Huey Lewis & the News … Still Hip to Be Square Despite Health Struggles
Forty-one years after the release of their breakthrough album Sports, Huey Lewis & the News are proving that the heart of rock ’n’ roll has a lot of staying power. In fact, they’ve recently been mounting a small-scale takeover of the Great White Way: A jukebox musical based on their songs, called The Heart of Rock ‘N’ Roll, played Broadway earlier this year, while Back to the Future: The Musical features Marty and company singing their hearts to “The Power of Love” and “Back in Time” on a New York City stage every night.
What else has the crew behind “Hip to Be Square,” “I Want a New Drug” and “Stuck With You,” among other ’80s hits, been up to? Read on to find out why we’re stuck with them (and happy about it!).
How Huey Lewis & the News Started
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The Bay Area superstars had their earliest incarnation in a band called Clover, which Huey Lewis and keyboardist Sean Hopper joined in 1972. Despite a strategic move to the U.K., Clover failed to break, and the band members returned stateside. In 1978, Lewis and Hopper joined forces with members of a San Francisco band called Sound Hole to form a band called Huey Lewis and the American Express. Their major release was a disco song called “Exodus,” which features Lewis’ instantly recognizable vocals (though the backing music is a bit different than anything you’d hear on Sports). After some concerns from their record label, who were worried about copyright lawsuits from the credit card company, they changed their name to Huey Lewis & the News and released their self-titled debut in 1980.
However, the band didn’t gain attention until their 1982 follow-up, Picture This, which yielded the hits “Do You Believe In Love” and “Workin’ for a Livin’.” In 1983, they released their first major hit album, Sports, which dominated charts throughout 1984 and 1985. It yielded five top 10 hits: “Heart and Soul,” ”I Want a New Drug,” “The Heart of Rock & Roll,” “If This Is It” and “The Power of Love,” which became their first No. 1 hit after it appeared in 1985’s Back to the Future. The band also recorded the movie’s theme song, “Back in Time,” and Lewis had a small cameo in the film (he’s the teacher with the megaphone who finds Marty’s rendition of “The Power of Love” to be totally unimpressive). In 1985, the band also participated in USA for Africa’s “We Are the World.”
1986’s Fore! yielded two more Billboard chart-toppers “Stuck With You” and “Jacob’s Ladder,” as well as “Hip to Be Square,” which reached No. 3 and “Doing It All for My Baby,” which peaked at No. 6.
Though the band continued releasing new work, they had a relatively quiet ’90s, before experiencing a new surge of popularity in the 2000s after their music was featured prominently in the cult film American Psycho. The film’s villainous yuppie serial killer, Patrick Bateman (Christian Bale), was a big fan, though he seemed to interpret Lewis’ wry lyrics a bit too literally. (Check out the scene at the end of the article.)
Where Have Huey Lewis & the News Been?
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The run of Huey Lewis & the News’ Broadway play was a bit bittersweet, since it’s the only way fans can currently hear their songs performed live. The band has refrained from performing or recording new material since 2018, when Lewis was diagnosed with Ménière’s disease, a disorder of the inner ear that degraded his hearing, leaving him unable to hear pitch, sing or play music.
In 2020, he described his experience with the disease to Rolling Stone. After losing hearing in his right ear in 1987, Lewis spent 21 years performing with only one functional ear. But at a 2018 concert, he recalled realizing that something was wrong with his left ear, as well: “I thought the bass amp had blown a speaker … I just heard this horrible noise and I couldn’t find pitch or even hear myself. It was an absolute nightmare. The worst thing. Just horrible.”
Lewis canceled all tour dates and described himself in that period as “just lay[ing] in bed and contemplat[ing] my demise.” A run of failed treatments didn’t quite help improve his mood. But with the support of loved ones — and the realization that his hearing went in and out on a day-by-day basis — Lewis improved his outlook. He still sings at home on days when his hearing is good, but given the unpredictable nature of his disorder, hasn’t been able to book any live dates. The band released their final album, Weather, in 2020; its songs were recorded before Lewis’ hearing loss.
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The Heart of Rock ‘N’ Roll musical also helped raise Lewis’ spirits; as he told the New York Times in 2024, working on it “keeps me from reflecting on my [expletive] hearing.” First conceived of in 2009, The Heart of Rock ‘N’ Roll is an ’80s-set musical that tells the story of a 20-something couple who have to decide between pursuing unstable fame in the music industry or embracing the stability of life working at a cardboard box factory. Though that isn’t the plot of any Huey Lewis song (but doesn’t it feel like it could be?), the musical’s writers took inspiration from Lewis’ lyrics, which are filled with tales of the tension between dreams and reality, and young lovers trying to figure out how to make it work. Though it had its final Broadway performance on June 23, 2024, a national tour and international productions are anticipated.
Now for that killer scene from American Psycho …
***WARNING*** Graphic Images
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