As the front man for the pop band Hootie & the Blowfish, Rucker turned a college hobby into a chart-topping music career. Soon, though, his southern upbringing and soulful voice led him to a solo career in country, where he found equal success, becoming the genre’s most prominent Black artist for many years. His new memoir, Life’s Too Short, is out now.
A version of this article appeared in the July–August 2024 issue of Harvard Business Review.