Huey Lewis

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Huey Lewis (2009)

Huey Lewis (* 5. July 1950 in New York City , New York , United States as Hugh Anthony Cregg Ⅲ ) is an American singer , songwriter and actor . Lewis became known as the front man and namesake of the band Huey Lewis & the News , which had its breakthrough in 1985 with the hit album Sports and its contribution to the soundtrack of the feature film Back to the Future . Lewis previously played in the band Clover from 1972 to 1979 .

Early years

Lewis grew up in Marin County and attended Strawberry Point Elementary School , where he skipped the second grade, and Edna Maguire Junior High School in Mill Valley . When he was 13 years old, his parents divorced: his mother had an extramarital affair with the poet Lew Welch of the Beat Generation , whom she later married. Lewis says Welch was inspired by him as a teenager. He attended and graduated from Lawrenceville School in New Jersey in 1967 , a school that taught only young men, and Lewis got the perfect 800 score on the SAT math portion. He later attended Cornell University in Ithaca .

In 1984, in an interview with David Letterman , Lewis spoke about his travels in the United States and how he learned to play the harmonica while hitchhiking . Lewis also spoke of staying at an airport for three days before boarding a plane to Europe as a stowaway. In later interviews, Lewis announced other encounters he had on his travels across Europe. When touring Aberdeen , Scotland with no money or sleeping accommodation, he claimed that the locals were very hospitable as they offered him accommodation. Later in Madrid he became an accomplished blues musician with his harmonica , he gave his first concerts there and soon earned enough money to buy a plane ticket back to the United States.

Upon his return to the United States, Lewis began studying engineering at Cornell University. There he befriended Lance and Larry Hoppen , who later played with Orleans and Eddie Tuleja in King Harvest . Initially, Lewis was an active student and member of the Eta Lambda Nu Brotherhood , but he quickly lost interest in college. He enrolled in a band called Slippery Elm . In December 1969, he left college and moved back to the San Francisco Bay Area . His goal was to continue to make music, although he also tried other fields of work such as landscape architecture , carpentry , wedding and event planning or the delivery and sale of natural food .

Music career

Huey Lewis in the early 1990s.

In 1971 Lewis joined the band Clover , during which time he called himself Hughie Louis . He played the harmonica and was an occasional lead singer . After the band played in 1976 with mediocre success in the San Francisco Bay Area, this later moved to Los Angeles. When music producer Nick Lowe was enthusiastic about a performance , the band had their big break and Lowe persuaded them to go to Great Britain with him. Yet the band that played folk rock arrived in the UK while punk rock was just gaining popularity. The two produced Clover albums were unsuccessful. By this time the spelling of Lewis' stage name had changed to Huey Louis , under this spelling he was also mentioned as a singer on both albums, although he is listed as H. Cregg as a songwriter . In 1978 the band returned to California: member John McFee joined The Doobie Brothers and Clover broke up.

Under the name Bluesy Huey Lewis , Lewis played Harmonica on Thin Lizzy's breakthrough album Live And Dangerous in 1978 . That same year he played at Uncle Charlie's , a club in Corte Madera , where he shot the "Monday Night Live" spot with future members of Huey Lewis & the News . At this time he took over the current spelling of his name and the band Huey Lewis and the American Express was founded: After the band had recorded the song Exodisco , a disco version of the soundtrack from the film Exodus , under their name, Lewis received an individual contract at Phonogram Inc. and Bob Brown became its manager.

The band played a few concerts, even as a headliner for Van Morrison , before resuming the guitarist Chris Hayes. On Brown's advice, they changed their name to Huey Lewis & the News . After a failed debut album in 1980, which is named after the band, the band finally achieved the breakthrough to Top 40 success with the album Picture This (1982). The gold-winning album landed at number 13 on the album charts thanks to the band's first hit, Do You Believe in Love? .

The third album, Sports from 1983, is one of the best-selling pop releases of all time, reaching number 1 on the charts from 1984 to 1985 and going platinum several times. Four singles on the album reached the Top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 ( Heart and Soul , I Want a New Drug , The Heart of Rock & Roll, and If This Is It ).

The song The Power of Love was a No. 1 US hit and was played in the 1985 film Back to the Future , for which they also recorded the song Back in Time . Lewis also made a cameo in the film as a jury member, which the band of lead character Marty McFly , played by Michael J. Fox , rejects in the school competition. As an inside joke, the song the band plays is an instrumental heavy metal version of The Power of Love . The Power of Love was then nominated for an Oscar.

After the success of The Power of Love and Back to the Future , Huey Lewis & the News released their fourth studio album, Fore! : This album achieved the same success as the previous album and reached No. 1 on the Billboard 200 . In total, the album reached five top 10 singles on the Billboard Hot 100, including Stuck with You , Jacob's Ladder and Hip to Be Square , and went platinum three times.

Then Lewis and his bandmates were for the project We Are the World by USA for Africa on. The rest of the 1980s and early 1990s were mostly touring with the band having released many other hits and two other hit albums: Small World (1988) and Hard at Play (1991).

Lewis had planned a solo album called Back in Blue , which was canceled by Lewis in the mid-1990s. One of the songs from this canceled project, 100 Years From Now , was later used for the best-of album Time Flies ... The Best Of .

Lewis has sung on several shows with Umphrey's McGee , starting with the 2005 Jammy Awards , and can be heard on two songs on their album Safety in Numbers . On February 13, 2007, Lewis was interviewed on the Stuck in the 80s podcast series . During the interview, he revealed that the band had written several new songs that they plan to record in 2008. He also stated that, given the big changes in the industry since their last album, he was unsure how the new songs would sell.

During a show at the California State Fair on August 21, 2007, Lewis was named Sacramento Musician of the Year and was awarded a gold statue of the California state bear .

On April 2, 2013, Lewis appeared on the ABC television show Dancing with the Stars , where he performed The Heart of Rock & Roll for the 30th anniversary of Sports ' release and a concert tour with his band.

In 2018, singer Huey Lewis, who has had Menière's disease since 1985, lost his remaining hearing before a concert in Dallas . He explained that since then he has sometimes been able to hear, sometimes not, and that he can only perceive music as noise.

The album Weather by his band Huey Lewis & the News was released on February 14, 2020 . It is the first studio album in ten years

Litigation

In 1985, Lewis sued Ray Parker, Jr. over similarities between Parker's soundtrack for the 1984 film Ghostbusters and Lewis' 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 Lewis discussed the settlement in a " Behind the Music " episode in violation of their nondisclosure agreement.

Private

Huey Lewis (2013)

Lewis married his manager's secretary, Sidney Conroy, in Hawaii in 1983. They split up six years later. The two have a daughter, Kelly, and a son, Austin.

He lives on a ranch near Stevensville, Montana .

On April 13, 2018, Lewis announced that he was diagnosed with Meniere's disease and that he cannot hear well enough to sing. As a result, the remaining concerts for the 2018 tour were canceled.

As a lead singer

As accompanist (harmonica)

  • 1977: Thin Lizzy - Live and Dangerous as "Bluesey Huey Lewis"
  • 1977: George Hatcher Band - Talkin Turkey as "Huey Harp"
  • 1977: Twiggy - Please Got my Name Right (with Clover)
  • 1979: City Boy - The Day the Earth caught Fire
  • 1979: Dave Edmunds - Repeat when Necessary
  • 1979: Nick Lowe - Labor of Love
  • 1979: Thin Lizzy - Black Rose
  • 1980: Nick Gravenites - Bluestar
  • 1980: Philip Lynott - Solo in Soho
  • 1982: Philip Lynott - The Philip Lynott Album
  • 1985: Nick Lowe - Rose of England, also as backing vocals
  • 1986: Bruce Hornsby and the Rage - The Way it is, also as backing vocals
  • 1988: Southern Pacific - Zuma
  • 1991: Joe Louis Walker - Live at Slim's, Volume 1 & 2 (1992)
  • 1994: Dick Dale - Unknown Territory
  • 1997: Sammy Hagar - Marching to Mars
  • 1998: Jim Belushi and the Sacred Hearts - 36-22-36
  • 2000: Dream Couples (original soundtrack), as lead singer and duet partner of Gwyneth Paltrow (Cruisin ')

Filmography (as an actor)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. Vladimir Bogdanov, Chris Woodstra, Stephen Thomas Erlewine: All Music Guide to Rock: The Definitive Guide to Rock, Pop, and Soul . Hal Leonard Corporation, 2002, ISBN 978-0-87930-653-3 ( google.de [accessed February 20, 2020]).
  2. Huey Lewis - MarinNostalgia. Retrieved February 20, 2020 (American English).
  3. ^ Gary Snyder, Peter Coyote, Joanne Kyger and Huey Lewis: Celebrating Lew Welch. October 24, 2012, accessed February 20, 2020 .
  4. Jeff Kaliss, Special to The Chronicle: THE ARTS / Huey Lewis quietly spreads the news / It's been a long, rockin 'ride for Marin musician. June 24, 2005, accessed February 20, 2020 .
  5. missoulian.com: missoulian.com. Retrieved February 20, 2020 .
  6. Top 100 Songs | Billboard Hot 100 Chart. Retrieved February 20, 2020 .
  7. Top 100 Songs | Billboard Hot 100 Chart. Retrieved February 20, 2020 .
  8. Top 100 Songs | Billboard Hot 100 Chart. Retrieved February 20, 2020 .
  9. Top 100 Songs | Billboard Hot 100 Chart. Retrieved February 20, 2020 .
  10. The 58th Academy Awards | 1986. Retrieved February 20, 2020 .
  11. ^ Question of the Week - Huey Lewis and the News. Retrieved February 20, 2020 (American English).
  12. Still the heart of rock n 'roll. August 20, 2010, accessed February 20, 2020 .
  13. a b Humble and grateful in: Rocks - The magazine for Classic Rock, issue 02.2020, pages 72 & 73
  14. Archive Teri VanHorn: Ray Parker Jr. Suing Huey Lewis Over 'Ghostbusters' Comment. Retrieved February 20, 2020 .
  15. ^ Huey Lewis. February 3, 2015, accessed February 20, 2020 .
  16. ^ Huey Lewis: Time for The News • Kingdom Magazine. March 12, 2015, accessed February 20, 2020 .
  17. Associated Press: Huey Lewis baits ducks, ends hunting near property. Retrieved February 20, 2020 .
  18. ^ Huey Lewis at Home on the Ranch . In: Wall Street Journal . May 10, 2013, ISSN  0099-9660 ( wsj.com [accessed February 20, 2020]).
  19. ^ Daniel Kreps, Daniel Kreps: Huey Lewis and the News Cancel 2018 Shows Due to Singer's Hearing Loss. In: Rolling Stone. April 14, 2018, Retrieved February 20, 2020 (American English).
  20. Chicago Tribune - We are currently unavailable in your region. Retrieved February 20, 2020 .
  21. Clover Infopage. Retrieved January 9, 2019 .
  22. Mariano Glas: King Of Queens: Huey Lewis as a guest . In: serial junkies . ( serienjunkies.de [accessed July 15, 2017]).
  23. Bank Heist / Graduation (2007). IMDB, accessed January 9, 2019 .
  24. IMDB: Starring Hot in Cleveland. Retrieved January 9, 2019 .