Everything about Huey Lewis totally explained
Huey Lewis (born
Hugh Anthony Cregg, III on
July 5,
1950) is an
American musician,
songwriter and occasional
actor. He sings lead vocals and plays
harmonica for his
band Huey Lewis & The News, in addition to writing or co-writing many of the band's songs. The band is perhaps best remembered in American popular culture for their third album
Sports and their contribution to the soundtrack of the 1985 feature film
Back to the Future. Huey Lewis also played with the band
Clover from 1972 to 1979.
Biography
Lewis was born in
New York City and raised in
Marin County, California, attending
Strawberry Point Elementary School (where he skipped second grade) and Edna Maguire Junior High School in
Mill Valley. His mother, Magda Cregg, was a
Polish refugee and the girlfriend of poet
Lew Welch, and his maternal grandfather had gained some success as the inventor of the red wax protective sealant used on
certain varieties of cheese. When he was 13, his parents divorced and he was sent to an East Coast
prep school instead of going to
Tamalpais High School with his classmates. He graduated from
Lawrenceville School, New Jersey, in
1967 with a perfect score of 800 on the math portion of the
SAT. Lewis applied to and was accepted by
Cornell University in
Ithaca, New York. In an interview with
David Letterman, Lewis talked about
hitchhiking across the country to New York 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 Madrid, Spain, Lewis became an accomplished
blues player and he hitchhiked around 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 USA.
On his return, Lewis entered Cornell University, joining the engineering program. While there, he made friends with Lance and Larry Hoppen, who later played with
Orleans and Eddie Tuleja of
King Harvest. Initially being an active student and a member of the fraternity Eta Lambda Nu, 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, moving back to the San Francisco area. His aim was to continue playing music, but along the way he also tried other fields of work including landscaping, carpentry and natural foods.
Musical career
In
1971, Lewis joined the Bay Area band
Clover. Around this time he took the name Huey Lewis. The Lewis is for his mother Magda Cregg's boyfriend,
Beat Generation poet Lew(is) Welch, whom he considered his stepfather. Sean Hopper joined the band in
1972; other members of the band were
John McFee, Alex Call, John Ciambotti, Mitch Howie, Mickey Shine and Marcus David. Lewis played harmonica with the band and only sang lead vocals on a few tunes. Clover's main rival band (which developed into a friendly rivalry) was
Soundhole (
Johnny Colla, Mario Cipollina, and
Bill Gibson were band members).
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
Britain with him. However, Clover wasn't successful in Britain, and the band arrived just as their folk-rock sound (known as
pub rock in Britain) was being replaced by
punk rock. They recorded two albums for the British
Phonogram label; both albums produced by
Robert John "Mutt" Lange, but neither were successful.
While Lewis went on vacation, the rest of Clover backed
Elvis Costello on his debut album
My Aim is True. The band returned to California, McFee joined the
Doobie Brothers, and Clover disbanded.
Huey Lewis played harmonica on
Thin Lizzy's
1978 landmark album
Live and Dangerous. That same year, Lewis 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. After recording the song "Exo-Disco" (a disco version of the theme from the film
Exodus), Huey landed a 'singles contract' from Phonogram Records, and Bob Brown became his manager. Huey Lewis and the American Express formed in
1979, with the same line-up as the News. The band played a few gigs (including an opening for
Van Morrison), but on Brown's advice, they changed their name again. Huey Lewis and The News became their moniker.
After a failed self-titled debut in 1980, the band finally broke through to
Top 40 success with the gold album
Picture This (1982) riding to #13 on the Albums chart thanks to the Mutt Lange-penned "
Do You Believe in Love" (#7), which became the band's first hit.
The band's third LP, the #1
Sports (1983), is one of the best-selling pop releases of all time. It has sold ten million copies in the US alone. It was followed up by
Fore! (1986), another #1 multi-platinum smash.
Lewis produced Nick Lowe's 1985
cover of "I Knew the Bride (When She Used to Rock and Roll)". Huey Lewis and The News provided backup vocals and played on the song. He and his bandmates also performed on
USA for Africa's 1985 fund-raising single "
We Are the World", and spent the remainder of the 1980s and early 1990s adding to an impressive string of fourteen Top-20 Billboard Hot 100 hits and releasing two more hit albums:
Small World (1988) #11 and
Hard At Play (1991) #27. By the time the band released their critically-acclaimed album of cover songs
Four Chords & Several Years Ago (1994) #55, their chosen lower profile and lack of promotion from new label
Elektra saw their Top 40 appeal dip for good, yet they've endured as one of America's top drawing live acts and have continued to have the occasional hit on adult contemporary radio.
Huey Lewis has sung with
Umphrey's McGee at several shows beginning with the 2005
Jammys and is featured on two tracks of their album
Safety In Numbers.
The band, now in self-proclaimed semi-retirement, still plays 80+ U.S. dates a year, with an occasional European tour. The average fee for Huey Lewis & The News to play a private college-sized show is around US$200,000.
On February 13, 2007, Huey was interviewed on the podcast series "Stuck in the 80s," during which he revealed that the band has written several new songs that they plan to record in 2008, though he states that, given how much the industry has changed since their last album, he's unsure at this point how that'll sell the new material.
During a show at the
California State Fair on August 21, 2007, Huey 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.
Huey has also recorded a duet version of "Workin' For A Livin'" with Garth Brooks, which was included in Brooks' 3-Disc set
The Ultimate Hits, in late-2007.
Ghostbusters suit
In 1995, Huey Lewis sued
Ray Parker, Jr. over similarities between Parker's theme for the 1984 movie
Ghostbusters and Lewis' own "
I Want a New Drug". The case was settled out of court, with both parties agreeing to keep the settlement secret. Parker sued Lewis in 2001, alleging that Lewis violated the agreement in a "VH1- Behind the Music" Episode, when he stated that Parker paid some amount to settle the case.
Acting
Lewis has made appearances in several movies. The first was a
cameo in
Back to the Future (1985), as a judge in the Hill Valley High School band audition. Ironically, Marty McFly was on stage playing Lewis' hit, "
The Power of Love." The band also recorded another hit song for the soundtrack, the hit "Back in Time." Lewis next played
Reba McEntire's husband in her music video for 1992 single, "Is There Life Out There".
Huey's second movie appearance was in
Short Cuts (1993), in which Lewis had a much more significant role including his
full frontal nude scene. In addition, Lewis appeared in the first few minutes of the movie
Sphere (1998) as the helicopter pilot. After that role, he'd a large part in
Shadow of a Doubt (1998) which appeared on
Showtime. He had an uncredited role in
Dead Husbands (1998) as the husband killed during the opening credits.
Duets (2000) was probably Lewis' largest role in a major Hollywood feature film. In it, he played Gwyneth Paltrow's father, Ricky Dean, a karaoke hustler. Duets led to the smash-hit duet "Cruisin'" (a cover of the Smokey Robinson classic) with Paltrow. Unreleased as a single, the song nevertheless reached the top spot on Billboard's
Adult Contemporary Chart. In 2002, he appeared in the film,
.com for Murder, starring
Nastassja Kinski. He has also made guest appearances on the
television series,
Just Shoot Me! (2002) and
One Tree Hill (2004). Huey Lewis has also appeared as himself on
King of Queens.
Most recently Huey made his
Broadway debut in the six-time
Tony award-winning musical
Chicago, starring as attorney Billy Flynn.
Recordings
See
Huey Lewis & The News Discography for Albums and Singles by the band. Below are specific contributions by Huey Lewis as a solo artist.
Albums
Singles
The following table denotes singles that Lewis has charted with solo credits.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Huey Lewis'.
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