Darius Rucker has been a prominent face in the music industry for nearly 30 years -- but not always in the country genre. The singer had a successful career well before deciding to try his luck in Nashville more than a decade ago.

If you didn't know Rucker as the frontman of the popular '90s group Hootie & the Blowfish, you certainly learned his name when he made his entrance into country music with Learn to Live in 2008. Rucker is one of the relatively rare artists who successfully crossed over into the genre, earning a number of CMA and ACM nominations, and even a win in a country-focused Grammy Awards category.

If you're familiar with Rucker even a little bit, you likely know that he's from South Carolina -- but how much else do you really know about the singer? You might know that he is a Miami Dolphins fan thanks to a famous lyric in Hootie & the Blowfish's "Only Wanna Be With You," but did you know that Rucker was the quarterback of his high school football team?

Read on below to learn more about Rucker, including why he stayed up for four days straight and what his favorite live show of all time is:

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