When looking back at the music scene of the 1980s, numerous artists were catapulted to stardom thanks to the power of MTV.
One such band that hit it big during that decade was Huey Lewis and the News, racking up 12 top 10 hits along the way.
Of those, the band’s biggest smash was “Power of Love,” the No. 1 hit featured in the soundtrack of box-office blockbuster “Back to the Future.”
Huey Lewis Shared Some SadDS News
Lead singer Huey Lewis recently appeared on the “Inside of You” podcast, where he dropped a sad revelation.
According to Lewis, now 76, he’s now “basically deaf” and has been forced to shut the door on his decades-long music career.
“I can’t hear music,” Lewis told the podcast’s host, former “Smallville” star Michael Rosenbaum (via USA Today).
“Music is not part of my life anymore,” he added, “which is a hard pill to swallow.”
A Devastating Diagnosis
As USA Today reminded readers, Lewis revealed in 2021 that he’d previously been diagnosed with an inner ear condition after several years of experiencing severe vertigo attacks that left him incapacitated.
Speaking with Rosenbaum, Lewis said that it’s been more than eight years since he last heard properly.
He underwent cochlear implant surgery, and also uses a hearing aid. And while both have helped him to hear, he also explained that they tend to distort the pitch of musical notes.
That, he continued, has made both listening to and performing music an impossibility for him.
Giving Up Music Has Been Difficult
Understandly, removing music from his life has been like losing a limb. And while he does his best to “divorce” his hearing loss from his mind, he still feels envious whenever he hears of one of his fellow musicians performing.
“I got to say, ‘God, I wish, I’d like to do that, you know. It was a lot of fun,'” Lewis said.
“There are pangs and I can’t enjoy music, like when I cook or I have people over for dinner, I always used to play them music and I have a great collection of old big band stuff and old New Orleans jazz and I can’t. I don’t play it at all anymore,” he added.
“Sometimes I still play it because I know it so well. It’s weird. And I can hear the beat. … So, I know what’s going on but I can’t, can’t enjoy it,” Lewis elaborated.
He’s Discovered a New Passion Beyond Music
Rather than wallow in misery, however, Lewis decided to choose another path — and it involves a rod and a reel.
“I fish a lot, OK,” Lewis admitted.
“I mean, I really do. And I love the fly fish and I love Mother Nature and I get out there by myself in a stream and I’m conducting nature with my fly rod and it’s just a wonderful thing,” the rocker shared. “I love to do it and hearing [is] not required.”
That said, he can also see a silver lining in his condition that has, ironically, probably improved his quality of life.
“And the thing that’s nice about it is, if I had hearing, I’d still be on the road, probably 75 to 100 shows. And I don’t miss that,” he said. “I miss the camaraderie of the fellas and the circus-like thing that it is. But man, I’ve been [fishing] so many great places and had so many great experiences and met all kinds of different people that I wouldn’t have met. So, I got to kind of look in the positive.”
Im sorry to hear this. your music was great traveling music. i had a few years ago about your hearing loss. im glad to know you have another hobby that helps pass the time. Thank you for sharing. God Bless you