Hootie & the Blowfish

Hootie & the Blowfish is an American Alternative rock band that was formed in Columbia, South Carolina, in 1986 by Darius Rucker, Mark Bryan, Dean Felber, and Jim Sonefeld. As of July 2010, the band had charted 16 singles on various Billboard singles charts and recorded five studio albums. Their 1994 debut album, Cracked Rear View, is the 16th-best-selling album of all time in the US, and was certified platinum 16 times. They have sold over 21 million albums in the United States. The group was also popular in Canada, having three number-one singles in the country.^[1]

History

Early years

Hootie & the Blowfish formed in 1986. The quartet met when they were freshmen at the University of South Carolina in Columbia. Bryan heard Rucker singing in the showers of the dorm they shared and was impressed by his vocal ability. They began playing cover tunes as The Wolf Brothers; eventually they collaborated with Felber, a former high school bandmate of Bryan's, and Jim "Soni" Sonefeld as Hootie & the Blowfish. The name is a conjunction of the nicknames of two of their college friends.^[2] Brantley Smith was the original drummer for the band. He left the group 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).

The band independently released two cassette demo EPs in 1991 and 1992. 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.^[3] 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.^[3]

1994–95: Cracked Rear View and mainstream success

Their mainstream debut album was Cracked Rear View (1994). It was an instant success, went platinum 16 times in the U.S., became the best-selling album of 1995, and was one of the fastest-selling debut albums of all time. 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).^[4] 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."^[5] Miami Dolphins' Hall of Fame quarterback Dan Marino appeared in the band's video for the song "Only Wanna Be with You", along with several other athletes.^[6]

1996–97: Fairweather Johnson and promotional singles

The band won the "Best New Artist" award at the 1996 Grammy Awards. Hootie & the Blowfish appeared on MTV Unplugged on the eve of the release of their second album, 1996's Fairweather Johnson. It contained the hit single "Old Man and Me" (U.S. No. 13), and sold four million copies in the U.S. Hootie & the Blowfish has since released three more studio albums: Musical Chairs, Hootie & the Blowfish, and Looking for Lucky. They also released a B-sides and rarities compilation in 2000 entitled Scattered, Smothered and Covered. 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 scattered on the grill, smothered with diced onions and covered with melted cheese.^[7]

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 TV 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 collection Scattered, Smothered and Covered.

1998–2008: Later years

In 1998, they performed on Frank Wildhorn's concept album of the musical The Civil War.^[8] The group covered the 1968 Orpheus hit "Can't Find the Time" in 2001 for the soundtrack of the Jim Carrey movie Me, Myself and Irene. Orpheus creator and the song's writer Bruce Arnold traded verses with Darius on several occasions, when the band played live on the West Coast. The band had 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. In 2008, the band started releasing their concerts as downloads through trueAnthem.^[9] In 2009, Hootie & the Blowfish performed live in a ballet which chronicled their rise and success in the 1990s.^[10]

2008–present: Hiatus and solo work

In 2008, Rucker announced in an AOL Sessions interview that Hootie & the Blowfish would be going on hiatus so Rucker could pursue his solo career as a country music performer. Although the band will no longer be recording or touring, Rucker confirmed that they will still perform their scheduled charity concerts, stating, "We have four charity gigs every year and we will still do them, but we will not do a record or tour."^[11] Rucker also said that the split will last "for five or six years, or until I record three or four country albums". He later amended his statement, saying, "To be honest with you, we're not even split up right now, and we're not really thinking about splitting up."^[12]

Rucker has recorded a solo album, Learn to Live, for Capitol Records. It includes the singles "Don't Think I Don't Think About It", "It Won't Be Like This for Long", "Alright", all three of which have reached #1 on the U.S. Hot Country Songs chart, and "History in the Making", which peaked at #3 on the U.S. Hot Country Songs chart. Rucker's second solo album Charleston, SC 1966 was released October 2010. A third solo album, True Believers, was released May 2013, followed by 2014's Christmas-themed Home for the Holidays, and a fourth solo album, Southern Style, in March 2015.

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. That same year Darius Rucker announced that Hootie & the Blowfish will get back together.^[13]

Record label

Hootie & the Blowfish started their own record label, Breaking Records, in 1996 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, Treadmill Trackstar and Treehouse released one album each on Breaking Records. The label folded in 2000.

Charity work

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.^[14] 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.^[15]

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 an 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.^[16]

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. Hootie & the Blowfish reunited to do a show at Incirlik Air Base in Turkey on 18 October 2008.

Musical style

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."^[17][18] The band's sound was also described as heartland rock,^[19] roots rock^[20] and jangle pop.^[21]

Band members

Current line-up

• Darius Rucker – lead vocals, rhythm guitar (1986–2008) (sometimes mistakenly referred to as being Hootie in the band's name)
• Mark Bryan – lead guitar, backing vocals, piano (1986–2008)
• Dean Felber – bass guitar, backing vocals, piano (1986–2008)
• Jim Sonefeld – drums, percussion, backing vocals, rhythm guitar (1989–2008)

Touring musicians

• Gary Greene – percussion, drums, rhythm guitar, piano, banjo (1995–2000; 2001–2008)
• Peter Holsapple – keyboards, mandolin, guitar, lap steel guitar, backing vocals (1995–1998; 2003–2008)
• Philip "Fish" Fisher – percussion, drums (2000–2001)

Former members

• John Nau – keyboards, mandolin, rhythm guitar, harmonica (1994–1998) (studio and occasional fill-in only) (1998–2003) (studio artist and touring musician)
• Brantley Smith – drums (1986–1989)

Discography

Studio albums

Compilation albums

Singles

Other singles

Promotional singles

Music videos

See also

• Live in the X Lounge II – Hootie & the Blowfish released live performances of their songs "Hold My Hand" and "Desert Mountain Showdown" in 1999 to this charity album which was released to benefit UCP of Greater Birmingham.
• List of best-selling music artists

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Hootie and the Blowfish.

• Official website
• Hootie Golf site
• Hootie & the Blowfish at DMOZ