He first gained fame as the lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of 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.

Six years later, Rucker signed to Capitol Nashville as a country singer and released his second album, Learn to Live (2008).

[4] His single mother, Carolyn, a nurse at Medical University of South Carolina, raised him with his three sisters and two brothers.

[4] His family attended church every Sunday and was economically poor; at one point, his mother, her two sisters, his grandmother and 14 children were all living in a three-bedroom house.

He met fellow band members Mark Bryan, Jim "Soni" Sonefeld,[4] and Dean Felber while attending the University of South Carolina.

[7] As a member of Hootie & the Blowfish, Rucker has recorded seven studio albums: Cracked Rear View (1994), Fairweather Johnson (1996), Musical Chairs (1998), Scattered, Smothered and Covered (2000), Hootie & the Blowfish (2003), Looking for Lucky (2005) and Imperfect Circle (2019), also charting within the top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100 six times.

As the frontman, Rucker began to be called simply "Hootie" by fans,[9] though the band title combines the nicknames of his college friends.

[5] Before his rise to fame, he lived in the basement of the Sigma Phi Epsilon house at the University of South Carolina, attempting to launch his career through the college bar scene.

"[11] Rucker said they "flipped" the formula of the all black band with a white frontman, like Frank Sinatra performing with Count Basie.

[7] Saturday Night Live ran a sketch of Tim Meadows playing Rucker leading beer-drinking, white fraternity members in a counter-march to Louis Farrakhan's Million Man March.

[6] Shortly after gaining a measure of fame, Felber and Rucker (who consider themselves best friends) moved into an apartment in Columbia, South Carolina.

[16] In regard to the future of Hootie & the Blowfish, Rucker was quoted by CBS news as stating in late 2011, "I don't think we'll ever break up totally.

"[17] After a ten-year hiatus, Rucker and the band announced that they would be touring with Barenaked Ladies in 2019 while also releasing a new album that same year.

[20] Hidden Beach Recordings, an independent label, acquired the masters from Atlantic and released the album as Back to Then in July 2002.

[23] He also portrayed a singing cowboy in a television commercial for the fast-food company Burger King, promoting its TenderCrisp Bacon Cheddar Ranch sandwich in 2005.

[24] In 2006 Rucker lent his voice to the track "God's Reasons" written by Dean Dinning and Joel A. Miller for the film The Still Life.

[29] Learn to Live was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on February 6, 2009, and received a platinum certification on August 7, 2009.

"[34] Billboard magazine said that "there's a sense of purpose that makes Rucker feel like a member of the country family, rather than calculating interloper.

"[35] Rucker made visits to various country stations around the United States, explaining that he was aware that he was the "new kid on the block.

"[36] Mike Culotta, the program director of Tampa, Florida, radio station WQYK-FM expected that Rucker would be "somebody who would have entitlement," but instead said that "Darius engaged everybody.

Its second single is a cover of Bob Dylan and Ketch Secor's "Wagon Wheel" (previously made famous by Old Crow Medicine Show), featuring backing vocals from Lady Antebellum.

On December 6, 2013, it was announced that Rucker's version of "Wagon Wheel" had earned him a nomination for Best Country Solo Performance for the 56th Annual Grammy Awards.

On August 25, 2014, Rucker released a new single titled "Homegrown Honey" to country radio and to digital retailers.

Christopher Bousquet named President of the Hootie fan club Rucker makes an appearance on Sister Hazel's 2016 album, Lighter in the Dark.

Rucker agreed to perform the song at the behest of personal friend and former Bills player Bruce Smith, whose jersey was being retired that night.

[56] He sang the national anthem again ahead of the Saints-Dolphins game held at London's Wembley Stadium in October 2017, as part of the NFL International Series.

[63] Rucker subsequently announced that his seventh solo album, Carolyn's Boy, named after his mother, would be released in 2023.

He added that he was planning to reduce his performance commitments from 100 dates per year to about 30, and that he thought his experience in the entertainment business would be an asset to potential clients.

On January 29, 2025, Rucker revealed in an Instagram post that he would be relocating to London, England, to tour more frequently around the United Kingdom, and work on new creative endeavors.

[77] Rucker has regularly worked with charities that support sick and underprivileged children, via benefit concerts, volunteering, the World Golf Foundation's The First Tee Program, and the Hootie & The Blowfish Foundation which has raised nearly $4.5 million to provide funding to public education systems throughout South Carolina.