Rucker Becomes First African-American New Artist of the Year at CMAAs

Former lead singer for Hootie and the Blowfish and current solo artist Darius Rucker brought home the New Artist of the Year award at the 2009 CMAAs.

Heading into tonight’s 2009 Country Music Association Awards, only one African-American in the award show’s illustrious history had ever won a major individual award. However, solo artist Darius Rucker became the second African-American to win a major individual award in the history of the Country Music Association Awards and the first to ever capture the award for New Artist of the Year.

Rucker, who enjoyed plenty of notoriety within the music industry as the lead singer and rhythm guitarist of Hootie and the Blowfish in the 1990s, was the recipient of the New Artist of the Year award due to the commercial success and critical acclaim of his debut country album, “Learn to Live.” His debut solo album as a country music performer featured three tracks that went on to become number one singles on the country music charts.

MSNBC is reporting that Rucker expressed a great deal of exhilaration in response to winning the New Artist of the Year award on Wednesday night. He expressed his gratitude during his acceptance speech by saying, “What a year! First of all, to the fans, thank y’all for accepting me. And I think most importantly, to country radio, you took a chance on a pop singer from Charleston, S.C. Thank you so much for that!”