Lewis sings lead and plays harmonica for his band, Huey Lewis and the News, in addition to writing or co-writing many of the band's songs. The band is perhaps best known for their third, and best-selling, album Sports, and their contribution to the soundtrack of the 1985 feature film Back to the Future. Lewis previously played with the band Clover from 1972 to 1979.
Lewis was raised in Marin County, California, living in Tamalpais Valley and Strawberry,[5] and attending Strawberry Point Elementary School (where he skipped second grade)[6] and Edna Maguire Junior High School in Mill Valley. When he was 13, his parents divorced. He attended and graduated from the Lawrenceville School, a then all-male prep school in New Jersey,[6] in 1967, and he achieved a perfect score of 800 on the math portion of the SAT.[7] He was also an all-state baseball player.[8] Lewis attended Cornell University in Ithaca, New York.
His mother had an extramarital affair with Beat Generation poet Lew Welch, who became his stepfather. Lewis credits Welch with inspiring him in his early teenage years.[9] His mother was close friends with the Grateful Dead's manager and extended family.[10]
In an interview with David Letterman,[11] Lewis talked about hitchhiking across the country back to New York City and how he learned to play the harmonica while waiting for rides. He talked about hanging out at the airport for three days until he stowed away on a plane to Europe. In later interviews, Lewis would reveal other encounters he had traveling around Europe. While visiting Aberdeen, Scotland, with no money and nowhere to sleep, he claimed that the locals were very hospitable by offering him somewhere to stay. In Madrid, Spain, he became an accomplished blues player as he hitchhiked and supported himself by busking with his harmonica. He gave his first concerts in Madrid, earning enough money to buy a plane ticket back to the US.
Upon his return, Lewis entered the engineering program at Cornell University. While there he made friends with Lance and Larry Hoppen who later played with Orleans and Eddie Tuleja of King Harvest. Initially an active student, Lewis soon lost interest in college. He signed up with a band called Slippery Elm, and in December 1969 during his junior year, he dropped out of Cornell and moved back to the San Francisco Bay Area.[12] He stated California was where "it was all happening." His aim was to continue playing music, though along the way he also tried other fields of work including landscaping, carpentry, wedding and event planning, as well as delivering and selling natural foods.[6][13]
Music career
Lewis circa early 1990s
In 1971 Lewis joined the Bay Area band Clover. Around this time he took the stage name "Hughie Louis", the spelling of which he would tinker with for some years after. Other members of the band (at various points) included John McFee and Alex Call. Lewis played harmonica and sang lead vocals on a few tunes.
In 1976, after playing in the Bay Area with limited success, Clover went to Los Angeles. They had their big break in a club there when their act was caught by Nick Lowe, who convinced Clover to travel to Great Britain with him. However, Clover arrived in Britain just as their folk-rock sound, known as pub rock in Britain, was being replaced by punk rock.
The two Clover albums produced by Robert John "Mutt" Lange for Phonogram were not successful. By this point the spelling of Cregg's stage name had changed to "Huey Louis"; it is under this spelling that he is billed on both of Clover's albums for Phonogram, although for songwriting credits he is billed as "H. Cregg". The band accompanied Elvis Costello on his debut album, My Aim is True, minus Lewis and Alex Call, the singers.[14] As Lewis told Rolling Stone years later, "there isn’t any harmonica. I tell people, 'All the harmonica that isn’t on the Elvis Costello record was played by me.'"[15] In 1978 the band returned to California, McFee joined the Doobie Brothers, and Clover disbanded. McFee and Lewis, credited as Huey Harp, both appear as guest musicians on the George Hatcher Band's 1977 sophomore album, Talkin' Turkey, produced by Tom Allom.
Under the name "Bluesy Huey Lewis", Lewis played harmonica on Thin Lizzy's 1978 landmark album Live and Dangerous.[16] That same year, he was playing at Uncle Charlie's, a club in Corte Madera, California, doing the "Monday Night Live" spot along with future members of the News. At this point, he had adopted the "Huey Lewis" spelling, and the band was billed as Huey Lewis and the American Express. After recording the song "Exodisco" (a disco version of the theme from the film Exodus) simply as American Express, Lewis landed a singles contract from Phonogram, and Bob Brown became his manager.[17]
The band played a few gigs (including an opening for Van Morrison), before adding new guitarist Chris Hayes to the line-up. On Brown's advice, they changed their name again to Huey Lewis and The News. After a failed self-titled debut in 1980, the band finally broke through to Top 40 success with the gold album Picture This (1982). It rose to No. 13 on the albums chart thanks to the Mutt Lange-penned "Do You Believe in Love" (No. 7), the band's first hit.[17]
His song "The Power of Love" was a No. 1 U.S. hit and was featured in the 1985 film Back to the Future, for which they also recorded the song, "Back in Time". Lewis has a cameo appearance in the film as a faculty member who rejects Marty McFly's band's audition for the school's "Battle of the Bands" contest. As an inside joke, the piece the band plays is an instrumental heavy metal version of "The Power of Love". (Lewis plays the audition committee leader, who, after glancing at the other, equally unimpressed fellow faculty members, picks up the megaphone and says, "Hold it, fellas ... I'm afraid you're just too darn loud. Next, please".) A poster for the album Sports is hanging on Marty's wall when he awakes at the end of the movie. "The Power of Love" was nominated for an Academy Award.[23]
Following the success of "The Power of Love" and Back to the Future, Huey Lewis and the News released their fourth studio album, Fore! in 1986. Fore! followed the success of Sports and reached No. 1 on the Billboard 200. The album spawned the No. 1 singles, "Stuck with You" and "Jacob's Ladder" as well as the mainstream rock hit "Hip to Be Square". In all, the album had five top-10 singles on the Billboard Hot 100 and was certified triple platinum.
Lewis and his bandmates performed on USA for Africa's 1985 fund-raising single "We Are the World". The remainder of the 1980s and early 1990s were mostly spent touring and recording fourteen top-20 Billboard Hot 100 hits and releasing two more hit albums: Small World (1988), which reached number 11 on the charts, and Hard at Play (1991) which peaked at number 27. Lewis had a planned solo album titled Back in Blue that was canceled in the mid-1990s due to living arrangement issues on the part of Lewis.[24][failed verification] One of the songs from that cancelled project, "100 Years From Now", was later used for the compilation album Time Flies... The Best Of.[24][failed verification]
Lewis has sung with Chicago-based progressive jam band Umphrey's McGee at several shows beginning with the 2005 Jammy Awards and is featured on two tracks of their album Safety in Numbers.
On February 13, 2007, Lewis was interviewed on the podcast series Stuck in the 1980s. During the interview, he revealed that the band had written several new songs that they planned to record in 2008. He also stated that, given how much the industry has changed since their last album, he was unsure how they would sell the new material.[25]
During a show at the California State Fair on August 21, 2007, Lewis was named Sacramento's Musician of the Year by the fair's general manager and presented with a gold statue of the California state bear.
Lewis performing in Nashville, Tennessee, November 2008
Lewis recorded a duet version of "Workin' for a Livin'" with Garth Brooks, which was included on Brooks's three-disc set The Ultimate Hits, in late 2007.
On July 4, 2008, the eve of his 58th birthday, Huey Lewis and the News were the opening act for the annual A Capitol Fourth celebration on the west lawn of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. More than a half million people attended and was broadcast live on PBS. The band performed "The Heart of Rock & Roll", "The Power of Love" and "Workin' for a Livin'".
On May 29, 2011, Lewis played the annual Summer Camp Music Festival in Chillicothe, Illinois, along with Umphrey's McGee. They were billed as Huey Lewis and The Rumors. Together they played covers as well as songs from both their respective catalogs.[26]
On April 2, 2013, Lewis appeared on the ABC television series Dancing with the Stars, where he performed "The Heart of Rock & Roll" in celebration of the 30th anniversary release of Sports and a concert tour with the News.
On April 13, 2018, Lewis announced that he had been diagnosed with Ménière's disease, and that he "couldn't hear well enough to sing". As a result, the remaining shows scheduled for the 2018 tour were cancelled.[27][28][29][30]
In November 2023, it was announced that the musical The Heart of Rock and Roll featuring the band's music would debut on Broadway in March 2024. Lewis has been involved in the development of the show since 2018.[31]
Acting career
After Lewis's cameo appearance as a teacher in Back to the Future, more substantial roles followed, including Vern Miller in Robert Altman's ensemble feature, Short Cuts, and Ricky Dean in Duets. He has performed in occasional television roles as well, including One Tree Hill, The King of Queens and a recurring character on Hot in Cleveland. Lewis provides the voice of Bulworth the junkyard dog in the animated series Puppy Dog Pals.
On October 21, 2015, on an episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live, Lewis reprised his role from Back to the Future in a segment where Marty McFly and Doc Brown arrive in the time machine and talk to the host.
On February 12, 2021, he played himself on an episode of The Blacklist.[33]
Lawsuit
In 1985, Lewis sued Ray Parker Jr. over similarities between Parker's theme for the 1984 movie Ghostbusters and Lewis's "I Want a New Drug". The case was settled out of court with both parties agreeing to keep the settlement secret. In 2001, Parker sued Lewis, alleging that in a Behind the Music episode, Lewis had discussed the settlement in violation of their nondisclosure agreement.[34]
Huey Lewis and the News are an American rock band based in San Francisco, California. They had a run of hit singles during the 1980s and early 1990s, eventually achieving 19 top ten singles across the Billboard Hot 100, Adult Contemporary, and Mainstream Rock charts. Their sound draws upon earlier pop, rhythm & blues and doo-wop artists, and their own material has been labeled as blue-eyed soul, new wave, power pop, and roots rock.
Picture This is the second album by American rock band Huey Lewis and the News, released in 1982. The album brought the band their first top-ten hit, "Do You Believe in Love". It remained on the Billboard albums chart for 35 weeks and peaked at number 7.
Bruce Randall Hornsby is an American singer-songwriter and pianist. His music draws from folk rock, jazz, bluegrass, folk, Southern rock, country rock, jam band, rock, heartland rock, and blues rock musical traditions.
Ambrosia is an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1970. Ambrosia had five Top 40 hit singles released between 1975 and 1980, including the Top 5 hits "How Much I Feel" and "Biggest Part of Me", and Top 20 hits "You're the Only Woman " and "Holdin' on to Yesterday". Most of the original band members have been active with the group continuously since their 1989 reformation to the present day, with the notable exception of original guitarist and lead vocalist David Pack who left in 2000.
Sports is the third album by American rock band Huey Lewis and the News, released on September 15, 1983, by Chrysalis Records. It reached No. 1 on the Billboard 200 on June 30, 1984, and ultimately charted for 160 weeks. Sports was ranked No. 2 on the Billboard year-end album chart for 1984 and spawned four top-ten hits on the Billboard Hot 100, with "Heart and Soul" and "The Heart of Rock & Roll" earning Grammy Award nominations. Sports also did very well internationally, where most of its singles charted in the top 40 in multiple countries. The album has been certified 7× Platinum by the RIAA.
Fore! is the fourth studio album by American rock band Huey Lewis and the News, released on August 20, 1986. The album was a commercial success, peaking at number one on the Billboard 200 and went on to score five top-ten Billboard Hot 100 singles, including the number-one hits "Stuck with You" and "Jacob's Ladder". The album was certified three-times platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America.
Safety In Numbers is Umphrey's McGee's fourth studio album, released on April 4, 2006. Huey Lewis and Joshua Redman both make appearances. The album contains many slower, acoustic songs and a simpler, stripped down approach with little jamming or progressive rock elements. The album title comes from one of the lyrics in the ninth track "Passing". The artwork for the album was done by Storm Thorgerson.
"The Power of Love" is a 1985 single by Huey Lewis and the News, written for the soundtrack of the 1985 blockbuster film Back to the Future. The song became the band's first number-one hit on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and their second number-one hit on the U.S. Mainstream Rock chart. In the United Kingdom, it was released as a double-A side with "Do You Believe in Love," becoming the band's only top ten hit on the UK Singles Chart. The song is included alongside "Back in Time" on the film's soundtrack, and appears as a bonus track on international editions of the band's fourth studio album, Fore!
John McFee is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, record producer, and multi-instrumentalist, and long-time member of The Doobie Brothers.
The Don Harrison Band were a 1970s American roots rock band that featured Don Harrison on vocals, guitar and keyboards, Stu Cook on bass and piano and Doug Clifford on drums and percussion. Stu Cook and Doug "Cosmo" Clifford were both former members of Creedence Clearwater Revival. The line-up also included Russell DaShiell formerly of Crowfoot on lead and rhythm guitar, piano and vocals. The band merged elements of folk, country, rhythm & blues and rock & roll in a sound reminiscent of CCR.
Clover was an American country rock band formed in Mill Valley, California and active from 1967 to 1978. Clover are best known as the backing band for Elvis Costello's 1977 debut album My Aim Is True, and for its members going on to greater success with Huey Lewis and the News, the Doobie Brothers, and Lucinda Williams.
Greatest Hits & Videos is a greatest hits album by Huey Lewis and the News, released on May 23, 2006. It contains the band's most popular songs and music videos. The compilation is a follow-up to the band's previous greatest hits compilation, Time Flies... The Best of Huey Lewis & the News from the previous decade.
John Victor Colla is an American musician, singer and songwriter. He is a founding member of the American rock band Huey Lewis and the News. He has been heavily involved in the San Francisco Bay Area music scene for decades, having been in several other bands, including Rubicon, Sly and the Family Stone, Van Morrison, Sound Hole, and Johnny Colla & The Lucky Devils. Colla has two children, Allison Colla and Ryan Colla.
"Jacob's Ladder" is a 1986 song written by Bruce Hornsby and his brother John Hornsby and recorded by Huey Lewis and the News. The song spent one week at No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 in 1987, becoming the band's third and final number-one hit.
"Workin' for a Livin'" is a single by American rock band Huey Lewis and the News, released in 1982. Included on their 1982 album Picture This, the song peaked at number 20 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks charts, and number 41 on the Billboard Hot 100. A live version appears as a B-side to the single "The Heart of Rock & Roll".
"Walking On a Thin Line" is a song performed by Huey Lewis and the News, released in 1984 as the fifth and final single from their 1983 album, Sports.
"The Heart of Rock & Roll" is a song performed by Huey Lewis and the News, released as the third single from their 1983 album Sports in 1984. The single peaked at number six on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100.
Soulsville is the ninth studio album from Huey Lewis and the News and the band's first since Plan B in 2001. The album was released on October 18, 2010, in the United Kingdom and Europe and November 2, 2010, in the United States. The album, a tribute to the artists and music of Stax Records, was the brainchild of the band's manager, Bob Brown. As lead singer Huey Lewis explained, "the public isn't clamoring for new Huey Lewis & the News material". Brown and the band decided "it would be cooler to go into the [Stax] catalog a little deeper and find songs that people hadn't heard and capture them faithfully". This album features new guitarists Stef Burns and Bill Hinds and baritone saxophonist Johnnie Bamont, replacing Chris Hayes and the late Ron Stallings.
Love on the Wire (1977) is the fourth album by Clover. It was released on Vertigo Records in the UK. In the United States, it was released on Mercury Records.
Weather is the tenth studio album by American rock band Huey Lewis and the News, released on February 14, 2020, by New Hulex under license to BMG Rights Management.
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