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Darius Rucker is turning heartbreak into hits.
The Hootie & the Blowfish singer is gearing up for the release of his seventh solo album – his first since 2017’s “When Was the Last Time” – and revealed in a new interview with Page Six that the songs are “pretty deep.”
“All of the sudden we were in the middle of the [coronavirus] pandemic. It was just a lot of time to write songs,” Rucker, 55, explained, when asked why now was the right time to get back to the music.
“With that going on in the world and with everything that’s going on with my life, there was just a lot of stuff to write about,” he continued. “So I thought it was time to put some new music out.”
Rucker announced via Instagram in July 2020 that he and wife Beth Leonard were splitting after 20 years of marriage and two children together: daughter Daniella, 20, and son Jack, 16. He briefly moved on with comedian Kate Quigley, but the two have since called it quits.
“With my kids growing up, my life’s changed in the last year and a half or so,” explained Rucker, who is also dad to daughter Carolyn, 25, from his previous relationship with Elizabeth Ann Phillips. “I usually write about stuff I know and what’s happened to me, so it’s a lot of that stuff in there.”
He added, “There’s a couple of songs that are pretty out there, that are pretty true, pretty vulnerable, pretty deep, me saying exactly how I feel … so there’s definitely going to be a lot of me dealing with my life in song.”
Rucker told Page Six that fans can expect the album in February 2022, to accompany his upcoming “Darius Rucker Live” tour. At the time of our interview, he had yet to title it, but said he already has “quite a few” favorite tracks.
“There’s a song called ’Never Been Over’ I wrote with John Osborne, from Brothers Osborne. It’s just, every time I hear it, it gets me,” the Charleston, S.C, native teased. “It’s just one of those songs where we really sat down and wrote how I felt.”
Later in the interview, Rucker also reflected on what it was like starting Hootie & the Blowfish while attending the University of South Carolina back in the ’80s. He told Page Six there was a time when the band contemplated calling it quits.
“There was a very famous day in our lives, I mean, nobody really knows about it, but for me, Mark [Bryan] and Dean [Felber] it was a big day. Our first drummer had quit, and we were sitting with some friends on Mark’s porch, drinking beers and talking,” Rucker remembered. “We started talking about what we were gonna do. For me, that was the day we were either going to make it or we were gonna die trying.”
Six albums later, including their Diamond-certified debut “Cracked Rear View,” Rucker is glad the band made the right decision that day. As for whether another new Hootie & the Blowfish album is in the works, following 2019’s “Imperfect Circle”?
“We haven’t talked about it yet, but I’m sure we’re going to tour again, and do an album sometime in the new year or sometime in the future,” Rucker shared. “We ain’t that young, so I’m sure it’s going to be near future!”
He added, “We just toured in 2019 and we don’t want to go out every year or anything, so it will be a couple years before we do it, but we’ll do it again.”
The three-time GRAMMY winner is still a diehard fan of South Carolina’s college athletics program, specifically the Gamecocks football team, and is a loyal supporter of the Miami Dolphins. He famously gave the NFL team a shoutout in Hootie & the Blowfish’s 1995 hit “Only Wanna Be With You,” in which he sang, “Sometimes you’re crazy, then you wonder why. I’m such a baby ’cause the Dolphins make me cry.”
Rucker is now infusing his love of football with fashion, partnering with Fanatics and NFL on a new apparel line. The NFL x Darius Rucker Collection by Fanatics features 17 styles as part of the new collection, including merchandise for all 32 NFL teams.
“They called and asked if I was interested and I definitely was, because the NFL means so much to me,” Rucker explained. “It’s one of my favorite things in the world, so to be teaming up with them and Fanatics to come up with this was a dream come true, really.”
Rucker added that the collection features “something for everybody,” including his famous friends.
“I’m very good friends with Jimbo Covert and he recently got his [Pro Football Hall of Fame] ring in Chicago,” Rucker shared. “I went to that ceremony, and he was the first guy I got to give some of my clothing to, so that was pretty awesome.”
Rucker’s shirts, outerwear, sweats and more are available now at fanatics.com/darius.
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