All language subtitles for BEHIND THE MUSIC - 3 - Documentary (2021) -Hr

Okay, this is the hot seat
over here.

WOMAN: Rolling.

Your last interview for
"Behind the Music" was in 2001.

- Can you hear me?
- It's not easy.

Okay, let's go give you
an earpiece then. Let's do that.

Okay.

Testing, testing.
Can you hear me?

- I can hear you.
- Okay. So 2001,

did you ever think back then

that you would be
where you are today?

I had--I had no idea
where I would be,

especially since I lost
my hearing.

I'm happy to be alive,
let's face it.

♪♪♪

NARRATOR: They were a group
of friends with a simple dream.

♪ Workin' for a livin' ♪

The object always has been
to be able to be in a band,

playing music with your pals,
and make a living.

♪ I'm takin'
what they're givin' ♪

♪ 'Cause I'm workin'
for a livin' ♪

[crowd cheering]

But Huey Lewis and the News
became an '80s phenomenon,

selling more than
30 million albums.

Hi. I'm Huey Lewis,
and I'm gonna be your guest VJ.

For a time, they were
the biggest band in the world.

♪ I want a new drug ♪

They were as big as Madonna
and Bruce Springsteen

and Michael Jackson.
- Whoo!

Huey as a performer
is really unlike anybody.

He's one of the most underrated
musicians of all time.

You wanna meet that rock star
you loved as a kid,

and he's that nice. I mean,
that's the dream, right?

We're filling coliseums,
and this was a dream come true.

♪♪♪

But the road to stardom
was paved with struggle.

♪♪♪

We got booed every time
we played.

I went to every American label
there was,

and they just said,
"The guy can't sing."

In retrospect, I probably should
have quit a hundred times.

♪ Sometimes bad is bad, ohh ♪

But the band never gave up.

♪ If this is it ♪

♪ Ooh, wop ♪

And soon their R&B sound
and upbeat tunes

were captivating audiences...

Our mouths just dropped open.

He played six songs that were
obviously top 10 hits.

It was absolutely the best thing
I'd ever been involved in.

I realized, hey,
we're gonna be able to do this

for the rest of our lives.

♪♪♪

♪ Ain't no livin'
in a perfect world ♪

...leaving the band to tour
the world for decades to come.

We love our gigs, and the gig
really is a live gig.

That's what we're best at--
live music.

But fans had no idea
Huey was struggling

with a serious health issue.

[voice echoing]
♪ Perfect world ♪

♪♪♪

My vertigo episodes
were intense.

[voice echoing indistinctly]

Couldn't stand up,
the room spinning.

[voices echoing indistinctly]

NARRATOR: Then suddenly,
the music stopped.

HUEY: I couldn't hear,
couldn't find pitch,

couldn't find anything.

That scared me.

We are generally concerned
for him

'cause this is a lot
to deal with.

It was horrible.

But from darkness
came inspiration.

♪ Th-th-th-th-they say ♪

♪ The heart of rock and roll
is still beatin' ♪

Just being there,
knowing that there was

something creative happening
was therapeutic.

Now, nearly two decades
after his original episode

of "Behind the Music" aired,
the rock and roll icon

is reflecting on key moments
of his life...

I hadn't seen that
in a long time.

...giving new insights
on his past...

My heart sank.
I thought it was horrible.

...and looking ahead

with an inspiring message
about resilience.

I'm a musician, I'm a singer,
and I haven't given up on music.

♪ Really drives 'em wild ♪

♪ Th-th-th-th-they say ♪

♪ The heart of rock and roll
is still beatin' ♪

This is Huey Lewis and the News:
the Story Behind the Music.

♪ But the heart
of rock and roll ♪

♪ Heart of rock and roll
is still beatin' ♪

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

In early 2018,
Huey Lewis and the News

were ready to jump
into a new year of touring.

♪ The power of love
is a curious thing ♪

We were a live band.
It's really what we do best.

I like the harmonies.
I like the horns.

And I love the songs.
You know, they're just like

kinda what pop songs
are supposed to be.

♪ That's the power of love ♪

But in a hotel room in Dallas,

life as Huey Lewis knew it
suddenly changed.

2018, January 27th,
before a gig,

the last gig I played,

I lost my hearing.

It was probably the worst night
of my life.

I had just woken up from my nap,

and my tour manager came
to get me from my room,

and I realized immediately
I couldn't hear much

of what he was saying.

And then as we went
through the bowels of the hotel

getting ready for the stage,

it sounded like there was
a war going on or something.

It was just explosions
or something.

I couldn't figure it out.
I said, "What's that?"

They said,
"Oh, that's the opening act."

I said, "What?"
And we started to play.

And it was...cacophony.

I couldn't hear anything.

[cacophony of sound]

And it's very possible
that I may never perform again.

♪♪♪

Huey's long road
to musical stardom

began in the shadow
of the Golden Gate Bridge

just north of San Francisco
in 1950.

- [film projector whirring]
- He was born Hugh Cregg III,

a blue blood name given to him
by his beatnik parents.

I treated him like an adult
from the time he was this high,

and he managed to, you know,
be an adult

very early in the game,

a game with advantages
all the way up the line.

♪♪♪

Huey's father was
a part-time radiologist

with a full-time passion
for jazz.

[upbeat jazz playing]

He taught Huey how to swing.

My old man used to put me
on the drums,

and he--he, you know,
he'd make me play swing stuff.

You know, uh, ray-ba-duke,
ray-ba-duke,

ray-ba-duke, and he used to--
he always used to tell me,

"If you can do that,
if you have great time,

time is everything."

♪♪♪

While his father turned him on
to jazz giants

like Basie and Mingus,

his mother introduced him
to underground artists

like Ginsberg and Dylan.

[folk guitar playing]

Huey and I would go
Saturday afternoon

to the Fillmore to whatever
concerts were going on,

poetry readings, concerts.

Both my father and my mother
were always very progressive,

I guess is the word for it,

and they'd always encourage me
to try--

try anything. You know, try it.

[laughs]

It's great to see them again.

It's great, 'cause I hadn't
seen that in a long time,

and it's great to see 'em again.

They were both Bohemians,
really.

My dad was a legit Bohemian.

But my mom was one
of the very first hippies.

They had parties, and, you know,
they were quite, quite lively.

But my dad was a hard ass,
you know?

He loved me a lot,
but he was a hard ass.

My dad never said, "I love you."

One time later in life,
I remember I told him.

I said, "Hey, Pops, I love you,"

and--and I could just hear him
go... [groans]

[laughs] So I never bothered
with that again.

But, you know,
he's from that generation.

I tell my kids I love 'em
all the time.

♪♪♪

A happy-go-lucky kid who loved
listening to music,

Huey began suffering
painful earaches

at the age of 6.

The remedy was
five penicillin shots,

one each day for five days,

and in those days,
the syringes were that big,

and the needles were about
that big.

And I was about this big,

and I remember just hating
those shots.

That would happen every winter,
and I remember,

my dad was a radiologist,
and he always said,

"You know, you got
crappy eustachian tubes."

[film projector whirring]

Despite the pain,
Huey excelled in school.

He was an academic whiz
who skipped second grade,

and an athletic ace,
who was a natural on the mound,

a charismatic kid
who always had a smile

for his mother's camera,

but the carefree days
of Beat poets and baseball

came to an end.

When his parents divorced,
he was just 13.

It was a court case,
which was really...

[inhales sharply]
tough for me.

You know, my dad on the one side
and my mom on the other.

And the judge actually
called me back in his chambers,

and he says,
"What do you wanna do?"

Huey refused to choose
between parents,

so his father suggested
he enroll

in a private prep school
3,000 miles

and a world away
from the Bohemian Bay Area.

♪♪♪

I wanted him to know
that it was a competitive world,

and I was sure that
he'd be challenged

if he went to prep school.

HUEY: The kicker was he gave me
a manual from the school,

uh, you know, a handbook,
and, uh, on the cover

was this guy,
a kind of a preppy guy

walking across
this gorgeous quad

with ivy-covered buildings
and there,

and a cute little buffy coed,
and I thought,

"Yeah, that looks good."

♪♪♪

Huey immediately regretted
his decision.

Lawrenceville School
was an all-boys academy,

a tough-as-nails throwback
to the 19th century.

Students were required to wear
a jacket and tie,

attend chapel daily,

and study silently
three hours each night.

Huey was a stranger
in a strange land.

My freshman and sophomore years
at prep school,

I was literally just trying
to keep my head above water.

Academically, it was tough.
Socially, it was really tough.

I remember, you know, being
really homesick

for my first six months there,

and I was definitely
the outsider.

He came with the pointed shoes
and the sharkskin pants.

It was just totally different.

I think he sort of looked
around at everybody

and went, "Oops."

♪♪♪

If you know the loneliness
that he experienced as a child,

it--it helps you to understand
what a tough guy he is.

HUEY:
It was tough for me early.

I-I had a little tough period
there.

But I learned that, you know,
you're gonna have to make

your own way in this world,
and I don't know.

Somehow, it--it steeled me
to where

I-I look on the bright side
of things.

I-I...Since that time,

I've been very, very optimistic
about things.

Huey did his best to fit in.

♪♪♪

Rolf Reinalda
was Huey's roommate

and his best friend
at Lawrenceville.

Together, they learned to party,
prep school style.

Rolf was a free spirit,
shall we say,

and it was in New Jersey,

and there were apple groves
everywhere.

So you could buy apple cider
and then let it ferment,

and Rolf had this down
pretty good.

We didn't know
what we were doing,

but then, you know,
any port in the storm.

♪♪♪

Huey was a 2-sport athlete
and a member of the drama club.

But it was back in the dorm
after lights out,

listening to a transistor radio,

where Huey found his true love--
music.

[blues rock playing]

By his junior year,
he was sneaking off campus

and into smoky blues bars.

He used to go into the clubs
in Trenton,

and Trenton was really rough,

and nobody went into Trenton
because, you know,

you'd get killed in Trenton.

I remember a great gig at
the Town Hall in New York City,

where, uh, I saw
Butterfield Blues Band

for the first time, and the only
seats they had available

were on the stage,
and it was just amazing to me.

[blues harmonica playing]

He became obsessed
with the blues

and took up the harmonica.

When my parents split up,
my mother rented a room

to a folk singer, and he'd
give me his old harmonicas,

and that's how
I first started playing.

Always the overachiever,
Huey practiced endlessly.

He's a great harmonica player
now,

but in the beginning,
it wasn't so rosy.

[harmonica continues playing]

In my senior year,
knowing about some of the bands

and--and beginning to play
the harmonica,

that's how I could establish
my identity, you know?

I was somebody, and I realize
now that I was struggling

for something to--
to distinguish myself.

♪♪♪

But he was already
a distinguished student,

scoring a perfect 800
on his math SATs.

In 1967, Huey graduated
from prep school,

and he was eager to jump
to college.

When he arrived back home,
his father had other plans.

He informed me that I was
16 years old

and pretty much on my own,
and he wasn't, you know,

he wasn't gonna father me
much more.

He was--all the decisions
were pretty much mine,

except there was one more thing
that he was gonna make me do.

I said, it's a big world
out there.

And I told him, "Just stop
education right now

"and just see something
in the world.

"Get--Get a feeling for it

and decide
where you fit in it."

He says, "You're a year young.

I want you to take a year off
and bum around Europe."

♪♪♪

With only a few hundred dollars
in his pocket,

Huey charmed an airline employee
into helping him

sneak onto plane to London.

For the next year,
he and a friend

would travel extensively,
living day to day, meal to meal.

I just literally hitchhiked
through Europe

with a knapsack
and a sleeping bag,

and I...and many times
I slept on the side of the road.

♪♪♪

He quickly learned he could
live off the one thing

he loved most in the world--
music.

[rhythmic drums playing]

We went to North Africa
for three months,

lived in Marrakesh
in the square,

where I played harmonica
with a hat

amidst snake charmers
and, uh, bicyclists,

you know, acrobats,
and there I was playing blues

with a harmonica in the street,
and I'd make $2

over an hour or so,

and I said, "I'm
supporting myself. I like this.

I think--
I think I'll be a musician."

♪♪♪

After traveling the world
for a year,

Huey's dreams of music
followed him back to school.

The 17-year-old math whiz

enrolled in Cornell University's
engineering program.

What I really was excited about
was music and poetry,

which is the antithesis of the
engineering stuff I'm studying.

And so first thing I did
was join a band,

which was called Slippery Elm.

♪♪♪

The band quickly became
a frat house favorite,

and Huey decided he had
found his life's calling.

♪♪♪

In 1970, he quit college
and moved back to California

to pursue music full-time.

Harmonica in hand, he joined
a Bay Area band called Clover,

a group with tons of talent
but no musical direction.

We had multiple singers,
lead singers.

We had incorporated a lot
of different musical styles,

and nobody could really ever
figure out what we really were.

Clover scraped by by playing
an endless string of clubs

up and down the West Coast.

At the end of the week,
each member

was lucky to bring home
a hundred bucks.

Every year or so,
we'd head down to L.A.

and try and get
a record contract

and never could do it.

♪♪♪

Finally, after a decade
of frustration,

Clover landed
a recording contract.

In '77,
the English label Vertigo

gave them a 2-record deal.

Ecstatic,
the band raced to London.

I consider England--

it was like being
in rock and roll boot camp.

I mean, we--we got dragged
through the mud.

Clover's records bombed,

and British audiences all but
chased them from the stage.

We got booed
every time we played.

We didn't get booed off,
necessarily.

In fact,
that was our little thing.

Could we actually get
to the end of the set

without getting
booed off the stage?

♪♪♪

After two years in London,
Clover was wilting.

And in 1979,
after 11 frustrating years,

they made the agonizing
decision to break up.

I mean, in retrospect,

I probably should have quit
a hundred times.

But when you're struggling,

you're convinced
you're gonna make it.

And I always tell people,
look, unless being a musician

is the only thing you wanna do,
then do something else.

But it--'cause--
'cause the odds are long.

But if it isthe only thing
you wanna do,

then keep trying.

Pushing 30 with no job,
no money,

and his music career
at a dead end,

Huey Lewis needed to make
a change.

In the back of my mind,
I thought,

if this band Clover
ever breaks up,

I'm gonna go start my own group,
and I'm gonna--

it's gonna have horn players
in it,

uh, more--more sort of R&B,
that way,

and I'm gonna sing every song.

And so... [laughs]
And when Clover broke up,

that's pretty much what I did.

Heading home to California,
he gathered a group of friends

and began jamming at a club
called Uncle Charlie's

with himself as the lead singer.

♪ Well, buzz, buzz, buzz
goes the bumble bee ♪

All of a sudden,
Huey was singing,

and he had this
great Huey Lewis voice,

this raspy R&B, wonderful voice,
and, uh,

it was really neat to see
a guy come out as a singer.

♪ Well, I've seen the beauty
of the red, red rose ♪

♪ Seen the beauty
when the skies are blue ♪

My idea was to just invite

all my favorite musicians
from town,

which happened to be
what became The News,

and create a house band,
and of course,

I'd sing all the songs.

And I thought to myself,
I could get an extra gig,

maybe a couple of gigs
a month out of this.

I could make another 150 bucks.

♪ But the beauty of you ♪

♪ Sweet is the honey
from the honeycomb ♪

The object always for me
has been to be able to be

in a band with your pals,
playing music,

and have people show up
and make a living.

Within months,
the shows were selling out.

As the shows got bigger,
they started adding

little steps to their routines
or just little jumps or things,

and they would feed
off the crowd.

The crowd would feed off
of them. It was incredible.

[song ending]

[crowd cheering]

♪ I've paid my money
and I'm taking my chances ♪

NARRATOR: Encouraged by
the barroom cheers,

Huey begged and borrowed a week
of studio time to cut a demo.

There was just something
about it, and I liked his voice,

and, uh, even though, like,

it sounds very, you know,
uh, primitive.

After hearing Huey's tape,
veteran manager Bob Brown

felt compelled to see
the band live.

There may have been
15 people there,

and they got onstage,
and he played it

like they were in a coliseum.

The songs were great,
the energy was up,

and it was like
I was just taken.

♪♪♪

Brown signed on
as their manager,

and with demo in hand,

he set out in search
of a record deal.

I went through Capitol Records,
Atlantic Records, Warners.

I went to every American label
there was.

A&M wasn't interested
after just a couple minutes.

They just said,
"The guy can't sing."

We really weren't as good
as Bob thought we were.

Bob pretended we were,

and I think he simply bowled
people over with his enthusiasm.

Finally, Chrysalis Records
decided to take a chance,

and in the fall of '80,

the newly named
Huey Lewis and the News

released
their self-titled debut.

♪♪♪

♪ Say you wanna be
a friend of mine ♪

♪ See me all the time ♪

♪ You don't care what I do ♪

That video, which is
"Some of My Lies Are True,"

which is done on a sewage pier,
that was my idea,

and we shot that with a--
with a video camera,

which was brand-new.

This--That was cut
in 1977, '78.

There was a gal who said, "I'll
shoot the video for you guys

"if we can show it on our
channel at 2:00 in the morning,

and then we'll give you
the video."

Uh, we said, "Great."

♪ You're gonna realize
some of my lies are true ♪

♪♪♪

But few tuned in to the News,
and the album flopped.

Huey's musical career
was on the line.

I distinctly remember thinking,
I just turned 30,

I had $300 to my name,

and that we needed a hit.

And if we didn't, we were
gonna lose the record label,

and this was really do or die.

♪♪♪

By the early '80s,
Huey Lewis and the News

had faced their first
disappointment as a band

and needed a hit record.

The second album definitely had
a little more pressure on it

because you only had
so many shots.

The clock was ticking
for a pop career.

With their future on the line,

the band insisted
Chrysalis Records allow them

to produce their
sophomore release themselves.

♪ Let me hear you say,
"Yeah" ♪

♪ Yeah ♪

- ♪ Yeah ♪
- ♪ Yeah, ooh ♪

♪ I hope you do ♪

In the early '80s,
it was all about radio.

You needed a hit record,
or you didn't exist,

and I wanted to make
those decisions ourselves,

'cause I knew I'd have
to live with them.

With Huey at the helm,
the band returned to the studio,

but after six long months
of laying down tracks,

the make-or-break record
still felt like a bust.

We needed to have a hit,
so there was a discussion

about whether there was
a "single" or not.

And none of us were convinced
that there was.

♪ And I hope you love me
like you say you do ♪

Stumped, Huey turned
to an old friend

from his London days,
Robert "Mutt" Lange,

the legendary producer

behind AC/DC's monster album,
"Back in Black."

I'd asked him if he had
any songs,

uh, and he sent us a tune
called, uh,

"We Both Believe in Love,"
that was obviously commercial,

and I changed the lyric
a little bit.

He changed the words into
"Do You Believe in Love"

from "We Both Believe in Love."

♪ I wanna love you all over ♪

♪ Do you believe in love? ♪

♪ Do you believe in love? ♪

♪ Do you believe it's true? ♪

And it was the most pop thing
we'd done.

Uh, but--but it lived for me,
you know?

It was fine. It was good.

♪ You ♪

"Do You Believe in Love"--

they really think they've got
a chance at a hit.

♪ Now the feeling ♪

And so they said, "We're gonna
do a really big video here."

They hired a professional guy
who did this video

with the pastel sets,
and then we were dressed

in kind of
similarly pastel clothes

and rouge on our cheeks,
really made up,

and my heart sank.
I thought it was horrible.

Huey's funny because some
of the things he hates, I love.

I sometimes find myself
in the position of telling him,

"No, that was great,"
and he's like, "No, it wasn't."

And I'm like, "Yes, it was,"
and then I'm like,

why am I fighting with this man
about his own work?

Huey may have hated the video,

but the song was the break
the band desperately needed.

When they released
"Picture This"

in the spring of '82,

the song shot to number 7
on the charts.

It was the most exciting thing
in the world,

being, uh,
you know, 22, 23 years old,

and hearing yourself
on the radio.

It was just overwhelming.

Paper!

Huey and his friends
had struck a sonic nerve

with their smile-inducing songs
and upbeat vibe,

and they soon found
the perfect way

to keep the good times rolling.

Hi. I'm Huey Lewis,
and I'm gonna be your guest VJ

here on MTV
for about an hour or so.

And I can already see
you're very excited about that.

♪ I never told you
that I was the one ♪

♪ Said it just for fun ♪

BROWN: We were one of MTV's
first darlings, you know?

We were one
of the first American bands

that made videos.

There was
an early concert footage.

♪ Sooner or later
when you say, "I love you" ♪

♪♪♪

♪ You're gonna realize ♪

♪ Some of my lies are true ♪

In April of '82, The News
were one of the first bands

to appear live in concert

on fledgling
music television channel, MTV.

The timing of Huey's rise

to the beginning of MTV
was perfect.

Um, he was a good-looking
rock and roller

who played
good rock and roll music.

♪♪♪

♪ Some days won't end ever
and some days pass on by ♪

♪ I'll be working here forever,
at least until I die ♪

♪ Working for a livin' ♪

Suddenly, we're getting fan mail
from Tulsa, Oklahoma,

because cable was new,

and so MTV was only
in tertiary markets.

We didn't have it
in San Francisco.

We didn't have it in L.A.

You had it in Tulsa, Oklahoma,
and Detroit, Michigan.

And we can literally feel
the impact of MTV

when we would hit the road

and play the songs
and everything.

It was amazing.

♪ Workin' for a livin',
livin' and workin' ♪

[cheering]

On the road for a national tour,
The News were winning fans

and finding inspiration
in clubs and cities

across the country.

We had just played
a show in Cleveland

and just killed 'em,

and we came out, and we were
just high as a kite on the bus.

And I said,
"You know what, guys?

The heart of rock and roll
is in Cleveland."

And I said, "Hey, wait a minute.
That's a good idea for a song."

And three guys went,

"The heart of rock and roll
is in Cleveland?

You gotta be crazy."

♪ But the heart
of rock and roll ♪

♪ Heart of rock and roll
is still beatin' ♪

♪ Yeah ♪

♪♪♪

♪ In Cleveland ♪

Huey turned the simple hook
into a catchy travelogue,

and with
"The Heart of Rock and Roll,"

the band hit a groove.

♪ Heart of rock and roll ♪

In the fall of '82,
they returned to the studio

to work on a rollicking record
that would make music history.

BROWN: When I got the tapes
of this new album

we eventually called "Sports,"
I just knew it was a hit.

I mean, it was absolutely
the best thing

I'd ever been involved in.

♪ If this is it ♪

♪ Ooh, wop ♪

♪ Please let me know ♪

We sat there, and our mouths
just dropped open,

I mean, and--and stayed...
dropped open,

you know, for 45 minutes.

He played 6 songs that were
obviously top 10 hits.

♪ You see ♪

♪ She gets what she wants ♪

♪ 'Cause she's heart and soul ♪

When "Sports" hit record stores
in late '83,

it was an immediate smash.

But it took a few lonely weeks

for fans to find Huey
on the road.

The record company's sort of
phoning me every day

to tell me how great
the record's doing.

And I'm playing a disco
in Odessa, Texas.

I mean, there's literally
15 people there,

you know, four of whom
are cowboys in cowboy hats

and couldn't care less
about Huey Lewis and the News.

You know, when we started
the tour,

they were booing us
off the stage.

By the end of the tour,

they were starting
to come to see us,

and these people
were going nuts.

BENSON: Huey came out
with real rock and roll,

with R&B roots
you could dance to.

It was speaking to them,
and he was the guy.

Every party, every college kid,
and every senior in high school,

that was their music
of 1984, '85.

♪ She's heart and soul ♪

First Huey Lewis concert
I went to,

I got up, like,
4:00 in the morning

to wait in line to buy tickets.

♪ She's got it all,
hot loving every night ♪

You sing it!

It's very strange to go from
listening to a cassette tape

and seeing the videos on MTV

to being in this huge room

with all these people
who knew the songs.

It was one of the best concerts
I've ever been to.

In a matter of weeks,
"Sports" rocketed to number 1.

Huey and the News were still
playing modest halls

that had been booked
months earlier,

but now the 3,000-seat theaters

had 10,000 screaming fans
outside fighting to get in.

In the early to mid '80s,

they were as big
as any band around

as far as commercial sales.
You know, they were up there

with Madonna
and--and, uh, Bruce Springsteen

and Michael Jackson.

I knew we were riding a wave.
I never from the beginning

thought, "Hey, we're
the best band in America."

Propelled by a parade of hits
like "I Want a New Drug,"

"Sports" stayed
on the Billboard charts

for a mind-boggling
158 weeks.

♪ I want a new drug,
one that does what it should ♪

♪ One that won't make me
feel too bad ♪

♪ One that won't make me
feel too good ♪

And I realized, hey,
we're gonna be able to do this

for the rest of our lives.

♪ One that makes me feel
like I feel when I'm with you ♪

♪ When I'm alone with you ♪

The record would eventually
sell over 10 million copies.

But for Huey, making music

was more important
than stardom.

My dad always used to say that,

"You know,
if your song's number one,

"it can't be very good,

because all the best stuff
isn't the most popular."

And--And I guess I kind of
agreed with him, you know,

in a little way,

'cause I remember
when our record went number 1,

I thought, number 1, you know,

I thought I was better
than that. [laughs]

I've never seen anyone handle
stardom better than Huey.

Um, he treated everyone
with respect,

and he remembered
people's names.

He was great
with the autograph seekers

and particularly great
with kids.

Nice for you guys
to stick around.

I'm sure you have better things
to do and places to go.

Well, we're just such nice guys.

We would go through,
uh, all these special things

to get the band
back to the hotel,

and whatever, bring 'em
through the back door,

take 'em in through this way
and get 'em back,

and then Huey would go down
to the bar

and have a drink
with all of the fans.

♪ And I finally found a home ♪

♪ Where I'll never be alone ♪

After a decade and a half
of hard work,

Huey Lewis had hit
the big time.

We were realizing our dream,

which was stay on the road,
play the songs.

Now we're filling coliseums,
and this was a dream come true.

[song ending]

[crowd cheering]

♪♪♪

But that dream was tested
in 1983,

when Huey was suddenly struck
with a severe case of vertigo.

Before a show,
I was violently ill

and dizzy and, uh, I couldn't--
I was nauseous.

-[siren wailing]
-I went to the hospital,

and nobody knew what it was.

With no explanation
for his vertigo,

Huey Lewis pushed on,

trying to keep up
with his growing popularity.

Those couple years, not only
would you hear yourself

on the radio all the time,
at every sporting event,

and all the commercials began
to sound likeyour records,

and, you know,
it was just silly.

Huey Lewis, can I take
your picture, please?

Oh, yeah, of course.

["Power of Love" playing]

Then Hollywood came calling.

In 1985, Huey and guitarist
Chris Hayes

were asked to write two songs
for the soundtrack

of the movie
"Back to the Future."

♪ That's the power of love ♪

I was in, I think, second grade,

and there's nothing like
when a great song

and a great movie come together
like "Back to the Future."

"The Power of Love"
was instantly transported

to number 1, becoming
Huey's sixth top 10 tune.

How's the new album coming?

Um, it's coming okay.

Bit of a job falling off
the old "Sports," eh?

♪♪♪

For many bands, the pressure
to repeat the success

of a multiplatinum album
like "Sports"

would be overwhelming,

but Huey and the boys
took it all in stride.

♪♪♪

I remember, um,
going to the store

and grabbing a six-pack of beer
and thinking,

"You know what?
I'm gonna write a song,

and I'm gonna need some beer."

And I went into the studio,
and I sat down,

and I started playing this...
[hums]

You know, the guitar part,
right?

And then I made this demo up.

I mean,
I just kind of recorded it

over the period of--
of a six-pack.

♪ I'm so happy to be
stuck with you ♪

"Fore!" was released
in the spring of '86.

The first single,
"Stuck With You,"

shot straight to number 1.

It would be just one of
the album's 5 top 10 hits.

My hair's messed up.
Please don't--

Can you stop?
My hair's really messed up.

The hooks were memorable,

but the band wanted
the music videos

to be unforgettable.

So The News took charge,
infusing the clips

with their own offbeat brand
of irreverent humor.

Before MTV, audio was
all that mattered,

and so the visual component
wasn't so big,

and so we--we kinda stumbled
on to that.

We actually got more involved

and more creative
with our videos,

which is really some
of the fun times we had

with creating and making
the early videos that we did.

They all had a sense of humor
to them,

and everybody got to put
their two cents in.

Four heads in the water with me
and the girl, uh, rowing,

but she's rowing, and the shark
is heading for the four guys,

and as soon as the shark
gets to 'em,

pops up out of the water,
and it's Mario,

and Mario's the shark
with the fin.

[laughter]

One of the things that
endeared them to the public

in the early days was, uh,
on their very first MTV videos,

they were kinda inspired
by the same sort of

zany, tongue-in-cheek,
poking fun at themselves,

uh, things that the Beatles did
with "A Hard Day's Night."

Our attitude was always to avoid

a literal translation
of the song at all costs

and simply goof, and we really
had a good time doing 'em.

I mean, it was, uh,
it was funny.

Look out!

[tires screech, crash]

♪♪♪

Huey's videos were always goofy,
a little bit corny, but funny.

♪ Doing it all for my baby ♪

I also liked how he would subtly
abuse the rest of the band,

like, by burying them up to
their necks in the sand.

[laughs] You know,
as if that was the band,

it would just be
a series of heads.

And when you get--
you get into show business,

and you know how things work,

you realize how much they must
have hated that.

- ♪ Doing it ♪
- ♪ Doing it ♪

- ♪ Doing it ♪
- ♪ Doing it ♪

♪ Ooh, ooh, ooh ♪

♪♪♪

"Fore!"
sold over 3 million copies,

and Huey Lewis and the News
played to packed stands

around the world
for the next two years.

♪ It's hip to be square ♪

♪♪♪

♪ I used to be a renegade ♪

♪ I used to fool around ♪

I originally wrote that song
in the third person.

"He used to be a renegade.
He used to fool around."

And it was meant to articulate
a phenomenon

of the Bohemians dropping
back in and becoming bourgeois,

which was an '80s thing.

♪ I'm working almost every day ♪

♪ And watching what I eat ♪

But I thought it would be
funnier if I told it

in the first person,
and not everybody got the joke.

♪ I know that it's crazy,
I know that it's nowhere ♪

I think when people see
"Hip to Be Square,"

they're like, oh, this guy's
a real square.

But I will tell you,
this is not a square.

♪ It's hip to be square ♪

By 1988, Huey Lewis and the News

had ruled the pop charts
for six years.

As they returned to the studio,
they had a new mission.

Between "Sports" and "Fore!"

the band had sold
well over 15 million records.

Selling millions of records
wasn't the object anymore.

Huey and the whole band
took a step and said,

"We're gonna show you
what we cando,

and we're gonna show you
what's in our soul."

They needed to stretch out
a little bit

and see what they were
capable of doing.

♪♪♪

On the album, Huey and the News
employed the talents

of legendary jazz saxophonist
Stan Getz

and the mighty horns
of Tower of Power.

It's an R&B tour de force,

you know,
I think that whole album,

and it's my favorite
Huey Lewis album.

It's got great music on it,

and I think it was maybe
a little over his audience head.

♪♪♪

♪ Small world ♪

In 1988, they released
"Small World."

It was a critical success

but couldn't match the sales
of Huey's previous albums.

I was so proud of that single,

and yet it was the first one
in a chain of 20

not to break the top 20.

It wasn't as humorous
as some of our stuff,

and you know,

and it was unfortunate
when people don't really

kind of want that stuff
from me.

Sometimes if the crowd
was small,

I could see that
Huey was disappointed.

But I'll say this,
he always gave a great show.

I remember, uh, having
a discussion with the guys,

a band meeting. I said,
"Guys, we only go from nowhere

to everywhere once,"
and I said, "Let's enjoy it.

"You know, let's--let's not
be in a hurry to go--

to get through this thing.
Let's just enjoy it."

And, you know,
in retrospect, I think we did.

♪♪♪

♪ Ain't no living
in a perfect world ♪

Despite the drop in sales,

the band continued
doing what they love--

playing music
and touring around the world.

♪ Ain't no living
in a perfect world ♪

But unbeknownst to their fans,
Huey's vertigo had returned.

[cacophony of sounds]

My vertigo episodes
were intense.

[voice echoing indistinctly]

And you get so nauseous.

[voice echoing]
You guys ready?

Couldn't stand up.
The room was spinning.

[voices echoing indistinctly]

And I called Lol,
our tour manager,

and Lol came and saved me
and then brought me

a 5-milligram Valium
which they give you to take,

and it puts you out,

and then when you wake up,
you're fine.

But things weren't fine.

In 1991, out of nowhere,

Huey lost hearing
in his right ear.

One day it just went away.

♪♪♪

It felt like I'd been
swimming in the swimming pool,

and it was all clogged up
and I couldn't--

couldn't clear it.

I went to this ENT friend.

He examined me, and then he
said, "Well, get used to it."

I said, "What?" [laughs]
He said--He said,

"Get used to it.
You only need one ear."

I said, "Well, but I'm
a musician. I'm a singer."

This scared me.

Huey Lewis was a superstar

with a career-threatening
secret.

He was grappling with the early
stages of hearing loss.

I went to my doctor in Montana.

He prescribed me Amoxicillin
or some kind of an antibiotic.

It didn't work.
Then I came to California,

saw another doctor. He gave me
some heavier antibiotics.

They didn't work either.

With a concert on the books,

Huey had to make a decision--
try to sing or cancel the show.

So I said, "Let's try."

I still didn't have
my right ear.

And I was super apprehensive
about

well, putting in my in-ears
and how was it gonna be?

[crowd cheering]

♪♪♪

[cheering]

♪♪♪

♪ Don't try to tell me why ♪

♪ You just can't get enough
of me ♪

It was different.

♪ It's so fine ♪

But I could sing.
Everything was fine.

♪ You've got your lucky toy ♪

♪ Build me up ♪

♪ You can build me up ♪

If you have dinner with him,

you know that he doesn't hear
very well in one ear,

so you kinda figure it out,
you know, which side to talk to.

But turns out you only need
one ear to sing.

♪♪♪

♪ Oh, yeah ♪

Huey soldiered on,

and in 2001,
the band released "Plan B."

The album was a return
to the soul and blues

Huey loved
before he became a pop star.

♪ There's a party ♪

♪ Down on the corner ♪

♪ Do you wanna go? ♪

- Sing it!
- [crowd cheering]

We called it "Plan B"
because it's the record

we would've made if Plan "A"
hadn't worked out. [chuckles]

♪ And a whole lot of soul ♪

We wrote "Plan B"
for that 9-piece horn section.

♪♪♪

And the idea was to just capture
those performances

as opposed to creating them
piece by piece in the studio.

And that's how that record
was cut. It was really fun.

[crowd cheering]

♪♪♪

With a slate of new songs
and classic hits,

the band spent
the next two decades

doing what they love the most--
hitting the road

and playing
more than 70 shows a year.

♪♪♪

That's, you know,
120 days on the road almost.

Some years we worked
even more than that.

On the road, the band jotted
down lyrics for a new album.

We were compiling songs
all along.

But you kind of have to wait
for the ideas to come to you,

and so when we'd have an idea,
we'd work the song up,

go play it live a bunch,

and then record it
and put it in the can.

Then we had seven songs
in the can

over the course of 10 years.

Wow, this really is a rehearsal.
I thought we were gonna fake it.

But recoding came
to a screeching halt

on January 27, 2018.

The News were about to take
the stage in Dallas

when suddenly Huey heard a pop
in his left ear.

♪♪♪

[static crackling]

My left ear crashed, and, um,
it was a nightmare

that we tried to do the show.
I couldn't hear pitch.

A bass part which would go...
♪ Bow, bow-bow, bow-bow ♪

would go...
[makes screeching sounds]

I looked at John,
and he's just playing away,

and I look at him and go,
"What's going on?"

I thought the amplifier
was blown or something.

It was my ear.

Nearly deaf in his right ear
already,

he was now struggling to hear
music at all

while in front
of an unsuspecting crowd.

Couldn't hear anything. Stumbled
through the gig somehow,

I don't--I don't even know how.

I mean, I sang out of tune.
It was--It was awful.

I--It was--It was horrible.

I said, "Guys, I don't know
what happened. I'm sorry.

My hearing," bop, bop, bop.

I went straight to bed,
woke up the next day,

flew to L.A. to see an ENT guy

that Justin Timberlake
recommended.

Put me on a 29-day program
of steroids,

and that didn't work.

And then I got Prednisone shots
in my ear.

I woke up the next morning
violently ill.

I had--I had, uh, vertigo.

And when he was
experiencing symptoms,

he was staying at my house,
and he was unable to stand up,

and, um, it was--it was bad
and scary, you know?

My son came over and, you know,
put me to bed,

and when I woke up,
I could hear.

And I went...thank God.

And three hours later,
it crashed again.

♪♪♪

Big breath. Great.

Doctors eventually diagnosed
Huey with Meniere's disease,

an inner ear condition
which currently has no cure.

Huey told me
that he'd been diagnosed

with Meniere's disease,
and I didn't know what it was.

I'd never heard of it,

and I don't think he knew
a whole lot about what it was.

Meniere's disease?
It's not really a disease.

It's--It's a syndrome
based on symptoms.

They really don't know
what it is.

So I went immediately
to House Ear Institute

and started on this journey
to try and find help.

And you know, I've been
everywhere since then.

I've been to
the Stanford Ear Institute,

Mayo Clinic, UCSF,
and nobody has any idea.

I've--And I've tried all kinds
of Eastern, chiropractic,

acupuncture,
an all-organic diet,

and, uh, supplements
and--and CBD oil,

and other kind
of essential oils,

and nothing works.

♪♪♪

With the help of hearing aids,

Huey could still hear
some sounds,

but music
was no longer recognizable.

Speech is easier to listen to
than music

because even one note occurs
in all frequencies,

with harmonics and overtones
and stuff.

The problem is when there are
too many instruments,

and they're too loud,
it goes cacophony for me,

and I can't--I can't find pitch.

He also struggled
with a nonstop roar in his ears.

I have major tinnitus.
I mean, w--

I have tinnitus now.
I have it all the time.

And it was roaring in my head.
You know, it was just miserable.

Without a lead singer,
The News were forced

to immediately cancel
all their remaining tour dates.

That's when everybody said,
"What? What's happened?"

And I-I issued a statement
that I lost my hearing.

You can't really schedule
any professional engagements

because you don't know
if you show up,

if you'll be able to hear.

So it makes it
virtually impossible

to perform at a concert.

I've never been a great singer,
but I was always reliable.

And the boys, you know,
the guys depend on me.

CROWD:
[chanting] Huey! Huey!

I felt like
I let all these people down.

'cause there was 25 guys
that were out of a job.

[crowd cheering]

His musical life as he knew it
was over.

Singing--it's not just
what he loves to do.

It's what people know him for,
and losing that ability

at least, you know,
not being able to bank on it,

I-I just can't imagine it.

Huey had a difficult time
coming to terms with that loss.

Yeah, that was horrible.
I mean, that was--

I spent--I spent two months
pretty much in bed,

contemplating my demise,
thinking, this--

I can't live like this,
you know?

Yeah, that was horrible.

He was really down
for a long time,

and it's hard to find words

to cheer somebody up
in a situation like that.

I think he knows that we are
genuinely concerned for him

and for his,
not just physical well-being,

but for his mental well-being,

because this is a lot
to deal with.

But he handles it, I think,
as well as--

as a person can handle it.

You know,
my kids have been great.

And you just look of pictures
of your granddaughter,

and they make you happy,
and I had to remind myself that

there's so many people out there
worse off than me.

You know, even if I can't
hear at all,

you know, don't be a baby
about this.

You know, you got a lot
to be thankful for,

so figure out now
what are we gonna do?

Huey was determined to get
his mind off his illness

and back to what he loved most--
music.

Jon Abrams and Tyler Mitchell--

you know, they came to me
early on and said,

"Wow, we'd like to try to write
a musical on your music."

I said, "Well, congratulations.
You're number 55."

You know, I mean,
I've heard this

for years and years and years,

and I always said, "You know,
just show me the script,"

and that pretty much
got rid of everybody,

but their first draft
was incredible.

It was really, really good.

[instruments warming up]

♪ Can you feel it? ♪

Monday night,
we take a long overdue bite

right outof the Big Apple.

That's kind of a real nice--
you wanna try it?

Just look at it.
Think about it.

♪ They say the heart of
rock and roll is still beatin' ♪

Needing a creative outlet
and distraction,

Huey threw himself into work
on his musical,

titled
"The Heart of Rock & Roll."

The musical really saved
my bacon,

'cause I was really
in the worst state.

And by the way,
my hearing was so bad,

many times,
I couldn't hear anything.

So I couldn't even
really contribute.

[telephone rings]

Do you hear that,
or do I just hear that?

[laughter]

Just being there,

knowing that there was
something creative happening

and--and our songs and all that
and looking after it

was therapeutic somehow.

The musical also gave Huey
the strength

to try songwriting again.

I had this idea
for "I Wanna Be Someone."

So he wants to--
he wants to be somebody.

Do we need to know what
someone means to him?

Or do we know that he just wants
to find his place?

I can't sing, but I heard it
in my head a little bit.

I can hear it in my head.

♪ For the whole wide world
to see ♪

♪ I'm gonna be someone ♪

♪ Why can't you? ♪

♪ I'm gonna be someone ♪

[song ends, crowd cheers]

♪♪♪

When the show premiered
in San Diego

in the fall of 2018...

- Oh!
- And the man of the hour.

Does anybody need a pep talk?

..."The Heart of Rock & Roll"
gave Huey

an opportunity
to experience his music

in an entirely new way.

♪ They say the heart of
rock and roll is still beatin' ♪

It's a completely objective look
at your songs,

which is fascinating.

There's a lot of love.

There's a lot of heart.
There's a lot of working.

There's a lot of power.

These are words that just seem
to come up in our songs.

I realize, wow, there really is
a kind of a thread

that runs
through all this stuff,

and so it made me feel good
about our catalog.

[audience
cheering in distance]

Hey!

- Huey!
- So good.

- Thanks for coming down.
- So good, girls.

Awesome, boys. Awesome.

And you kill 'em
with "Be Someone."

That's gonna be
really, really great.

- Thank you.
- When we do the cast album...

Yeah.

You're gonna have a hit
with that.

After the musical's successful
run,

Huey Lewis was inspired
to release the album

he put on hold
when he lost his hearing.

We waited kind of a year to see
if my hearing would get better,

and it didn't, so I thought
why not share the songs

with the fans?

You know, we had seven of 'em,

uh, only seven, but we all are
very proud of that record.

♪ Do you remember
when not so long ago ♪

Released in February 2020,

the album's title
summed up the band's long career

and the struggles
they have gone through together.

You know, we had "Sports"
and "We are the News."

So there's that, and it was

a kind of a tough couple years
for us anyway,

so we have experienced
some Weather,

and I hope people hear it
'cause it really is

some of our best work, I think.

♪♪♪

HUEY: ♪ Burning hot ♪

♪ A big flame ♪

♪ Built like a shotgun
on a .22 frame ♪

With famous friends
pitching in to help,

the music video
for "Her Love Is Killin' Me"

became a visual reminder
of all the support

Huey has received
over the years.

HUEY:
♪ And her love is killin' me ♪

If 38-year-old Topher had been
able to go back

and tell myself
when I was a teenager

that I'd be asked to do that,
I'd go nuts.

Michael Keaton did it,
and Jimmy Buffett did it.

Joe Montana did it,
and Jimmy Kimmel did it.

[laughs] It was quite a...

The production value
was tremendous.

♪♪♪

It makes you feel great
when you have, you know,

friends like that.

The release of "Weather"
was bittersweet,

because it's the only album
they weren't able to play live.

We can roll it way back.

It's just tough.
I mean, it's still tough.

This is harder
because it's going...

[imitating booming sounds]

...in my ear the whole time.

Struggling for pitch.

It's a team sport,
the way we played music.

It's really a band,
and really,

if it's all of us together,
and that's really the fun part,

is the camaraderie
and the laughs, you know,

that you have.

And this is a tough thing
for them, 'cause, you know,

we've all lost our livelihood,
and--and they've been--

they've been
very, very supportive.

I mean, it's--
it's three years now,

so the--our crew
has all moved on,

and everybody's pretty much
gotten gigs,

and we had pension plans
for everybody,

so everybody's pretty much
taken care of,

but I miss the--the guys.

[crowd cheering]

A rock and blues icon
who wanted nothing more

than a life making music,

Huey Lewis has found peace
in the songs of his past

and the creative ambitions
of his future.

GRACE: One of the great things
in all of entertainment

is if you become synonymous
with the time

it was really special
for people,

they always have that place
in their heart for you,

and, uh, he has definitely left
his mark.

Meniere's disease
is very mysterious,

and, boy, I-I-I hope that
there are people working on it,

because, uh, you know,
I'd like to go

to a Huey Lewis and the News
concert again.

[crowd cheering]

I'm worried I'm never
gonna sing again,

and I may not, but I'm not--
I'm not willing to say that yet.

I think I can. I hope I can,
and that's what I'm aiming for.

I haven't given up on music.

♪ They say the heart of
rock and roll is still beatin' ♪

♪ And from what I've seen,
I believe 'em ♪

♪ Now the old boy
may be barely breathin' ♪

♪ But the heart
of rock and roll ♪

♪ Heart of rock and roll
is still beatin' ♪

♪♪♪