Victoria Williams is an American singer, songwriter and musician, originally from Shreveport, Louisiana, United States, although she has resided in Southern California throughout her musical career. Diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in the early 1990s, Williams was the catalyst for the Sweet Relief Musicians Fund.
Hootie & the Blowfish are an American soft rock band that were 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.
The 38th Annual Grammy Awards were held on February 28, 1996, at Shrine Auditorium, Los Angeles. The awards recognized accomplishments by musicians from the previous year. Alanis Morissette was the main recipient, being awarded four trophies, including Album of the Year. Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men opened the show with their Record of the Year nominated "One Sweet Day".
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 sold 10.2 million copies in the United States, becoming one of the best-selling albums of all time.
Darius Carlos Rucker is an American singer, guitarist, 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 dB's are an American alternative rock and power pop group, who formed in New York City in 1978 and first came to prominence in the early 1980s. Their debut album, Stands for Decibels, is often acclaimed as one of the greatest "lost" power pop albums of the 1980s.
James Victor Chesnutt was an American singer-songwriter from Athens, Georgia. His first album, Little, was released in 1990. His commercial breakthrough came in 1996 with the release of Sweet Relief II: Gravity of the Situation, a charity record of alternative artists covering his songs.
"Perfect" is a song by American alternative rock band the Smashing Pumpkins. It was released as the second single from their fourth album, Adore (1998), on September 7, 1998. It was the final commercial single from the album, although "Crestfallen" and "To Sheila" were subsequently released as promotional singles.
The Bridge School Benefit was an annual charity concert usually held in Mountain View, California, every October at the Shoreline Amphitheatre from 1986 until 2016 with the exception of 1987. The concerts lasted the entire weekend and were organized by musicians Neil Young and Pegi Young. An annual Bay Area highlight, the concerts were billed online as the primary means of funding for The Bridge School; over both days, the reserved seats alone brought in well over a million dollars every year.
Mark William Bryan is an American musician. He is a founding member, songwriter, and the 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 made three solo albums, including 30 on the Rail, End of the Front, and Songs of the Fortnight.
No Alternative is an alternative rock compilation album produced by Paul Heck and Chris Mundy. It was released in 1993 to benefit AIDS relief. The album features original tracks and cover versions from bands who went on to define the alternative rock scene of the 1990s. It was released with two different versions of album art: the standard version depicting a boy, and the alternate version depicting a girl.
Dog's Eye View was an American rock band formed in 1994. The band is best known for "Everything Falls Apart", its 1995 hit single.
The 1996 MTV Video Music Awards aired live on September 4, 1996, honoring the best music videos from June 16, 1995, to June 14, 1996. The show was hosted by Dennis Miller at Radio City Music Hall in New York City.
"Raining on Sunday" is a song co-written by country music artist Radney Foster and Darrell Brown. It was initially recorded on Foster's 1999 Arista Records album See What You Want to See. Foster's version of the song features a backing vocal from Darius Rucker of the rock band Hootie & the Blowfish.
The Bridge School Collection, Vol. 1 is a downloadable audio collection of 80 selected acoustic performances, recorded between 1986 and 2006, from the Bridge School's Benefit Concerts. The 21 November 2006 iTunes distribution of the collection includes a digital booklet. All tracks are available for individual purchase except Neil Young's tracks which are by album only.
Rockin' the Corps was a 2005 concert designed to show appreciation to United States marines and sailors returning home from the Iraq War.
Sweet Relief II: Gravity of the Situation is a 1996 charity record that featured a variety of alternative rock bands covering songs written by quadriplegic musician Vic Chesnutt. Some of the artists were picked to give the album an international appeal to raise more funds for the Sweet Relief Fund, which assists musicians in need of health care.
The Garbage tour was the debut concert tour by American rock band Garbage, in support of their self-titled debut album (1995). It began on November 5, 1995, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and ended on December 18, 1996, in Inglewood, California. For the duration of the tour, Garbage's touring line-up was augmented by Daniel Shulman, who had previously been a session musician for Run-D.M.C., on bass guitar. Samplers and MIDI controllers helped the bandmembers to unleash on stage the varied sounds that augmented the studio versions of the songs. Despite all the members of the group having racked up years of touring experience between them prior to forming, Garbage had no initial plans to tour their debut set; they changed their mind when they found that they enjoyed themselves while filming the music video for their debut single, "Vow". Director Samuel Bayer had encouraged the group to play the song live as he filmed them, rather than playing along to a backing track.
Don Heffington was an American drummer, percussionist, and songwriter. He was a founding member of the Los Angeles alternative country band Lone Justice, which he performed with from 1982 to 1985. Heffington was also a member of the bluegrass band Watkins Family Hour, recorded three solo albums, and was a session and touring musician for various artists, including Lowell George, Bob Dylan, Emmylou Harris, Jackson Browne, Victoria Williams, the Wallflowers, the Jayhawks, and Joanna Newsom.
