Darius Rucker has stories – whether they’re wild ones about Hootie & the Blowfish in the early days or a near-death experience while swimming with Woody Harrelson.
Nearly thirty years after his college rock band broke through with their debut album Cracked rear viewone of the best-selling records of all time, and 15 years after going abroad, Rucker reflects on his journey to today – both the music and the setbacks – in his memoir: Life is too shortwhich is out now.
“I’ve lived a lot,” Rucker tells Yahoo Entertainment about why the timing, at age 58, is right to share his thoughts. Plus: “The kids are old enough,” referring to his now grown children – Carolyn, Daniella and Jack.
There’s nothing in the memoir that he hasn’t already told them, he says, but Rucker delves deep into his drug and alcohol use in the Hootie days.
In the book he writes: ‘The party never stops. Whatever you have” – including cocaine, mushrooms and ecstasy – “I’m in.” They participate ‘day, evening, night, until the next day’.
Hootie band members tried to ‘outparty’ each other
Rucker said he was drunk at the 1996 Grammys — when Hootie won best new artist and best pop performance by a group — and “comatose and curled up” when he was scheduled to perform at a Bill Clinton fundraiser.
He wrote about a roadie who previously worked with the Rolling Stones in their heyday and said he had never met a band that partied as hard as Hootie. Rucker also recalled telling bandmate Dean Felber, “We should be dead.”
“That was such a different time,” Rucker says. “That’s just like twenty years ago, probably a little more, when I stopped all that,” referring to the use of hard drugs. “I learned that I was only chasing happiness and was not happy. I tried to find it through those avenues – and I discovered that’s not possible.
The partying became a routine they got stuck in, he says. ‘That was just how we lived: around five o’clock someone brought me a bottle of Jim Beam. We did that until we didn’t anymore.”
He continues: “I look back on that [era] with fond memories – I don’t think I would have done anything differently – but I’m glad all four of us got through it. (Rucker was arrested in February for possession of marijuana and psilocin pills following a 2023 incident. Today During the May 28 show, he said his arrest “is what it is,” explaining that a friend who was in the process of moving gave him “some stuff” because they couldn’t fly it. “My lawyers will take care of it.”)
After the group’s 2005 album, they collectively decided to stop making new music, while remaining friends and philanthropic partners. They reunited in 2019 Imperfect circle. This summer they are back together for a tour. It will definitely be milder.
“There used to be four of us on the bus trying to see who could outdo the other,” Rucker says. “Now it’s like everyone has their own bus, while their family is on the road. It’s a completely different animal now.”
It could also be their last hurray as far as tours go. “We don’t want to be that band that says it’s the last one and then comes back, but I don’t know if we’ll ever do it again,” he says.
They’ll be on their way when Cracked rear view turns 30 in July.
“I listened to it a few weeks ago and I still think it sounds great,” he says of the album, which includes ‘Hold My Hand’, ‘Only Wanna Be With You’ and ‘Let Her Cry’. “Having a record that is one of the best-selling records of all time is something you don’t even dream about. Being part of that is great. And it still sells. It just went to 22 [million]. It’s great to see this record stand the test of time.”
“It wasn’t her, it was all me,” he says of a failed marriage
The Charleston, S.C., native writes in his memoir about how he was thrust into the spotlight when Hootie blew up in 1994 — after making their TV debut on Late Show with David Letterman — was difficult to navigate. His beloved mother, Carolyn, had died suddenly in 1992, and in the midst of fame, his estranged father resurfaced, looking for money. He also learned more than once that he couldn’t trust his drug-addicted brother.
Sharing these stories publicly was both therapeutic and difficult, Rucker says. So did “telling the real story about how bad of a husband I was,” he admits.
In the book, which includes a chapter titled “Beth,” he credits ex-wife Beth Leonard with not only raising their children, but also saving his life. “I wanted the whole world to know how wonderful a person she is and that it wasn’t her, it was me” who messed up the marriage.
A positive point in his life was switching to country music in 2008. He was a lifelong fan, but never thought he could make the transition to the genre.
“When I first decided to do it, I didn’t think I could get a record deal,” he says. “That’s not an exaggeration. First of all, they hate pop guys coming to country music, and second of all, I’m the black guy. Who is going to give me a record deal?”
Rucker describes in his book how his persuasive manager, Doc McGhee, who also managed the careers of Bon Jovi and Kiss, convinced then-president of Capitol Records Nashville Mike Dungan to give Rucker a recording contract – without identifying who he would even sign .
“Not only did I get a record deal, but I got a contract with Capitol, which had the best president in the business at the time, who just believed in me,” Rucker says. “One of the best things anyone ever said to me was when Mike Dungan said, ‘I never had that Hootie thing, but I always thought you were a country singer.’ I didn’t think I would have the success I have had.”
The “Wagon Wheel” singer has since debuted four albums at No. 1 on the country charts, was inducted into the Grand Ole Opry in 2012 and won the 2014 Grammy for Best Country Solo Performance.
“I just like to keep making music,” he says of his future professional goals. “I love going on tour. The things we can’t control I don’t even allow myself to think about, like the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Of course we would like that [be inducted]. I would like to vote sometime. All I want to do right now – I’ve been on the big stage for thirty years – is keep playing music as long as people want to keep coming to see me play.”
