Huey Lewis

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Huey Lewis

Background information
Birth name Hugh Anthony Cregg III
Also known as Robbie Lewis
Lew Welch
Huey Cregg
Kid Lewis
Born July 5, 1950 (1950-07-05) (age 57)
Origin San Francisco, California, U.S.
Genre(s) Rock
Pop
Blue-eyed soul
Occupation(s) Singer-songwriter
Instrument(s) Harmonica
Vocals
Years active 1967 - Present
Label(s) Chrysalis
EMI America
Elektra
Jive
Capitol
Associated acts Clover, Thin Lizzy, Ray Parker Jr., Orleans, King Harvest
Website hln.org

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.

Contents

[edit] 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[1] 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.[2] Lewis applied to and was accepted by Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. In an interview with David Letterman,[3] 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.

[edit] 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 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 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.[4] 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[citation needed] 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.

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 they will sell the new material.[5]

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.

[edit] 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.[6]

[edit] 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 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.

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.

[edit] 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.

[edit] Albums

[edit] Singles

The following table denotes singles that Lewis has charted with solo credits.

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.
Year Song US Hot 100 US MSR US A.C. US Country Album
1985 "I Knew The Bride (When She Used to Rock & Roll)" (with Nick Lowe) 77 27 Rose of England (Nick Lowe album)
2000 "Cruisin'" (w/ Gwyneth Paltrow) 109 1 Duets soundtrack
2008 "Workin' for a Livin'" (w/ Garth Brooks) 115 19 The Ultimate Hits (Garth Brooks album)

[edit] References

  1. ^ Huey Lewis Biography - Discography, Music, Lyrics, Album, CD, Career, Famous Works, and Awards
  2. ^ Kaliss, Jeff. "Huey Lewis still spreads the news", San Francisco Chronicle, June 24, 2005
  3. ^ interview
  4. ^ According to the band's own VH1 special.
  5. ^ "Stuck in the 80s" podcast 2007-02-13
  6. ^ Parker Sues Huey Lewis: Huey Lewis and the News : Rolling Stone

[edit] External links