  Which one is Hootie? Smack! None
of the four members of Hootie & The
Blowfish is known as "Hootie" - and
we should all stop asking. The band members
are: Dean Felber (bass and background
vocals), Jim 'Soni' Sonefeld (drums,
percussion, piano & background vocals),
Mark Bryan (guitar, mandolin, piano and
background vocals), and the guy most often
called "Hootie," Darius Rucker
(lead vocals and guitar). For a band that has
been together over a decade, it's hard to
believe they became so popular, so quick, and
so disliked in the same amount of time. The
band got together at the University of South
Carolina in 1986. Bryan and Rucker originally
paired up as a duo in college under the name
The Wolf Brothers playing cover tunes. When
Felber joined the duo, they renamed
themselves Hootie & The Blowfish (named
for two of Rucker's friends). After
graduation, the band began hitting the club
circuit and former classmate, Sonefeld,
joined on as their drummer. The band had some
minor success with independent labels and
releases but started the road toward
super-stardom when they signed with Atlantic
Records in 1993.
 # 105
Singles Artist of the Year
 The band's first LP, Cracked
Rear View, was released.
Hootie & The Blowfish hit
the Top 40 with "Hold My Hand."
Cracked
Rear View was certified gold.
Hootie & The Blowfish hit
the Top 10 with "Hold My Hand."
 # 3
Singles Artist of the Year
 Throughout 1995, tracks from
their debut LP dominated the pop charts and
radio airwaves and the band's first four
singles were all Top 5 hits: "Hold My Hand," "Let Her Cry," Only Wanna Be
With You," and "Time." The LP
eventually hit the #1 position and went on to
sell over 16 million copies in the U.S. As
the band's popularity progressed during the
course of the year, so did the criticism's of
the band's redundant sound, simplistic
videos, and radio saturation. Yet, for every
criticism and comment, more LPs sold and
Hootie & The Blowfish became one of the
most successful acts of the year.
Cracked
Rear View was certified platinum
 Cracked
Rear View was certified 2x platinum.
Hootie & The Blowfish could
be heard on the Encomium:
A Tribute to Led Zeppelin compilation
with "Hey Hey What Can I Say?"
Hootie & The Blowfish hit
the Top 40 with "Let Her Cry."
Cracked
Rear View was certified 4x platinum.
The band hit the Top 10 with "Let Her Cry."
Cracked
Rear View topped the Billboard Pop Albums
chart for 8 weeks.
Hootie & The Blowfish hit
the Top 40 with "Only Wanna Be With You."
Cracked
Rear View was certified 6x platinum.
Hootie & The Blowfish hit
the Top 10 with "Only Wanna Be With You."
Hootie & The Blowfish won a MTV Video Music
Award for Best New Artist and were also
nominated for Viewer's Choice ("Hold My Hand").
Cracked
Rear View was certified 10x platinum.
Cracked
Rear View was certified 11x platinum
Hootie & The Blowfish hit
the Top 40 with "Time."
Hootie & The Blowfish topped
the Billboard
Year-End Chart-Toppers as the Top Billboard
200 Album Artist, Top Billboard 200 Album,
Top Billboard 200 Album Artist - Duo/Group,
and Top Hot Adult Contemporary Artist.
Cracked
Rear View was the biggest selling LP of
the year with sales topping 7 million during
1995.
 # 3
Singles Artist of the Year (# 1
Group/Duo of the Year)
Hootie & The Blowfish kicked
off the year with an American Music
Award for Favorite Pop/Rock New
Artist and were also nominated for Favorite
Pop/Rock Band/Duo/Group, Favorite Adult
Contemporary Artist, Favorite Artist of the
Year, and Favorite Pop/Rock Album.
Cracked
Rear View was certified 12x platinum.
The band hit the Top 10 with "Time."
Hootie &
The Blowfish won 2 Grammy
Awards for Best
New Artist and Best Pop Performance by
a Duo or Group with Vocal ("Let Her Cry").
Cracked
Rear View was certified 13x platinum.
 The band's second LP, Fairweather
Johnson, was released and became the
group's second #1 LP. As expected, the heavy
radio play of the band's previous LP had
taken its toll on radio listeners, and the
second LP was less successful. Only one track
managed to crack the Top 10 pop charts:
"Old Man & Me (When
I Get To Heaven)" (which hit the Top 40 in
April) and additional Top 40 hits included
"Sad Caper" and "Tucker's Town." The LP sold
over 3 million copies in the U.S. and
interest in the band continued with the track
"I Go Blind" from the TV show
Friends soundtrack grew in
popularity over a year after it was released.
The band hit the Top 10 with "Old Man & Me (When
I Get To Heaven)."
Fairweather
Johnson topped the Billboard Top 200
Albums chart for 2 weeks.
Cracked
Rear View was certified 14x platinum and Fairweather
Johnson was certified 2x platinum.
Hootie & The Blowfish hit
the Top 40 with "Tucker's Town."
Hootie &
The Blowfish hit the Top 10 with "Tucker's Town."
The band were
nominated for a MTV Video Music
Award for Best Group Video ("Only Wanna Be With You").
Hootie & The Blowfish hit
the Top 40 with "Sad
Caper."
Hootie & The Blowfish hit
the Top 40 with "I Go Blind" from the TV show
Friends soundtrack.
 # 150
Singles Artist of the Year
Cracked
Rear View was certified 15x platinum.
The band won an American Music
Award for Favorite Pop/Rock
Band/Duo/Group.
 Out in Charleston, South
Carolina, a man reported that he was
"beaten-up" by Hootie & The
Blowfish singer, Darius Rucker. Both men
claim they were breaking up an altercation.
No one was seriously hurt.
Hootie & The Blowfish
settled a $150 million lawsuit by a music
promoter who claimed that he
"discovered" the band, signed a
contract with the band for 3 years (beginning
in 1991), and then was abandoned. The final
terms of the agreement were not disclosed,
but lawyers representing the interest of the
band stated it was cheaper to settle than to
go to trial. The band's manager also told Billboard
that settling the suit was not an admission
of guilt and was only done for financial
reasons.
 # 62
Singles Artist of the Year
 The 3rd Hootie & The
Blowfish LP, Musical
Chairs, was released with the first
Top 40 single, "I
Will Wait."
Also a routine flight to Los
Angeles with Hootie & The Blowfish on
board had to land in Denver after a drunk fan
approached the band with a book of poetry
looking for autographs and a record deal, and
later attacked their bodyguard and flight
attendants. Sonefeld said, "he got
pretty unruly and then he went out of
control" and Rucker, who slept through
the incident, told reporters, "they were
taking somebody out... I went back to
sleep... I just really wasn't worried about
it."
Fairweather
Johnson was certified 3x platinum.
Musical
Chairs was certified platinum.
The band hit the Top
10
with "I
Will Wait."
 # 103
Singles Artist of the Year
 A second hit
from the LP, Musical
Chairs, "Only
Lonely"
cracked the Top 40 and appeared on the
soundtrack for Message
In A Bottle (although the song was
originally meant for the film, You Got
Mail).
Cracked
Rear View was certified 16x platinum.
 # 184
Singles Artist of the Year
Guitarist, Mark Bryan released a
solo LP, 30
On The Rail.
 Hootie & The Blowfish
released Scattered
Smothered & Covered - a collection of rare
tracks - and began a small tour during the
month.
Hootie & The Blowfish ended
the month and year by hitting the Top 40 with
"Use
Me."
 # 163
Singles Artist of the Year
 Rucker released his solo LP - Back
To Then.
Rucker could be heard with the
track "It's All Right To Cry" on
the compilation For
The Kids.
 Hootie & The Blowfish
released Hootie
& The Blowfish.
Hootie & The Blowfish left
their label, Atlantic Records.
 Hootie & The Blowfish
released a hits LP, The
Best Of Hootie & The Blowfish 1993-2003.
# 61 on the Top Pop Artists
of the Past 25 Years chart.
 Hootie & The Blowfish
released Looking
For Lucky.
Hootie & The Blowfish
released the live LP Live
In Charleston.
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