Original subtitles

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' ♪

♪♪♪