Huey Lewis

Born in New York City and raised in Marin County, California, Lewis attended Strawberry Point Elementary School (where he skipped second grade) and Edna Maguire Junior High School. His mother, Magda Cregg, was a Polish refugee, and his maternal grandfather invented the red wax sealant used on certain cheeses. After his parents divorced when he was 13, he was sent to the Lawrenceville School in New Jersey, graduating in 1967 with a perfect 800 on the math SAT. He enrolled at Cornell University in the engineering program but dropped out in his junior year in December 1969 to pursue music.

As a teenager, Lewis hitchhiked across the country, stowed away on a plane to Europe, and spent time busking in Madrid, Spain, where he became an accomplished blues harmonica player. Upon returning to the U.S., he joined the Bay Area band Clover in 1971, adopting the stage name Huey Lewis (inspired by poet Lew Welch, his mother’s longtime partner). Clover recorded two albums in the UK with producer Mutt Lange but struggled as punk rock overshadowed their pub-rock sound. While Lewis was on vacation, the rest of the band backed Elvis Costello on his debut album My Aim Is True. Clover disbanded in 1979.

In 1979, Lewis formed Huey Lewis and the American Express, which soon became Huey Lewis and the News. After a unsuccessful self-titled debut in 1980, the band broke through with Picture This (1982) and exploded with Sports (1983), which sold over 10 million copies in the U.S. and produced multiple Top 10 hits. Their follow-up Fore! (1986) also reached No. 1. Lewis wrote or co-wrote many of the band’s songs and contributed harmonica to notable recordings, including Thin Lizzy’s Live and Dangerous (1978). The band’s music featured prominently in popular culture, most notably with “The Power of Love” in Back to the Future (1985), in which Lewis also had a cameo. They contributed to “We Are the World” and scored 14 Top 20 Billboard Hot 100 hits during the 1980s and early 1990s.

In 1995, Lewis sued Ray Parker Jr. over similarities between “I Want a New Drug” and the Ghostbusters theme. The case was settled out of court. Lewis has also produced for artists such as Nick Lowe and Bruce Hornsby.

In 2018, Lewis was forced into semi-retirement after being diagnosed with Ménière’s disease, which caused severe hearing loss. By 2025, he reported total deafness, though a cochlear implant has partially restored his ability to hear speech. Despite this, the band continues to tour occasionally, and Lewis remains active in other projects. In 2024, the jukebox musical The Heart of Rock and Roll, based on the band’s catalog, premiered on Broadway. In February 2025, he was the inaugural inductee into the People’s Music Hall of Fame.