Huey Lewis

Huey Lewis (born Hugh Anthony Cregg, III on July 5, 1950) is an American musician and occasional actor. He sings lead vocals and plays harmonica for his band Huey Lewis & The News, a rock group based in San Francisco, California that was the highest-selling American band of the 1980s by singles.^{[citation needed]} The band is perhaps best remembered in American popular culture by their contribution to the soundtrack of the 1985 feature film Back to the Future, as well as Bret Easton Ellis' 1991 novel American Psycho, which devotes an entire chapter to the band. Huey Lewis also played with the band Clover from 1972 to 1979.

Biography

Lewis was born in San Francisco 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 the partner 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 (N.J.) in 1967 with a perfect score of 800 on the math portion of the SAT.^[1] Lewis applied to and was accepted by Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. In an interview with David Letterman,^[2] 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 Europe, Lewis became an accomplished blues player and he hitchhiked around and supported himself by busking with his harmonica. He gave his first concerts in Europe, 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 King Harvest. Lewis soon lost interest in college, however. 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.

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 was not 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 they both bombed.

While Huey 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.^[3] It was followed up by Fore! (1986), another #1 multi-platinum smash.

Huey Lewis successfully sued Ray Parker, Jr. over similarities between Parker's theme for the 1984 movie Ghostbusters and Lewis' own "I Want A New Drug".

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 14 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 have endured as one of America's top drawing live acts^{[citation needed]} and have continued to have the occasional hit on adult contemporary radio.

As well as singing lead vocals and playing harmonica with the band, Lewis also writes or co-writes many of the band's songs.

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 starting fee for Huey Lewis & The News to play a private college-sized show is US$100,000 (twice that of Bob Dylan).^{[citation needed]}

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. The band also recorded two songs for the soundtrack, including the hit "The Power of Love". Huey's second movie appearance was in Short Cuts (1993), in which Lewis had a much more significant role.

In addition, Lewis appeared in the first few minutes of the movie Sphere (1998) as the helicopter pilot. After that role, he had 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. He did not appear in Die Hard (1988), although Dennis Hayden, the actor who plays one of the terrorists (the one who poses as the Nakatomi lobby security guard) bears a striking resemblance to Lewis and is often mistaken for the singer.

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. Next, he appeared in a film, .com for Murder, starring Nastassja Kinski.

Most recently Huey made his Broadway debut in the six-time Tony award-winning musical Chicago, starring as attorney Billy Flynn.

Personal life

He is married and resides in Ross, California. He has two children: Kelly (born 1983) and Austin (born 1985). His interests include golf, baseball, fishing and owning a racing car.

Recordings

Albums

Huey Lewis and the News has sold over 30 million records worldwide, though the band's official sales figure is only 20 million, since EMI/Chrysalis stopped "officially" counting when the band left the label in 1991.

• Huey Lewis & the News (1980)
• Picture This (1982) #13 US
• Sports (1983) #1 US (this album has sold an "unofficial" ten million copies in the U.S. alone, making it still one of the most popular in the world.)
• Back to the Future Soundtrack (1985) #12 US
• Fore! (1986) #1 US
• Small World (1988) #11 US
• Hard at Play (1991) #27 US
• Four Chords & Several Years Ago (1994) #55 US
• Time Flies: The Best Of Huey Lewis And The News (1996) #185 US
• Duets Soundtrack (2000) #102 US (#16 Billboard Top Soundtracks)
• Plan B (2001) #165 US (#19 Billboard Top Internet Albums)
• Live At 25 (2005)
• Live At 25 DVD #28 Billboard DVD Chart (DVD only)
• Greatest Hits & Videos (2006) #70 US

Singles

All told Huey Lewis (mainly with the News) has scored 19 Top Ten hits over Billboard's Hot 100, Adult Contemporary and Mainstream Rock Charts. Both "Power of Love" and "I Want a New Drug" were million selling singles.

• ¹ Re-released in 1986; peaked at #49
• ² Original version on Huey Lewis and The News (1980)

Awards

• The band have two Grammy Awards to their name, one for "The Heart of Rock & Roll" (Video Long Form) and one for their participation in "We Are The World".
• Huey Lewis and the News are the recipients of 30 Californian (formerly Bay Area Music) Awards.
• The band's biggest hit, "Power of Love" (from the blockbuster film Back to the Future), was nominated for an Academy Award.
• Twenty of the band's singles have entered the Top Ten on various Billboard Charts.
• All five albums released by the band between 1982 and 1991 cracked the Top 30 and were certified either gold, platinum, or multi-platinum.
• The band received the award for Best International Group at the 1986 British Music Awards.
• The band's 1983 blockbuster album Sports was nominated for a Grammy Award.

Cultural references

• The band are generally considered pioneers of MTV, a medium which was new, when the band were breaking out on the charts with their amazing run of hit singles.
• Huey Lewis & The News are the favorite band of both Marty McFly, the protagonist of Back to the Future, and American Psycho's Patrick Bateman.
• Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails is reportedly a huge fan of Huey Lewis and the News.
• The title character in the film Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan shares various photographs of his favorite son, named "Hooey Lewis".
• References are often made to the band in shows like The Simpsons, Futurama and Family Guy.
• He played Reba McEntire's husband in her video "Is There Life Out There".
• He covered the Beatles' "Oh! Darling" on the tribute album Come Together: America Salutes the Beatles.
• His maternal grandfather is responsible for devising the plastic covering of babybel cheese.

References

Trivia

• Promoter Bill Graham died in a helicopter crash after leaving a Huey Lewis concert.
• Actor Kirk Baily played an animated amusement park booth attendant in the music video for "If This Is It" (1984). Baily is also known for his role as the grumpy camp counselor "Ug" in the Nickelodeon show "Salute Your Shorts" (1991)

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