Huey Lewis not letting hearing loss define him, calls Broadway show his 'salvation'
Huey Lewis has been a rock icon since the '80s, and he's doing his best to enjoy his status as an elder statesman of the genre as he struggles with his hearing loss.
A new Broadway musical titled "The Heart of Rock and Roll" debuts on April 22, using songs from Lewis’ catalog and giving him some "salvation" as he deals with his "lousy hearing."
During an appearance on "Good Morning America," Lewis was asked if working on the show was "therapeutic" for him.
"Therapeutic might be the wrong word because ‘therapeutic’ implies you get better," he said. "I don’t get better. But it has been kind of a salvation for me. Something to be kind of creative and stay busy and keep my mind off my lousy hearing."
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Lewis was diagnosed with Ménière’s disease in 2018. According to the Mayo Clinic, Ménière’s disease is "an inner ear problem that can cause dizzy spells, also called vertigo, and hearing loss" and is "thought to be a lifelong condition." The exact cause is unknown.
Huey Lewis and the News was on tour at the time of his hearing loss and canceled all of its remaining 2018 dates.
In a statement from the band on X, then Twitter, Lewis explained that before a show in Dallas, he lost "most" of his hearing, meaning he couldn’t "hear music well enough to sing."
"I feel horrible about this and wish to sincerely apologize to all fans who’ve already bought tickets and were planning to come see us. I’m going to concentrate on getting better, and hope that one day soon I’ll be able to perform again," Lewis wrote.
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A year after the diagnosis, Lewis spoke about how deeply the hearing loss affected his mental health.
"This [diagnosis] has ruined everything. This has absolutely ruined everything," he told the Whitefish Review, a literary journal in Montana, where Lewis lives. "I try not to let it get me down."
"In the first two months of this, I was suicidal," Lewis continued. "I can honestly share that with you. I thought, ‘S---, I’m just going to commit suicide.’ I actually contemplated my demise. You know, like pills, I figured pills were the easiest way to go. I mean, would I have? I don’t know."
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Six years since the diagnosis, Lewis tries to focus on the good where he can.
In an interview with Rolling Stone this month, when asked how he’s dealing with his diagnosis, he answered, "As best you can. You remind yourself there are lots of people out there much worse off than I am. I have two great children who won’t let me feel sorry for myself. And the musical has been huge therapy for me."
Fans shouldn’t expect to see Lewis jump on stage and join in though.
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"I’ve tried," he told Rolling Stone. "I just can’t hear pitch good enough. When you sing a song, and you’re in the pocket, the song begins to sing itself. It’s a wave you ride and, oh, my God, it’s the most fun thing in the world. That ain’t going to happen to me anymore."
He continued, "I can sing. But I can’t sing to anything. I can’t hear pitch. A bass part sounds like (he imitates what sounds like a hurricane of turntable scratching). It’s all distorted. I can hear there’s music going on. But I can’t hear what it is. When you play a song on a boombox, I can’t tell you what’s on it. I can hear the beat. But I literally can’t recognize my own songs."
According to the Mayo Clinic, no cure exists for Ménière’s disease. Some treatments can help manage vertigo symptoms, but there is no cure for the hearing loss.
Lewis told Rolling Stone his hearing "continues to deteriorate" and he is considering surgical intervention.
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"I’m going to have a consultation in 10 days, and we’re going to explore a cochlear implant. It’s very difficult to determine how much benefit I would get from that. It’s a tough decision because when they cut your hearing off, it never comes back. I need to determine how much better I will be, and that’s something nobody can really tell you," he said.
For now, the musical has given Lewis a purpose.
"Zen Buddhists say you need three things: something to love, something to hope for and something to do," he told the New York Times. "I got plenty to love. So, this is my hope-for and my to-do. It keeps me from reflecting on my [expletive] hearing."
Set in the '80s and featuring songs from Lewis' catalog like "Hip To Be Square," "Stuck With You," "I Want a New Drug" and "Do You Believe in Love," "The Heart of Rock and Roll" tells the story of a failed rocker caught between reviving his music career and settling for a job at a cardboard company.
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"The story had lots of parallels to my life, actually," Lewis told Rolling Stone. "The character is the same age as I was when I started my band. I had a little day job, and I had started the News. I’d been playing in bands for 12 years. The News was pretty much my last shot. So, I have a sense of the anxiety, the ambition and the worry and all that, as [the main character] Bobby does."
Lewis told the outlet he "worried about the integrity of the songs" but understood that for Broadway, "You’ve got to stretch the boundaries of what the song is and be open-minded that way. And partially because of my condition, I can’t go out on the road. So, I’m more open to this stuff."
But he did admit he made changes along the way, like, "Some of the choreography a little bit, like when Bobby is a rock star and how he holds the microphone. All the songs have little lyric changes. That was a difficult balancing act because it’s important that the song push the story forward, but you don’t want to lose the integrity of the song."
He also contributed a new song to the show, called "Be Someone," which he worked on with bandmate Johnny Colla and the production’s musical director, Brian Usifer.
"I sang the parts into my iPhone and sent them to Johnny, and Johnny demoed it all up and tweaked it," Lewis told the New York Times.
"I can sing to myself," he added, "but I can’t sing to anything because I can’t hear pitch. We just changed the lyrics two days ago. You got to pick your battles."
The 73-year-old told "GMA" he had never really been a musical theater person, describing himself as a "rock and roller."
His perspective shifted when a neighbor took him to see "Mamma Mia" and he "fell in love with it."
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"And I started to appreciate Broadway," he said.
Lewis made his Broadway debut, playing Billy Flynn in the musical "Chicago."
"I fell in love with everything Broadway," he told "GMA." Remarkable people, smart, intelligent, self-effacing and talented, fun."
Fans of Lewis and music history have also been enjoying the Netflix documentary "The Greatest Night in Pop," which premiered in January.
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The documentary covers the recording of the African famine charity song, "We Are the World," written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie and featuring some of the biggest names in music, including Billy Joel, Diana Ross, Cyndi Lauper, Bruce Springsteen and Tina Turner.
Prince was also set to appear in the song, but he declined to participate. Lewis was then given his part to sing.
On "Huey’s 80s Radio with Huey Lewis" podcast on Apple Music, Lewis and Kenny Loggins reflected on their work on the song and appearance in the documentary.
Lewis revealed that by watching the documentary, "I learned for the first time that you are the guy that recommended me for Prince’s line. It’s in the documentary, but I never knew until then," he said of Loggins.
Loggins confirmed it, saying, "Michael [Jackson] came up to me and said, 'Well, Prince isn’t going to be here. Who should sing the solo line?' I said, 'The best singer in here is Huey Lewis.'"
On "GMA," Lewis recalled, "I knew that evening that this was the career event of my life. And 40 years later it still is."
He described being in the room with all the stars as "fun," remembering, "During the breaks, we just kind of hung out. Bruce Springsteen is very funny. He’s a really good joke teller. We had fun doing that, it was just a great evening."
"Everybody was on best behavior, of course," he added. "I was nervous. Stevie Wonder was not nervous. When you have that much talent, you don’t need to be nervous."
On his podcast, Lewis noted, "I watched each voice register on Stevie Wonder's face, and it was amazing. And when we got halfway around, he went, 'Oh my God. So many stars. So many stars.' The hair stands up on the back of my neck just thinking about it."
Lewis does have one regret from the otherwise amazing experience.
"I didn’t introduce myself to Ray Charles and chat with Ray Charles. Ray Charles is my lifelong singing hero, and I was in awe, I just sort of followed him around," he told "GMA."
"The Heart of Rock and Roll" opens April 22 at the James Earl Jones Theater in New York City.