wanna Be with You" | Best Group Video | Nominated |
Cracked Rear View is the debut studio album by Hootie & the Blowfish, released on July 5, 1994, by Atlantic Records. Released to positive critical reviews, it eventually became one of the highest-selling albums in the United States, and also one of the best-selling albums worldwide, with over 20 million units.
Darius Carlos Rucker 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.
"The Dolphin's Cry" is a song by American alternative rock band Live, released on August 24, 1999, as the lead single from their fourth studio album, The Distance to Here. The song was co-produced by Jerry Harrison of Talking Heads, and features Adam Duritz of Counting Crows on backing vocals. It reached number one on the Canadian RPM Top 30 Rock Report and number two on the US Billboard Mainstream Rock chart. Internationally, "The Dolphin's Cry" peaked at number one in Iceland, number seven in Flanders, and number 10 in the Netherlands while reaching the top 50 on the Australian and New Zealand music charts.
Mark William Bryan is an American musician. He is a founding member, songwriter, and lead guitarist for the band Hootie & the Blowfish. In 1986, Bryan and his friend Darius Rucker formed a duo called the Wolf Brothers while attending the University of South Carolina. Eventually, friends Dean Felber and Jim Sonefeld joined the band, which led to the founding of Hootie & the Blowfish in 1989. Bryan has also released three solo albums: 30 on the Rail, End of the Front, and Songs of the Fortnight.
"Only Wanna Be with You" is a song by American alternative rock band Hootie & the Blowfish. After being included on the group's EP Kootchypop (1993), it was released in July 1995 as the third single from their breakthrough album, Cracked Rear View (1994). It peaked at number six on the US Billboard Hot 100, number one on the Billboard Top 40/Mainstream chart, number three on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart, and number two on the Billboard Album Rock Tracks chart.
"Let Her Cry" is a song by American rock band Hootie & the Blowfish. It was released in December 1994 as the second single from their debut album, Cracked Rear View (1994), and became a top-10 hit in Australia, Canada, Iceland, and the United States. The song received the Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals in 1996.
Musical Chairs is the third studio album by American rock band Hootie & the Blowfish, released on September 15, 1998, by Atlantic Records. Three singles were released off the album: "I Will Wait", "Only Lonely", and "Wishing". Guest musicians on the album include Peter Holsapple, Susan Cowsill, David Immergluck, and Boyd Tinsley.
Hootie & the Blowfish is the fourth studio album by American rock band Hootie & the Blowfish, released on March 4, 2003. It is their last album under Atlantic Records and their first album to not have a single to reach the top charts. The lead singles were "Innocence" and "Space", and the album itself reached no. 46 in the U.S.
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"Time" is a song by American rock band Hootie & the Blowfish. It was released on October 24, 1995, as the fourth single from their 1994 debut album, Cracked Rear View. "Time" peaked at number 14 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and reached number one in Canada for a week in February 1996. The song also peaked at number one on the Billboard Adult Top 40, number nine in Iceland, and number 35 in New Zealand.
"Hold My Hand" is the debut single of the American alternative rock band Hootie & the Blowfish from their album Cracked Rear View. All four of the band members wrote the song sometime in 1989, and it was released on a self-titled cassette EP the year after. Released in July 1994, "Hold My Hand" charted at number 10 on the US Billboard Hot 100. The song includes a backing vocal from David Crosby.
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"Tucker's Town" is a song by American rock group Hootie & the Blowfish. It was released on June 25, 1996, as the second single from their second album, Fairweather Johnson (1996). In the United States, it peaked at number 38 on the Billboard Hot 100, number 24 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart, and number 29 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart. Outside the US, "Tucker's Town" reached number two in Canada—ending 1996 as the country's 25th-most-successful single—and number 20 in Iceland.
"Old Man & Me " is a song by American rock group Hootie & the Blowfish. It was released in April 1996 as the lead single from their second album, Fairweather Johnson. In the United States, it peaked at number 13 on the Billboard Hot 100, number 18 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart, and number six on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart. The song also reached number one in Canada, becoming the band's third and final single to do so.
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The unlikely moniker was borrowed from the nicknames of two college friends.