Hootie & the Blowfish pop-rock soars to crossover success with black singer

Jet, July 10, 1995

New hit pop-rock group Hootie & The Blowfish has leaped to the top of the record charts with their hit singles Hold My Hand and Let Her Cry from the smash album, Cracked Rear View.

The four-man group features a Black lead vocalist Darius Rucker, and lead guitarist Mark Bryan, a drummer Jim "Soni" Sonefeld and bass player Dean Felber, who are all White.

Rucker, the group's accomplished singer, says he got his powerful and haunting voice from his late mother.

"I got my voice from my mom. She was an incredible singer. So, I never thought of myself as being that good, because I heard her everyday," he explained.

Hootie & The Blowfish was formed in the mid '80s in Columbia, South Carolina, comprised of University of South Carolina students.

The band got its odd name from two of Rucker's friends--one friend who wore large owl-type eyeglasses and the other had the ability to blow out his cheeks.

Growing up in the South, the group knew that a lead Black singer would pose a special challenge to the color line, but Rucker says they manage to cope.

"The difference between the North and the South is that down here you know who hates you. There is no closet racism," Rucker observed.

The group has been together for nine years, but Cracked Rear View has won them major crossover appeal among Black and White audiences.