Hootie & the Blowfish

Hootie & the Blowfish was an American pop-rock band, originally formed at the University of South Carolina by Darius Rucker, Dean Felber, Soni Sonefeld and Mark Bryan. Their debut album was Cracked Rear View (1994) and it was an instant success, propelled by three hits, "Hold My Hand", "Let Her Cry" and "Only Wanna Be With You". In 1995, Hootie & the Blowfish contributed the song "Hey Hey What Can I Do" to the Encomium tribute album to Led Zeppelin. The band's second album was Fairweather Johnson. Though sales began promisingly, it quickly ran out of steam. Hootie & the Blowfish has since released two more albums, Musical Chairs and Scattered, Smothered and Covered.

Contrary to popular belief, Hootie is not the nickname of frontman Darius Rucker. The band's name comes from two of Rucker's high-school friends, neither of whom was ever a band member. One, with a round face and glasses, was nicknamed Hootie because of his perceived owl-like appearance. The Blowfish was a chubby-cheeked friend of Rucker.