Huey Lewis

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Huey Lewis, sporting a "Tape a record, go to prison" sleeveless T-shirt.
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Huey Lewis, sporting a "Tape a record, go to prison" sleeveless T-shirt.

Huey Lewis, (born Hugh Anthony Cregg III, July 5, 1950 in New York City) is a 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 particularly popular during the 1980s. He also played with the band Clover from 1972 to 1979.

Contents

[edit] Biography

Lewis grew up in Marin County, California, attending Strawberry Point Elementary School (where he skipped second grade) and Edna Maguire Junior High School in Mill Valley. After his parents divorced, 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 and was accepted by Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, In an interview with David Letterman, Lewis talked about hitchhiking across the USA 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 to buy a plane ticket back to the USA.

On his return, Lewis entered Cornell, 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 though. 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. But 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 broke up.

In 1978, 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 got 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 - and Huey Lewis and the News was born.

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), was one of the best-selling pop releases of all time - selling 10 million copies in the U.S. alone, according to the band's own VH1 special. It was followed up by another big seller, Fore! (1986), another #1 multi-platinum smash.

The band 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 covers album 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. Outside the band, his interests include golf, baseball, fishing, and owning a racing car.

Lewis has made appearances in several movies. The first was a cameo in Back to the Future (1985), as a judge in a 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's largest role in a fairly high-profile movie. 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 titled ".com for Murder", starring Nastassja Kinski.

He is married and lives in Ross, California and has two children - Kelly (born 1983) and Austin (born 1985).

His mother, Magda Cregg, was the partner of poet Lew Welch.

Now, the Grammy-winning founder and lead singer, Huey Lewis, has made his way to Broadway, making his debut in the six-time Tony award-winning musical Chicago, starring as attorney Billy Flynn.

[edit] Albums

[edit] Hit Singles Summary

All told Huey Lewis (mainly with the News) has scored 20 top ten hits over Billboards Hot 100, Adult Contemporary and Mainstream Rock Charts - only the band's Pop chart positions are shown below, unless the single was airplay only.

  • "Do You Believe In Love" (1982) #7 US
  • "Hope You Love Me Like You Say You Do" (1982) #36 US
  • "Workin' For A Livin'" (1982) #41 US
  • "Heart And Soul" (1983) #8 US
  • "I Want A New Drug" (1984) #6 US
  • "The Heart Of Rock 'N Roll" (1984) #6 US
  • "If This Is It" (1984) #6 US
  • "Walking On A Thin Line" (1984) #18 US
  • "Finally Found A Home" (1984) #41 US Mainstream Rock (airplay only)
  • "We Are The World" (U.S.A For Africa:Various Artists) (1985) #1 US
  • "Trouble In Paradise"(live) (1985) #11 US Mainstream Rock (airplay only)
  • "The Power Of Love" (1985) #1 US
  • "Back In Time" (1985) #3 US Mainstream Rock (airplay only)
  • "I Knew The Bride" (backing Nick Lowe) (1985) #77 US
  • "Stuck With You" (1986) #1 US
  • "Hip To Be Square" (1986) #3 US
  • "Jacob's Ladder" (1987) #1 US
  • "I Know What I Like" (1987) #9 US
  • "Doin' It (All For My Baby)" (1987) #6 US
  • "Whole lotta Lovin'" (1987) #30 US Mainstream Rock (airplay only)
  • "Perfect World" (1988) #3 US
  • "Small World" (1988) #25 US
  • "Give Me The Keys" (1989) #47 US
  • "Couple Days Off" (1991) #11 US
  • "It Hit Me Like A Hammer" (1991) #21 US
  • "Build Me Up" (1991) #27 US Mainstream Rock (airplay only)
  • "It's Alright"(acapella) (1993) #6 US Adult Contemporary (airplay only)
  • "Some Kind Of Wonderful" (1994) #44 US
  • "But It's Alright" (Jackson/Tubbs) (1994) #54 US
  • "Little Bitty Pretty One" (1994) #28 US Adult Contemporary (airplay only)
  • "100 Years From Now" (1996) #10 US Adult Contemporary Chart (airplay only)
  • "Cruisin'" Huey Lewis & Gwenyth Paltrow (2000) #1 US Adult Contemporary (airplay only)
  • "Let Her Go & Start Over" (2001) #22 US Adult Contemporary (airplay only)

[edit] Trivia

  • The starting fee for Huey Lewis & The News to play a private college sized show is $100,000 USD, twice that of Bob Dylan
  • Most Popular Album Sports is still one of the biggest selling albums ever with an "unofficial" 10 million copies sold in the U.S. alone
  • Huey Lewis & The News have sold somewhere between 30 - 40 million albums worldwide
  • Have won 30 Californian (formerly Bay Area Music) Awards
  • The band's biggest hit "Power of Love" from Blockbuster film Back To The Future was nominated for an Academy Award
  • Both "Power of Love" and "I Want a New Drug" were million selling singles
  • Scored 20 top ten hits on various Billboard Charts
  • The biggest selling American Singles Band of the 1980's
  • Huey and his bandmates performed on USA for Africa's 1985 fundraising single We Are the World.
  • Successfully sued Ray Parker Jr over similarities between Parker's theme for the movie Ghostbusters and Lewis' own "I Want a New Drug"
  • The band have been forever immortalised in American Pop Culture due to their inclusion in the enduring 80's classic Back To The Future & also in Bret Easton Ellis' controversial 1991 novel American Psycho, which devotes an entire chapter to the band
  • His parents divorced when he was 13
  • His maternal grandfather was the inventor of the red wax protective sealant used on certain varieties of cheese
  • He is an only child
  • Huey Lewis can be heard playing harmonica on Thin Lizzy's landmark album "Live and Dangerous".
  • Huey 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 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"
  • The band now in self proclaimed semi-retirement still play 80+ US dates a year, with an occasional European Tour
  • Huey Lewis & The News are the preferred music of both Marty McFly & Patrick Bateman
  • Huey Lewis & Gwenyth Paltrow scored an unlikely #1 hit on adult contemporary radio with their duet "Cruisin" from their 2000 box office bomb Duets, which starred Lewis & Paltrow as father & daughter. The single also topped pop charts in Australia & New Zealand.
  • 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.
  • Within a matter of weeks, the band's latest hits collection on EMI (Greatest Hits 2006) has outsold the poorly marketed Elektra Best of album from a decade earlier.
  • 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 a photograph of his son, named Huey Lewis.

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Jeff Kaliss, San Francisco Chronicle, Huey Lewis still spreads the news, June 24, 2005

[edit] External links

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