As of 2019[update], Hootie & the Blowfish had won two Grammy Awards, had landed sixteen singles on various Billboard singles charts, and had recorded six studio albums. The band's debut album, Cracked Rear View (1994), is the 19th-best-selling album of all time in the United States and was certified platinum 21 times. The band is known for its three Top 10 singles: "Hold My Hand" (1994), "Let Her Cry" (1994), and "Only Wanna Be with You" (1995). The band is also popular in Canada, having had three number-one singles in that country.
Darius Rucker and Mark Bryan met in Columbia, South Carolina, in the mid-1980s when they were both freshmen at the University of South Carolina. Bryan, a guitar player, heard Rucker singing in the showers of the dorm they shared and was impressed by his vocal ability. The pair began playing cover tunes as the Wolf Brothers.
Eventually they collaborated with bassist Dean Felber, a former high school bandmate of Bryan's, and Brantley Smith, a drummer. In 1986, they adopted the name Hootie & the Blowfish, a conjunction of the nicknames of two of their college friends. The band is routinely featured in articles and polls about badly-named bands. Rucker is often mistaken as being the "Hootie" in the band's name. Smith left the group after finishing college to pursue music ministry, but he has made scattered guest appearances with the band (he played cello on their MTV Unplugged performance in 1996, and played drums at Gruene Hall in Gruene, Texas, on June 27, 2008). Smith was replaced by Jim "Soni" Sonefeld. The band's lineup has remained the same ever since.

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