Mumbai: Universal Music Publishing Group (UMPG) has signed a publishing agreement with Darius Rucker of Hootie & the Blowfish fame. His UMPG publishing agreement encompasses all his writing for Learn to Live and his future solo work, including his forthcoming solo album entitled Charleston, SC 1966 due out on 12 October.

Rucker’s platinum-selling debut album, Learn to Live (Capitol Records Nashville), has sold nearly 1.5 million copies. It hit the No. 5 spot on the Billboard 200 Top Albums chart and made the No. 1 position Billboard’s Top Country Albums. It produced three hit singles, all of which were co-written by Rucker. In the U.S., Darius Rucker has sold over 20 million albums – both as a solo artist and as a member of the band Hootie & the Blowfish.

In 2009, Rucker won top honors from the Country Music Association (CMA) by being named "New Artist of the Year" and "Male Vocalist of the Year" at the Country Music Awards, where he also performed at the award ceremony.

Rucker performed "Come Back Song" for the first time at The Darius Rucker & Friends Benefit Concert for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. It was held in Nashville, Tennessee – and raised close to $50,000 for St. Jude’s cancer research program.