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Huey Lewis

Huey Lewis

Actor · b. 1950 · New York City, New York, USA

Huey Lewis (born Hugh Anthony Cregg III, July 5, 1950) is an American singer, songwriter, and actor, best known as the lead vocalist and harmonica player of the rock band Huey Lewis and the News. The band achieved massive success in the 1980s with hits such as “The Power of Love,” “Hip to Be Square,” and “Stuck with You,” and their album Sports (1983) remains one of the best-selling pop releases of all time. 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.

Series24

  • TV4.9
  • TV6.4

    The Daily Show

    1996 · 660 votes

  • TV7.8

    One Tree Hill

    2003 · 630 votes

  • TV7.3
  • TV7.6

    The Blacklist

    2013 · 3.7K votes

  • TV5.3

    Jimmy Kimmel Live!

    2003 · 217 votes

  • TV2.6

    The Sherri Shepherd Show

    2022 · 15 votes

  • TV7.1

    The King of Queens

    1998 · 765 votes

  • TV6.8

    Champs-Elysées

    1982 · 9 votes

  • TV7.2

    Hot in Cleveland

    2010 · 138 votes

  • TV7.9

    MTV Video Music Awards

    1984 · 24 votes

  • TV6.4

    The Tony Danza Show

    2004 · 8 votes

  • TV6.6

    Just Shoot Me!

    1997 · 181 votes

  • TV5.9

    The Cleveland Show

    2009 · 477 votes

  • TV4.7

    Festival Internacional de la Canción de Viña del Mar

    Viña del Mar International Song Festival

    1963 · 3 votes

  • TV7.5

    Where Are They Now?

    1999 · 2 votes

  • TV8.0

    Going Live!

    1987 · 2 votes

  • TV6.0

    Fridays

    1980 · 9 votes

  • TV10.0

    Rockpalast

    1974 · 1 votes

  • TV4.1

    The Rosie O'Donnell Show

    1996 · 19 votes

  • TV10.0

    The BRIT Awards

    1977 · 1 votes

  • TV5.5

    Reunited Apart

    2020 · 2 votes

  • TV4.0

    Buccaneers & Bones

    2010 · 1 votes

  • TV6.8

    Generation Gap

    2022 · 5 votes

Movies22

  • Movie8.3

    Back to the Future

    1985 · 22K votes

  • Movie6.1

    Sphere

    1998 · 1.9K votes

  • Movie7.9

    The Greatest Night in Pop

    2024 · 314 votes

  • Movie7.2

    Short Cuts

    1993 · 712 votes

  • Movie5.9

    Amazon Women on the Moon

    1987 · 197 votes

  • Movie8.4
  • Movie5.7

    Duets

    2000 · 164 votes

  • Movie4.8

    Shadow of Doubt

    1998 · 53 votes

  • Movie6.5

    Back in Time

    2015 · 319 votes

  • Movie
  • Movie7.6
  • Movie5.8

    Graduation

    2007 · 42 votes

  • Movie3.4

    .com for Murder

    2001 · 23 votes

  • Movie6.6
  • Movie10.0
  • Movie6.0
  • Movie5.7

    Dead Husbands

    1998 · 6 votes

  • Movie
  • Movie8.0

    Retour vers le futur : Voyage dans le temps, American Dream & rock'n'roll

    Marty & Doc: The Inside Story of a Phenomenon

    2022 · 7 votes

  • Movie
  • Movie
  • Movie7.0