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Alternative-Rock act formed in the late '80s at the University of South
Carolina USA, comprising lead singer+guitarist Darius Rucker, guitarist
Mark Bryan, bassist Dean Felder and drummer Jim 'Soni' Sonefeld.
They began playing an expanding world of frat parties and dive bars,
gradually building a significant regional buzz; in 1991 the guys released
their first self-titled demo-disc, followed a six-track EP which included
the early version of "Hold My Hand" and "Only Wanna Be
With You", two songs that became the linchpins of the band's major
debut LP.
Their mellow Pop-Rock Blues-Rock sound attracted major label interest
and in 1993 the quartet signed a contract with Atlantic Records who released
their debut full-length, "Cracked Rear View", in May 1994; the
first single "Hold My Hand" quickly entered the American top
40, by early 1995 reached the #10 on The Billboard Hot 100 pushing the
album to #1 on The Billboard Top 200 chart, it became a full-blown music
biz phenomenon selling 13 million copies and generated a long string of
hit singles: "Hold My Hand" also climbed into the top 10 of
The Mainstream Rock chart, "Let Her Cry" hit #9 on both Billboard's
Hot 100 and Active Rock charts, "Only Wanna Be With You" had
nudged higher to #6 and #2 spots respectively on Hot 100 and Mainstream
Rock charts, "Drowning" hit #21 on Active Rock chart and "Time"
peaked at #15 on The Billboard Hot 100.
Hootie & The Blowfish in 1995 recorded an excellent cover-track of
Led Zeppelin's "Hey Hey What
Can I Do?", a song released by the legendary British group as the
B-side of the 1970's single "Immigrant Song"; the new version
rose to #15 on The Mainstream Rock chart.
At the 38th Annual Grammy Awards ceremony the group was named Best New
Artist and the single "Let Her Cry" won them a further Grammy
for Best Pop Performance With Vocal.
"Fairweather Johnson", the band's second album, came out in
April 1996 and went straight to #1 on The Billboard 200 chart selling
a couple million copies, the first single, "Old Man And Me",
reached the #13 on The Billboard Hot 100 and peaked at #6 on Mainstream
Rock chart, it was followed by the Top 40 hits "Tucker's Town"
and "Sad Caper".
The cover of 54-40's "I Go Blind",
taken from the TV series "Friends", stormed the Adult Contemporary
charts during the year.
In September 1998 Hootie & The Blowfish issued "Musical Chairs";
their third album reached #4 on The Billboard Top 200 chart but failed
to match the commercial and artistic success of their previous recordings,
with only one single, "I Will Wait"' charting on Billboard's
Adult Top 40 list.
2000's "Scattered, Smothered And Covered", a collection of early
material, B-sides and cover-tracks broke the U.S. Top 200 reaching the
#71 spot.
The quartet returned in March of 2003 with the self-titled album which
barely sneaked into the top 50 of The Billboard Top 200 chart, it included
the single "Innocence".
The following year Atlantic Records released The Best Of compilation which
reached the #62 in U.S. Top 200 Albums chart, the set featured the new
single "Goodbye Girl".
In August 2005, Hootie & The Blowfish returned with their fifth studio
album, "Looking For Lucky" released through Vanguard Records
and the band's independent label, Sneaky Long Records; the set includes
the single "One Love".
Hootie & The Blowfish biography is an exclusive of 100xr.com
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