Life's Too Short
A Memoir
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4.7 • 3 Ratings
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
"Darius has always been one of my favorite people to sing with and to call a friend in this industry and yet even knowing him well for as long as I have, there are so many incredible stories in Life's Too Short that I enjoyed learning for the first time.”—Sheryl Crow
*A NEW YORK TIMES Bestseller*
A raw, heartfelt memoir from Darius Rucker, the Grammy Award– winning country music sensation and multiplatinum-selling lead singer of Hootie & The Blowfish
In 1986 Darius Rucker cofounded Hootie & The Blowfish at the University of South Carolina. What began as a party band playing frat houses and dive bars quickly became a global pop rock phenomenon through their multiplatinum-selling debut album, cracked rear view, which featured era-defining hit songs like “Only Wanna Be with You,” “Let Her Cry,” and “Hold My Hand.” Later, Darius would chart a pioneering path as a solo country music artist, with classic anthems like “Wagon Wheel” and “Alright.”
Nearly forty years after the band’s formation, Darius tells his remarkable story through the lens of the songs that shaped him—from Al Green, Stevie Wonder, and KISS to Lou Reed, Billy Joel, Nanci Griffith, and so many more.
Set against the soundtrack of his life, Darius recounts his childhood as the son of a single mother in Charleston, South Carolina. He traces the unlikely ascent of his band and shares wild tales of life on the road—but he also faces his missteps, defeats, and demons. As moving as it is entertaining, Life’s Too Short is a timeless book about a man and his music.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Hootie and the Blowfish singer Rucker reflects on his professional success and pays tribute to the music that shaped him in this run-of-the-mill autobiography. Rucker grew up in Charleston, S.C., and fell in love early with his single mother's favorite musicians—especially Al Green—who soundtracked the family's evenings and weekends. By the time Rucker was in elementary school, he was determined to become a singer; in 1986, he formed Hootie and the Blowfish with friends he met at the University of South Carolina. (The band's name was inspired by two of the group's nonmusician friends: one with owlish glasses, another with bulging cheeks "like the jazz trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie.") After exhausting the Southern college circuit, the band broke through with a 1994 performance on The Late Show with David Letterman. As Rucker catalogs the group's late-'90s success and his mellower career as a solo country artist after the band broke up in 2011, he speaks candidly about his former cocaine use, his confrontations with racist concertgoers and industry professionals, and his anxieties about fatherhood. Nothing in the account feels revelatory, but it's a solid enough glimpse at rock stardom. This is best suited for Rucker's most committed fans.
