Hootie & the Blowfish Singer Darius Rucker Arrested on Drug Charges

Country Star Darius Rucker Arrested On Drug Charges

Darius Rucker’s rear view now includes drug-related charges.

The Hootie & the Blowfish singer was arrested in Tennessee and charged with two counts of simple possession and casual exchange, as well as violation of registration law, the Williamson County Sheriff’s Office confirmed to E! News. He was released Feb. 1 on a $10,500 bond. 

Following the arrest, Rucker’s lawyers said in a statement to E! News that the 57-year-old “is fully cooperating with authorities related to misdemeanor charges.”

In 2013, Rucker spoke out on his past experience with substances and shared why he had moved away from that lifestyle. 

“Doing drugs and drinking every night—I’ve done that,” he told the Los Angeles Times. “Trust me, I’ve done enough for everybody. And it’s just not how I want to live anymore.”

Becoming a dad helped change his mindset on both his life and music, as he welcomed daughter Carolyn with Elizabeth Ann Phillips in 1995. He went on to welcome kids Daniella, 22, and Jack, 19, with wife Beth Leonard in the 2000s.

“I’d been on the road with Hootie for so long—every summer, out for three or four months—and then my life was my family and my kids,” he explained. “Trying to switch over from being the rock star to just being Dad, that was a huge undertaking for me. My life changed abruptly.”

However, Rucker realized he could write about family more in the country music genre, an epiphany that led to a major moment in his career. 

Williamson County Sheriff’s Office via Getty Images

“In rock and roll and pop, you don’t really sit down and write a song like ‘It Won’t Be Like This for Long,'” Rucker continued. “But in country music you can—and then you can go have a No. 1 with it.”

He dropped his most recent album Carolyn’s Boy, in honor of his mother, in October 2023.

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