Darius Rucker was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Monday, December 4, receiving the 2,766th star on the iconic walkway.
2,766th Star On Hollywood Walk of Fame
Rucker was introduced by former Universal Music Group Nashville Chairman/CEO Mike Dungan, and the singer called the honor “the biggest thing that’s ever happened to me.”
“I said before that this is stuff you don’t even dream about when you’re from South Carolina, you know, struggling growing up and just wanting to be a singer,” he told the crowd, which included many of his friends and family members as well as his Hootie & the Blowfish bandmates, who received a shoutout. “That’s all I ever wanted to be was a singer, but you never dreamed that this stuff is going to happen.”
Rucker continued, “To be here, right here with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, I said over there it’s the biggest thing that’s ever happened to me.”
Graciously Thanks His Three Kids And Exes
Rucker’s three children, Caroline, 28, Danielle, 22, and Jack, 18, were all on hand to support their dad, who gave them a special mention in his speech. Rucker shares Caroline with ex Elizabeth Ann Phillips and Danielle and Jack with estranged wife Beth Leonard. “Big time I want to thank my kids, and Beth and Sherry who raised my kids while I was out chasing my dream,” he said. “Carrie, Dani, and Jack. They’re my heart, they’re my soul, and they’re everything to me, and everything I do is for them.”
“It’s just been an amazing thing to be your father,” he added to his children. “As great as all this stuff is, it’s not as cool as being your dad, and I really mean that. I love you guys so much.”
Hootie & The Blowfish
Rucker first found fame as lead singer and rhythm guitarist of Hootie & the Blowfish, who have sold more than 25 million albums worldwide, including their Double Diamond-certified debut Cracked Rear View. In the mid-aughts, Rucker went country, releasing his first country album in 2008 and going on to earn 10 No. 1 singles at country radio, four No. 1 albums on the Billboard Country chart and 11 Gold, Platinum or multi-Platinum certified hits.
Ahead of his Walk of Fame ceremony, Rucker spoke with Variety about the honor, revealing he found out about the news on X (formerly Twitter).
“I called my manager and said, ‘Is this real?’ I really thought they were messing with me,” the South Carolina native recalled. “You don’t even let yourself dream about something like this because it’s only the biggest — the people that have done special things, and to think that they put me in that category is pretty damn cool. It validates the hard work, it validates taking chances and doing things that people said I shouldn’t do. And after being in the business for 30 years, it makes you feel like you did something right.”
Reflected On His Incredible Success
Rucker noted that the honor gave him an opportunity to take a moment to reflect on the incredible success he has experienced throughout his decades-long, multi-genre career.
“Usually, you’re going record to record or tour to tour, and when this happens, you get to sit down and think about the whole thing,” he explained. “You think about when the band started, in a dorm at University of South Carolina, and then all the hard work, playing for seven years before you got a record deal [and] you think about going to Nashville and being told it was never going to work [and] you think about the first No. 1 [record] you ever had.”
“You think about all that stuff,” he continued, “and you have to believe in fate, because one step to the left or one step to the right, and I’m not here talking to you. So you just thank God everything happened the way it did.”
