Darius Rucker was honored with a Hollywood Walk of Fame star Monday for a musical career that has spanned decades and different genres.
Country music artist Rucker, who rocketed to fame in the 1990s as the lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of rock band Hootie & the Blowfish, spoke at the ceremony in front of his star at 7065 Hollywood Blvd., between La Brea and Sycamore avenue. The location is near the star of Rucker's late mentor and pioneering country singer Charley Pride.
"Those people who go out and they buy your record or they go out and they stream your record, or they pay money, they pay these outlandish fees from Ticketmaster to come see you play, and they spend their hard-earned money and they want to see you, that is what it's all about,'' he said.
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Rucker, Mark Bryan, Dean Felber, and Jim "Soni" Sonefeld formed the band in 1986 when they were students at the University of South Carolina. The band has sold more than 25 million albums worldwide since its 1994 debut "Cracked Rear View," which sold 10.2 million copies in the United States and remains among the top 10 bestselling studio albums of all time.
The group won Grammys in 1996 for best new artist -- beating out Brandy, Alanis Morissette, Joan Osborne and Shania Twain -- and for best pop performance by a duo or group with vocals for "Let Her Cry." The victories came for the only nominations the group has received.
Rucker has one Grammy nomination as a solo performer, winning in 2014 for best country solo performance for "Wagon Wheel," joining Pride as the only African Americans to be both nominated for and win a vocal performance Grammy in a country music category.
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The song co-written by Bob Dylan and Ketch Secor of Old Crow Medicine Show describing a hitchhiking journey from New England through Roanoke, Virginia is the most popular in Rucker's career, selling more than 10 million copies, one of the five best-selling country songs of all time.
Rucker topped the country charts again in 2021 with "Beers and Sunshine."
Hootie & the Blowfish plan a 44-stop "Summer Camp with Trucks" tour from May 30 through Sept. 28, including a July 16 concert at Honda Center in Anaheim.
