Claim: Darius Rucker, Mark Bryan, Jim Sonefeld and Dean Felber founded a band together.

Darius Carlos `` Hootie '' Rucker -LRB- born May 13 , 1966 -RRB- is an American singer and songwriter . He first gained fame as the lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of the Grammy Award-winning American rock band Hootie & the Blowfish , which he founded in 1986 at the University of South Carolina along with Mark Bryan , Jim `` Soni '' Sonefeld and Dean Felber . The band has released five studio albums with him as a member , and charted six top 40 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 . Rucker co-wrote the majority of the band 's songs with the other three members .   He released a solo R&B album , Back to Then , in 2002 on Hidden Beach Recordings but did not chart any singles from it . Six years later , Rucker signed to Capitol Nashville as a country music singer , releasing the album , Learn to Live that year . Its first single , `` Do n't Think I Do n't Think About It '' , made him the first black artist to reach number one on the Hot Country Songs charts since Charley Pride in 1983 . -LRB- Ray Charles hit number one in March 1985 in a duet with Willie Nelson with Seven Spanish Angels -RRB- . It was followed by two more number one singles , `` It Wo n't Be Like This for Long '' and `` Alright '' and the number three , `` History in the Making . '' In 2009 , he became the first black American to win the New Artist Award from the Country Music Association , and only the second black to win any award from the association . A second album , Charleston , SC 1966 , was released on October 12 , 2010 . The album includes the number one singles , `` Come Back Song '' and `` This '' .