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Huey Lewis & the News

The Untold Truth Of Huey Lewis And The News

Huey Lewis and the News was one of the most popular bands of the 1980s. They were known for hits such as "I Want a New Drug," "The Heart of Rock & Roll," "Hip to Be Square," and "The Power of Love." According to AllMusic , the band didn't make much of an impact until it released its second album, Picture This , in 1982. The song, "Do You Believe in Love," became a Top 10 single, while "Hope You Love Me Like You Say You Do" and "Workin' for a Livin'" also resonated with fans.

Huey Lewis and the News gained even more followers after an extensive tour schedule, and by the time they released their third studio album, Sports , in 1983, their popularity skyrocketed. This was also due, in part, to their heavy rotation on MTV, a relatively new music channel on cable. Even more success followed after the band's music was featured in the 1985 blockbuster film, Back to the Future, starring Michael J. Fox. In the 90s, the band had a tough time living up to its earlier success, and front man Huey Lewis was later forced to contend with some health issues that greatly affected the band. Here's more about Huey Lewis and the News' history and some of its lesser known facts below. 

They once called themselves Huey Lewis and the American Express

Before the band became Huey Lewis and the News, front man Huey Lewis and keyboardist Sean Hopper were in a band from San Francisco known as Clover, according to Best Classic Bands . Clover appeared on Elvis Costello's first album, My Aim Is True , while visiting England. In the late 1970s, Clover returned to California and wound up joining with another local band named Soundhold. That's when saxophonist and rhythm guitarist Johnny Colla, bassist Mario Cipollina, and drummer Bill Gibson came onboard.

Clover/Soundhole wound up dubbing themselves Huey Lewis and the American Express, and soon attracted the attention of Bob Brown, who would later become their manager, according to Bay Area Bands . Huey Lewis and the American Express dropped the single, "Exodisco/Kick Back," in the United Kingdom. This drew the attention of Chrysalis Records, which demanded a name change fearing that the American Express credit card company would make a fuss about it. The band agreed and became Huey Lewis and the News before releasing their first album in 1980.

The band's first LP sold poorly

During a 1984 interview with   Rolling Stone magazine , front man Huey Lewis confessed that the band's first album wasn't very good and that his voice was, to put it nicely, not great either. "You should hear the early demo tapes; I was an awful singer," he told the publication. "Not that I'm a great singer now." The band's first record, the eponymous Huey Lewis and the News , simply didn't resonate with audiences. That's when the band decided it wanted to produce its own work.

"Well, our first album didn't do anything," Lewis said during a 2013 Rolling Stone interview . "We produced the second album ourselves and kind of broke even." The 1982 LP, Picture This , included the hit, "Do You Believe in Love," which former Clover producer Mutt Lange produced, according to T4C . It also had the singles "Hope You Love Me Like You Say You Do" and "Workin' for a Livin.'"

Huey Lewis and the News were booed off stage

Huey Lewis and the News were friendly with the Doobie Brothers and toured with them after releasing their first album. And the audience didn't exactly appreciate their efforts on stage, Huey Lewis recalled during an interview with Whitefish Review . "It was all we could do to get finished with a set without being booed," he explained. "We would go immediately from song to song because if we paused, they would boo and start throwing s–t."

During a stop in San Antonio, Texas, the band played its set, and Lewis went backstage to watch the action from the hallway, something he'd never done before. In a hat and in the dark, he wasn't recognizable. When the Doobies got on stage, the band thanked the crowd for its enthusiasm and showing up to see them. The Doobie Brothers also asked for applause for the opening band, Huey Lewis and the News. That's when a man next to Lewis said, "Boo! They suck!" Years later, Lewis was able to chuckle about the incident, but it was probably tough to hear such criticism at the time.

They wrote the melody to "I Want a New Drug" in five minutes

One of the band's most popular songs is "I Want a New Drug." Huey Lewis created the lyrics while visiting his attorney one day, he told   Rolling Stone . He and bassist Mario Cipollina worked on it for some time but were unable to get the results they wanted. However, guitarist Chris Hayes tackled the song and came up with the proper composition in just five minutes.

The song is about women, not drugs, according to Song Facts . Unlike drugs, women don't make your eyes turn red, give you dry mouth, or cause acne. Lewis later revealed that the meaning of the song was that drugs are superficial, whereas love is the answer. "I Want a New Drug" wound up being one of the hits on the Sports album, which sold 7 million copies in the United States and became one of the top-selling albums in 1984.

Members of the San Francisco 49ers sang backup on "Hip To Be Square"

Huey Lewis and drummer Bill Gibson wrote "Hip To Be Square," which mocks the band's clean-cut image. The band members didn't have tattoos or piercings and instead were more conservative looking compared to many of their contemporaries. Plus, they were in their mid-30s at that point in their lives and were more focused on being themselves versus being cool and famous, according to Song Facts . This was in contrast to Lewis' younger days in which he was a bit more free spirited. He hitchhiked through Europe and was the son of beatniks, for example.

In the song, Dwight Clark, Joe Montana, and Ronnie Lott from the San Francisco 49ers sang back up after Lewis says, "Tell 'em boys." You can hear the footballers singing, "Here, there and everywhere, hip, hip, so hip to be square." The band, which hailed from San Francisco, was friends with some of the players, and they often would see each other at local events. The cover of Sports also includes an image of Clark catching a football if you look closely enough.

Huey Lewis and the News sued Ray Parker, Jr.

The main theme from the 1984 film Ghostbusters hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100. The "Ghostbusters" melody sounded a bit too familiar to Huey Lewis and the News, who ended up suing songwriter Ray Parker, Jr ., for plagiarizing their famous tune, "I Want a New Drug", according to Entertainment Weekly . Columbia Pictures and Parker later settled the case out of court. Ironically, in 2001 Huey Lewis talked about the lawsuit during an episode of " Behind the Music ," which violated the confidentiality agreement, and Parker sued Lewis for speaking out.

When Parker was initially asked to write the theme song, he refused because he was semi-retired and didn't want to use the word "Ghostbusters" in the lyrics. But, it took him just a few days to write it. He told Entertainment Weekly in 2016 that he never got tired when people said to him, 'Who you gonna call?" He explained, "It's like, am I tired of holding the best lotto ticket or the best thing to ever happen? No."

Huey Lewis made a cameo in Back to the Future

Huey Lewis and the News wrote " The Power of Love " and "Back in Time" for the film Back to the Future . Lewis made a cameo appearance in the movie as a judge in a Battle of the Bands competition. During the scene, Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) and his band The Pinheads performed a cover of "The Power of Love," but Lewis' character was less than impressed with the set, telling the band they didn't qualify because they were "too darn loud."

The scene was an inside joke between Lewis and the film's co-writer and director Bob Zemeckis, according to Futurepedia, the Back to the Future Wiki . Lewis explained in a Today Show interview, "It was Bob's idea and let's face it, I nailed it." He added, "We thought it would be kind of a nice inside joke you know, if we were uncredited and sort of disguised."

The original American Psycho soundtrack was destroyed because of "Hip To Be Square"

The 2000 film, American Psycho, centered on an investment banker named Patrick Bateman who had psychopathic tendencies. The character was played by Christian Bale, according to IMDB . The character was a fan of Huey Lewis and the News, and one of the film's most memorable scenes involves serial killer Bateman murdering a victim while "Hip To Be Square" accompanied the gory act.

Believe it or not, the band gave permission for the song to be included in the film, according to The Guardian . But it was a different story when it came to the soundtrack. Koch Records ended up recalling around 100,000 copies of the American Psycho soundtrack in order to destroy them. That's because the band never gave the label permission to put the song on the record. "As a result of the violent nature of the film, Huey Lewis's management decided not to give the soundtrack clearance," Koch Records president Bob Frank said at the time.

Huey Lewis took Prince's place on "We Are The World"

Huey Lewis and the News were peaking in popularity in 1985 when several musicians came together to sing "We Are the World," which raised $60 million for those suffering from famine in Africa, according to Song Facts . Prince was expected to sing on the single, but he dropped out, and Lewis took his place. Lewis later told Questlove (via UltimatePrince.com ) that it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

"It was unbelievable," he said. "You don't get to meet all those people in a lifetime or a career. And Ray Charles was there! I couldn't even introduce myself to Ray Charles. I just hung back and watched him. I'm just totally in awe of Ray Charles." Lewis had to sing the line, "But if you just believe, there's no way we can fall," sandwiched between Michael Jackson and Cyndi Lauper. He was so nervous because of the company he was in, which also included singing icons such as Bruce Springsteen and Bob Dylan.

Huey Lewis started to lose his hearing in 2018

In 2018, Huey Lewis was diagnosed with an inner-ear disorder known as Meniere's disease. He opened up to USA Today , revealing, "My hearing fluctuates episodically. Usually it's only bad for a week. But, I mean, really bad, where I'm almost deaf. And then it gets like it is now, which is just sort of bad. But I can't seem to stabilize." While the disease can be debilitating at times, Lewis had no intention of calling it quits in the music business. His band was working on a new album, and Lewis was also planning a musical he hoped would hit Broadway.

A year later he explained that he nearly took his own life after getting the diagnosis. He told Whitefish Review , "In the first two months of this, I was suicidal. I can honestly share that with you. I thought, sh**, 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."

If you or anyone you know is having suicidal thoughts, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline​ at​ 1-800-273-TALK (8255)​.

Sports lost out on best-selling album of the year to Thriller

Huey Lewis and the News' third album, Sports , was released on Sept. 15, 1983, and was one of the biggest records of 1984, according to Ultimate Classic Rock . The band would have had the number-one record of the year if it wasn't for Michael Jackson, who released his album  Thriller . Sports , however, did really well with five Top 40 singles, including "Heart and Soul," "I Want a New Drug," "The Heart of Rock & Roll," "If This Is It," and "Walking on a Thin Line."

The band was very deliberate with its song choices by the time it made its third album. "It was really a record for its time," Huey Lewis told Billboard . "In the 80s, the way radio was programmed, if you didn't have a hit record you weren't going to be able to make any more records. That was it, period." They had a mission to write songs that would be hits on the radio, but they weren't exactly sure which ones would do the trick. "We just knew we needed a frickin' hit, period. And fortunately we got 'em," he added.

.38 Special had to cope with The News as an opening act

As already noted, Sports was one of five number-one albums of the year alongside Michael Jackson's Thriller . It also held good company among best-selling albums such as Prince's Purple Rain , Bruce Springsteen's Born in the U.S.A. , and the Footloose soundtrack, according to Grantland . Huey Lewis and the News was peaking in popularity when it opened up on tour with .38 Special in 1984. Fans were coming out in force to see them perform, and it couldn't have been easy for the headliners.

During the arena and coliseum tour, Huey Lewis and the News killed it on stage because they had the hits from their number-one album to rev up the crowd. The band would go on at around 8 p.m. and play encore after encore. Lewis explained, "To their credit, if .38 Special were super-mad about it, they would suck it up and play their show real hard." He added that he told his bandmates to relish that moment in time. "'This is as good as it gets, man. Just have fun with this right here.' And I've been in the business for long enough to know that that's true."

Radio stations wouldn't play their music in the 90s

Unfortunately, many bands don't sustain their popularity over the years, and interest started to wane for Huey Lewis and the News once the 1980s ended. Following Sports , the band released 1988's  Small World , which veered off of the pop music sound of their previous album. While they intended on making hit music in the past, this album was a mix of jazz fusion, reggae, and blues and wasn't meant to cater to the pop crowd. "I didn't aim to make it commercial. If the record doesn't sell, we can still go out and play live," said Huey Lewis (via  Grantland ). One song, "Perfect World," reached number three on the pop charts, but the album was significantly less successful than Sports . Rolling Stone even dubbed it the worst album of the year.

Huey Lewis and the News followed up Small World with Hard at Play but had a difficult time attracting an audience that at that point was attuned to grunge and rap music. Their type of music no longer resonated. "All the big-time rock stations said, 'We can't play this. This is Huey Lewis and the News.' So our image was in the way. The rock stations wouldn't play our rock stuff because it was already '91 and we couldn't be less cool. It was over for us no matter what we did."

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Huey Lewis On The 40th Anniversary Of 'Sports,' Never Seeing 'American Psycho' & The Importance Of Radio

Released in 1983, Huey Lewis and the News' 'Sports' spawned a handful of now-classic, pervasive hits. Lewis reflects on the album's creation and staying power, as well as the ways pop music has evolved since his '80s heyday.

Huey Lewis hit a grand slam with 1983's Sports. The third album from Huey Lewis and the News featured the ubiquitous hits "Heart and Soul," "I Want a New Drug," "The Heart of Rock and Roll," "If This is It" and "Walking on a Thin Line." The LP hit No. 1 on the Billboard 200 in June 1984, charted for 160 weeks and has sold more than seven million copies to date. "The Power of Love" single was featured in Back to the Future and was nominated for an Academy Award.

Lewis had been touring for a decade by the time Sports hit, beginning in the early '70s with his San Francisco Bay Area band Clover. Throughout, he gathered  cool fans, friends and collaborators, including Dave Edmunds, Elvis Costello, and Nick Lowe, (Lewis produced Lowe's 1985 version of "I Knew the Bride (When She Used to Rock and Roll):).

By the close of the ‘70s, Clover was over, and  Lewis’ new band was the American Express. However, when their debut album launched on Chrysalis in 1980, the lineup would be named "The News,"  to dodge potential legal issues with the credit card company. The ensuing decade of hits and MTV dominance assured Lewis’ place in cultural history. Of the six Huey Lewis and the News albums released in the ‘80s, two hit Gold sales status and three platinum. And the frontman  would still be playing those hits live on tour if it wasn’t for Meniere’s Disease, which robbed the performer of his hearing seven years ago. (He’s wearing Bluetooth hearing aids "connected to his devices" for our Zoom interview.)

Lewis and the News’ most recent (and potentially final) album, Weather, released in 2020, and was recorded before Lewis’ hearing loss. But don’t count Lewis out; he’s got some tricks up his sleeve that will come to fruition in 2024. For now, looking back on the occasion of Sports’ 40th anniversary, the singer evinces both gratitude and a sometimes slightly wry humor as he recalls the hits, misses and memories of his career to date.

This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.

From what I read about your self-titled debut in 1980, you were always attuned to what was commercial and on the radio. What does Sports sound like to you now, 40 years later?  

It sounds like a collection of singles to me, which means it's a record of its time. In the early '80s, there was no Internet, no jam bands, and album rock didn't mean anything, either. All that mattered was contemporary hit radio, which was playing 23 songs, basically a playlist. And it was an editing process that we all competed for.

If you wanted to write your own music and sing your own music, and make a living, you had to have a hit single. And if you wanted to hear one of our Huey Lewis and the News hit singles, you also would hear a Garth Brooks song, a Commodores song, or Whitney Houston song, or Michael Jackson . Very diverse. We all competed for that one format.

So Sports we produced ourselves because we knew we needed a hit record. We wanted to make those commercial choices ourselves because if we had a hit, we'd have to play it for the rest of our lives. And we didn't want "One Eyed-One-Horned-Flying Purple People Eater" [the 1958 novelty hit by Sheb Wooley] if you know what I mean.

We fought to produce our record ourselves. And fortunately, our small little label Chrysalis was 7,000 miles away and couldn't really control us. We aimed every song — or most of those songs — right at radio. We knew we needed a hit. We didn't know we were gonna have five of them.

Even though I know Sports well, I didn't realize "Heart and Soul" was by [songwriters] Chapman and Chinn. I was a huge fan of the Sweet and all the bands they worked with. How did that song come to you?  

First of all, Chinnichap, Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman, they're brilliant. Mike Chapman, we actually met with him and flirted with having him produce us, but we really wanted to do our own thing. A publisher sent me the song. It was originally written, I think, for Suzi Quatro. Because, thinking about the [original] lyric, "two o'clock this morning, if he should come a calling / I couldn't dream of turning him away."

But they redid it with Exile, the country band. I didn't know any of this; all I know is my publisher sent me the song. I heard it and went, Wow, that sounds like a hit to me . My philosophy always was, we'll write the eight best songs we can write, and then cover the two best original songs we can find. We basically just copied what we thought was the demo — we now know it was Exile’s record.

It’s not much of a song, there are only three chords, and most of the song is two chords, but it's a brilliant production. We swiped all that, we just copied it. So we're mixing it in LA. I go to the bathroom out of the control room, and go by the other studio. And I hear "Heart and Soul" coming out of the next studio, the same song. And it’s [L.A. band] Bus Boys. The publisher had pitched it to all these people. Needless to say, I wasn't very happy with the publisher.   

"Heart and Soul" was nominated for Best Rock Vocal, Group at the 1984 GRAMMYs. What did that mean to you?   

No question; it meant everything to me. Those are our peers. We got nominated for a zillion GRAMMYs, and I think we only won one or two. I mean, Bruce Springsteen beat me out in about nine categories, including "Power of Love," which should have won something, I think.

The "Heart of Rock and Roll" video is so much fun. It was shot in New York City and at Gazzari’s on the Sunset Strip. Where would you guys be without MTV?  

We certainly wouldn't be as popular. But we might be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. [ Laughs. ] It kind of hurt our credibility. We were seen as a pop band in America. In Europe. we're a rock and roll band, or a soul band. But I remember it was a necessity for us.

We actually filmed two videos prior to being signed by Chrysalis Records as a way to market ourselves. There was a gal called Kim Dempster and Videowest in San Francisco — this was the advent of videotape and cable and cable TV — she said, "I'll do a video of you guys if you'll let us show it on our Videowest channel at midnight." I said "done!"

I schemed this idea for "Some of my Lies are True" where we’d go to the beach and set up on a sewage pier. Like, what's the strangest place you would have a band set up to play ? I liked it on "Shindig" and "Hullabaloo" when James Brown would set up by the swimming pool. Chrysalis saw [the video] and loved it and they signed us.

Now the song "Do You Believe in Love" is on our second album.For that song, the label  got an advertising guy and he designed the set. They're all these pastel colors and they matched our pastel shirts and we all had a lot of makeup on. This is the video where we're all in bed singing to the gal. A week later, we assembled at the record company to see the rough cut. There are 10 people from the record label, 10 people from the video company, 10 of us, and the director and he says, "Now this is not colorized yet, it's gonna look a lot better when it's colorized."  He shuts the lights off, and plays the video.

My heart just sank. It was just so horrible. There's no direction. There was no story, there was no meaning. It wasn't funny, wasn't entertaining, it was just horrible. When it ended, everybody got up and gave us a standing ovation. I remember thinking to myself, clearly, there's no art here .

So we're writing our own songs, we're producing our own records, we're gonna do our own videos from now on. From then on, we wrote all those videos. The idea was to avoid a literal translation of the song and if at all possible, zig when the song zags and just goof off and  have fun.

That's an amazing story. I just flashed back to the Billy Squier "Rock Me Tonite" video.    

There is one other thing about "Heart of Rock and Roll"…  When we were making [ Sports ]  we were in the Record Plant. Next door was Peter Wolf, working with the producer Ron Nevison on the Jefferson Starship record [Lewis sings ‘We Built This City"] with the [electronic-sounding] machines going. I went, ‘Wow, what is that?’ I befriended Peter Wolf, and  said, ‘can you show me how to do that?’ Because we learned about the Linn Drum machine about 1980; that Roger Linn had a machine that had Jeff Porcaro’s [drum samples] in it.

So he sets the machine up and he sequences the bass and gets it going. So we're going to cut ["I Want a New Drug."]  We start playing to it, and it was just lying there. It  was not working. So we cut the track normally, just organically. We finished the record. We went to New York to mix it. I couldn't get "I Want A New Drug" to groove. I mixed it three or four times with Bob Clearmountain, who's brilliant. We just couldn't get it to where it sounded good to me. I finally got it as best I could. The record was done.

Then Chrysalis sold out to CBS. So we couldn't hand our record in because we didn't know who was going to distribute it; it was all mystery meat at that point. So we just hung on to the record. We hit the road. We had the band and crew and everybody on one bus and we went out and did clubs, the West, Midwest.The last thing we'd ever do is listen to the record because we've been working on it for months and listen to it over and over again. So after about three weeks, one night, on an overnight trip, I say to the guys  "Hey, let's put on the record. Let's see what it sounds like."

We throw the record up, and I go, "Damn, it's not happening." So I cried "problem!" to our manager. We went back into the studio and we recut "Heart of Rock & Roll," "I Want a New Drug," "Walking on a Thin Line," "Bad Is Bad," all to the drum machine. Gives it that little modern, techno thing.

I love that you’re such a producer. I know you worked with Mutt Lange with your band Clover. I feel Mutt has some kind of hitmaking brain. Do you have any takeaways from him either as a songwriter or as a producer?  

We actually kind of have completely different philosophies about music. I think music matters like crazy. I think it's important to people, to their lives. Mutt just thinks it’s pop music. See, I have a jazz musician dad. All of his favorite bands — like Jimmie Lunceford and Chick Webb and all those early jazz bands — had one number where they would put funny hats and use the hat for a mute on the trumpet, and it was a kind of a show number, a novelty number.

My old man saw rock and roll as that — all novelty; to him it wasn't real music. So when we cut "Power of Love" I'll never forget. You find out a week ahead of time that a song is gonna be number one next week. I’m talking to my pops, and I say, "Guess what? My record goes number one next week.’ And he goes, "Ah, that’s no good. The best s— is never the most popular."

Oh, ouch.    

But that's where I'm coming from. And Mutt Lange is coming from a whole ‘nother place. All he cares about is popularity. But Mutt is a genius. He works so hard. I like dashing things off and just going with it. I don't mind if there's a mistake or two; didn't bother me.

Jumping ahead, I’m curious about Weird Al and his take on "I Want a New Drug"—"I Want a New Duck."  

I don't know Al at all, but in fact, we did that little thing, the "Hip To Be Square" American Psycho lampoon.. I like his work. He's funny. And you know, he's kind of a serious guy. You know, comedy is serious. It's funny, because when we did that whole thing, the lampoon of American Psycho , we worked on it with the Funny or Die guys for six to eight hours. And they never laughed. No, nothing was funny. I was laughing my ass off.

Did you know the "Huey Lewis appreciation" scene in American Psycho was going to be in the movie?  

Somebody showed me the book. And I read the passage about us. It was amazing. I mean [Bret Easton Ellis] actually clearly had listened to our music a lot. They told us that the movie was gonna come out and they wanted to use "Hip to be Square." I said, "and they're gonna pay us?" I mean, it's an artistic thing, Willem Dafoe’s in it, no problem. So, boom, they paid us.

A week before the release of the film they decide they want to do a soundtrack album. I said, ‘Really? What's that going to look like?’ They said, "Well, 'Hip to be Square,' I think there's a Phil Collins song, and then mostly source music." I said, it isn't good for our fans to have to buy a whole record for one song. So we politely declined.

Now, literally the night before the premiere of the movie, they issued a press release to USA Today, The New York Times, everybody, that said that Huey Lewis had seen the movie and it was so violent that he yanked his tune from the soundtrack.

It was bulls — , but they were ginning up publicity.’ That pissed me off. So I boycotted the movie and never saw it. To this day. I actually lent the tune to the musical of American Psycho on Broadway! Duncan Sheik wrote all the other music and it's really good. It didn't last that long, but I was really impressed.

Sports ’ huge success must have been the "I can buy my first house" record?    

Sports signaled that we're going to have a career where we're actually going to be able to play our own music and have people show up. Until Sports , our focus was to get a hit record, because to exist in the radio was all there was. Such a narrow scope.

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Shaq/DJ Diesel at Lolla 2019

Photo by Michael Hickey/Getty Images

From Usain Bolt To Manny Pacquiao To Miles Bridges, 5 Professional Athletes That Successfully Made The Jump To Music

As if becoming a professional athlete wasn't hard enough, these five athletes defied the odds and became successful artists

It's a common joke that artists want to be athletes and athletes want to be artists. But how often does the joke actually become a reality?

Becoming a professional athlete is an astronomical feat on its own, so diving back down to earth in hopes of becoming a successful artist is like betting on a fraction—of a fraction —of an already slim chance. Nevertheless, these five athletes hit the lottery twice by making a name for themselves in two dream professions.

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The relationship between music and sports reads loud and clear for most. But in case some people need the connection explained in more detail, Usain Bolt does a pretty good job of breaking it down.

"We enjoy music as athletes. It helped hype us up or calm us down depending on the type of genre," the eight-time Olympic gold medalist told GRAMMY.com . "For the artists, it's all about the hype to come to a sporting event to watch athletes perform at a high level. For me I've really been into that from a young age."

Read More:  Olympian Usain Bolt Gives Track New Meaning In Debut Reggae Album, 'Country Yutes'

Bolt understands the relationship between artists and athletes so well because he's served as both the world's fastest man and a DJ Khaled-like figure in the reggae, Afrobeats and dancehall spaces. Bolt released his album, Country Yutes , earlier this year, and similar to his track career, he has his eyes set on gold.

"I'm aiming for the top—a GRAMMY," Bolt told The Times UK .

Shaquille O'Neal aka DJ Diesel

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For a second, close your eyes and imagine moshing with Shaquille O'Neal. (There's an Icy Hot joke in there somewhere!)

Most know Shaq as the bruising force that dominated on the court for nearly two decades, then seamlessly transitioned to television once his playing career wrapped. But hidden behind his legendary basketball career and larger-than-life on-air personality is another layer of Shaq that he's been honing for decades.

"I've been doing this since '88," Shaq told SiriusXM at Lollapalooza in 2019. "When I retired in 2011, I needed another adrenaline booster."

Shaq, the four-time NBA champion and mega basketball personality, has north of 20 million followers on Instagram. DJ DIESEL, on the other hand, sits at around 239k Instagram followers and is about as underground as a tank-topped 7-foot EDM DJ can be, but despite the difference in followings, Shaq says the two worlds are linked.

"No matter what you've got going on in life, it's two things that'll stop everything you're thinking about negatively," Shaq explained in 2019. "Sports and music."

More DIESEL:  Shaquille O'Neil, A.K.A. DJ Diesel, On Lollapalooza Debut, Loving Bass Music & DJing Since '88

Damian Lillard aka Dame D.O.L.L.A.

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"I think I rap better than Shaq. I've heard Shaq's stuff," Lillard said on an episode of The Joe Budden Podcast in 2019. "I think he was viewed as Shaq, though. People was like, this Shaq. It wasn't like Shaq and Biggie. People weren't looking like this is a real rapper."

Not only did the second and third names on this list successfully transition from court to stage, but they even exchanged surprisingly entertaining diss records at one another in 2019.

"This a different era, you the past and you the past," rapped Lillard in his Shaq diss titled "Reign Reign Go Away". " Said yourself that I'm a Tesla, no longer need diesel gas. Kinda like the Cavs ain't really need Diesel ass ."

Evidenced by the nice flip of Shaq's nickname above and the four albums he's released since 2016, Dame D.O.L.L.A. has unlimited bars—much like Damian Lillard has boundless range.

Miles Bridges aka RTB MB

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If Miles Bridges wasn't 6 feet, 7 inches tall, he would genuinely fit in as one of Michigan's many upcoming rap stars.

Unlike Shaquille O'Neal and Damian Lillard—who are megastars in the basketball world—the 23-year-old Charlotte Hornet is as overlooked on the court as he is off the court. Despite falling just short of the 10 players in NBA or WNBA history to record a 50-40-90 shooting season, the masses mostly turn a blind eye to Bridges, and as a result, RTB MB can rap as unfiltered as he wants.

"Put a couple dots on his head like a snap-back," raps RTB MB on "Steph McGrady".

It also doesn't hurt that Bridges' hometown of Flint, Michigan, is about an hour away from one of the hottest areas in rap right now.

"When I was 16, I was tryna make music like Drake," Bridges told The Ringer earlier this year. "My flow has changed tremendously. I started listening to Detroit music when I was 13 or 14. Doughboyz Cashout, Team Eastside, all those guys."

Manny Pacquiao

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As the only eight-division world champion in boxing history, a senator of the Philippines, an actor in multiple films and a professional basketball player for 10 games, Manny Pacquiao is a man of many talents.

While music isn't his most obvious talent—who could say that about a man who's such a monster in the ring?—the four-time welterweight champion does sport impressive music accolades.

From charting on Billboard's Adult Contemporary chart in 2011 to releasing two certified platinum albums in his home country the Philippines, Pacquiao reached heights as an artist that even full-time musicians would applaud.

How Music Is Helping The NBA's Top Lyricists Rebound In Orlando "Bubble," At-Home Quarantines & Beyond

Michael Jackson (L) & Lionel Richie (R) at the 1986 GRAMMYs

GRAMMY Rewind: Watch Lionel Richie & Michael Jackson Win Song Of The Year For "We Are The World"

In the latest edition of GRAMMY Rewind, we revisit the night the Quincy-Jones-produced, mega-star-studded charity single won big at the 1986 GRAMMYs

On Jan. 28, 1985, 35 years ago, legendary producer Quincy Jones gathered 45 of the biggest artists of the day , including Bob Dylan , Huey Lewis and the News , Stevie Wonder and Cyndi Lauper , at A&M Studios in Los Angeles to record the now-historic charity single, "We Are The World." The goal of this one-time supergroup, USA For Africa , was to raise money for famine relief in Africa; in Ethiopia alone,  more than 1 million people had died due to hunger in the prior two years.

For the latest episode of GRAMMY Rewind , GRAMMY.com revisits the 28th GRAMMY Awards , held in Los Angeles in 1986, when the star-studded, seven-minute track, penned by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie and produced by Jones, took home Song Of The Year, along with three other big wins.

Read:  From Aretha Franklin To Public Enemy, Here's How Artists Have Amplified Social Justice Movements Through Music

"We are so proud to be a part of an industry of people that when the world is in need of helping each other, this music industry of ours responded," Richie said to his peers as he and Jackson accepted the Song Of The Year GRAMMY. "When we called, you responded, and we thank you for that."

A cultural phenomenon and major commercial success, "We Are The World" sold  more than 8 million copies   in the U.S. and raised more than $75 million for famine relief in Africa. In addition to winning the GRAMMY for Song Of The Year, it also won for Record Of The Year, Best Pop Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal and Best Music Video. The visual for the song is a joyful journey back to the big-haired '80s, giving an inside look into the famous studio session.

Watch:  GRAMMY Rewind: Watch Kendrick Lamar, U2 & Dave Chappelle Open The 2018 GRAMMYs With A Powerful Performance

The initial idea for "We Are The World" came from singer/activist/actor Harry Belafonte , who was inspired by Band Aid's 1984 charity single, " Do They Know It's Christmas ." Both singles inspired 1985's Live Aid , the first benefit concert of its size and caliber, as well as Willie Nelson 's long-running Farm Aid shows .

Ultimately, "We Are The World" showed what the influence and unity of the music industry could accomplish when it comes together for a good cause and addresses the important issues of the time.

GRAMMY Rewind: Watch Donna Summer Win Best Female R&B Vocal Performance For "Last Dance" In 1979

(L-R) Jeriel Johnson, Alexys Feaster, Elsa M, 9th Wonder, Stephanie Scarpulla, Pusha T and Von Vargas at The Recording Academy Washington D.C. Chapter's Intersection of Music & Sports event at the Kennedy Center on March 02, 2020. Photo: Paul Morigi/Getty Images

Intersection Of Sports & Music With Pusha T, 9th Wonder & NBA, MLB & NHL Reps

The Recording Academy Washington, DC Chapter gathered an elite group to explore how the two industries and cultures can work together and uplift each other

Sports and music have been kindred creative spirits for a long time. But we live in a world today where, "basketball players think they can rap, and rappers want to be ballplayers," as GRAMMY-nominated producer and Washington, DC chapter board member 9th Wonder and GRAMMY-nominated rapper Pusha T agree. No doubt, something about the creative and performance elements of both disciplines seems intrinsically connected.

To explore this synergy between the two industries, the Recording Academy Washington, DC Chapter hosted an in-depth conversation on the "Intersection of Sports & Music" at the Kennedy Center's new programming pavilion, The REACH, on March 2, 2020. Panelists for the evening included Pusha T, 9th Wonder, Stephanie Scarpulla, Director for Music and Media Clearances for both the MLB Network and NHL Network and the NBA's Senior Director of Player Development Alexys Feaster as well as broadcaster Elsa M, who served as moderator.

Jeriel Johnson, Executive Director of the Washington D.C. Chapter, opened the proceedings by invoking the legacy of Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna, who tragically died on the same day as this year's 62nd GRAMMY Awards . Johnson acknowledged how their tragic passing impacted all in attendance and made the panel "timely and relevant."

He also noted Alicia Keys honored Bryant by playing Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata" during the NBA star's memorial service. Bryant himself had learned the piece to impress his wife, Vanessa. 

In this spirit, Feaster discussed Kobe's deep ties to music as a catharsis from his significant on-court achievements. "The way athletes connect to music is authentic and often healing," Feaster said. "More than anything, athletes understand just how much discipline and support is required to master one's craft," which, to her, breeds the mutual respect between the two great industries.

Recently, as a part of his brand partnership with Adidas, Pusha T extended that connectivity and respect to another level. Pusha saw a golden opportunity to make a special moment when he was called on to aid the sneaker titan with the launch of Portland Trail Blazers star player Damian Lillard's "Dame 6" edition shoe during the 2020 All-Star Weekend. Inspired by his love for the game, Pusha went to work doing what he does best.

"Allen Iverson is my favorite athlete of all time," he started, citing a commercial AI did with rapper  Jadakiss  in 2001 where Production tandem The Trackmasters created a beat with basketball-style feel, which inspired Pusha for the "Dame 6" commercial with Lillard. " Pharrell  made the beat for my ad, though," he added.

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The ad, which was aired during the Recording Academy event, created a triumphant viral music-meets-sports moment for Adidas during All-Star Weekend.

This kind of sports-meets-music collision is happening more than ever. The MLB Network, for instance, often licenses up to 300 unique pieces of musical content per day, according to the MLB's Stephanie Scarpulla.

For her part, sync-licensing specialist Scarpulla related to just how many special moments in sports require musical soundtracking. She outlined the intensity of her music-moment-making schedule balancing both the MLB and NHL Networks, starting with the opening day of Major League Baseball's season, which roughly coincides with the close of the National Hockey League's year. From there, MLB's All-Star Game falls a scant ten weeks or so later. Plus, the NHL's offseason is when the network will roll out an entirely new slate of documentary programming. 

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Scarpulla, who has been in her job for 12 years after seven years working as a music licensing executive in the music industry, says she, "Listens to anything and everything, from everywhere" to inspire the choices for the networks, which air almost 20,000 hours a year. Initially, her choices leaned in the direction of "bro rock," which she felt matched went well with baseball and hockey. Now, the genre search has expanded to include hip-hop and up-and-surging Korean pop music, too.

Both 9th Wonder and Feaster spoke to the unique and enduring relationship that the National Basketball Association has with hip-hop music and culture. Of all the relationships between sports and music highlighted, basketball and rap seem to be the most consistently intertwined, and the sports world has started to recognize its athletes' musical interests and abilities.

Featster's favorite recent anecdote related to this crossover is how rising Sacramento Kings star Marvin Bagley III - who is also a gifted emcee - has access to a full recording studio in the Golden 1 Center, the team's home arena. This is one of the many ways both industries are seeing growth together in each other's home courts.

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"My job is to help artists and musicians become their best versions of themselves," Feaster added.

In fact, Bagley's passion for hip-hop was likely inspired by Feaster's fellow panelist, 9th Wonder. The Jamla Records head and veteran hip-hop producer is also a professor of African and African-American Studies at Duke University, where Bagley attended school (and 9th Wonder's classes) for two years until 2018.

In his opening remarks, Wonder tied the sustaining connection between hip-hop and music to the genre's mid-1970s roots, and how hip-hop started in the Bronx at the same time that the legendary Rucker street basketball tournament started in Harlem. From there, he noted that Nike's 1984 creation of the Air Jordan sneaker (and rappers cosigning both Jordan and his signature footwear) allowed for hip-hop to infiltrate the NBA ever since.

"The genre has taken over the culture," 9th Wonder says, admitting that even as the league grows more international in its appeal, it's still hip-hop that reigns supreme as an influence.

With hip-hop now five decades old, Wonder is impressed at the depth and scope of influence players find in not just modern rap, but of the appeal of the classics, too.

"When [Bagley's Sacramento Kings teammate] Jabari Parker attended Duke, we bonded over how much he loved A Tribe Called Quest , who were popular when I was his age." He continues. "And when I had Zion Williamson in my classes, we often spoke of how much he loved and was inspired by Jay-Z ." 

Through her work with the NBA and with Athletes For Obama, Feaster said she frequently discusses with players how difficult it is to feel like they "have the world's issues on their shoulders," an issue that uses both sports and music as its outlet.

By creating the best paths to sustain the development of mentally enriched and uniquely creative people, no matter which outlet they choose, we build a future where music and sports inspire people to be their best selves, and, ultimately, the culture and industry behind both worlds will also flourish.

Go-Go Given The Royal Treatment At Inaugural D.C. Block Party

Taylor Swift and Halsey perform at the 2019 American Music Awards

Photo: Jeff Kravitz/AMA2019/FilmMagic for dcp

Taylor Swift, Halsey And Tayla Parx Lead First-Ever All-Female Lineup At 2020 Capital One JamFest

The mini-fest is part of the 2020 NCAA March Madness Music Festival, a free three-day music series happening in April at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, Ga

Music and sports fans will have a lot to cheer about at this year's NCAA March Madness season. Taylor Swift ,  Halsey  and Tayla Parx are confirmed to headline the Capital One JamFest, marking the event's first-ever all-female lineup, according to the NCAA .

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As if that wasn't already enough awesome news, Capital One JamFest, a one-day mini-fest taking place Sunday, April 5, is a free concert. But, event organizers are requiring advance registration for tickets for all fans looking to attend. The general public registration for free tickets opens Thursday, March 5, at 9 a.m. ET and will be available while supplies last.

Read: BLACK GIRLS ROCK! Festival 2020: Ms. Lauryn Hill, Alice Smith, Victory Boyd & More Announced

Capital One JamFest is the closing event of the 2020 NCAA March Madness Music Festival, a free three-day music series running from April 3-5 at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, Ga. Both events lead up to the big NCAA National Championship game on Monday, April 6. Other events during the festival weekender include an AT&T Block Party on Friday, April 3, and a Coca-Cola event on Saturday, April 4. 

Previous Capital One JamFest headliners include GRAMMY winners Bruce Springsteen , Aerosmith , Dave Matthews Band , Sting and 13-time GRAMMY nominee Katy Perry , among many others. 

Breaking Down The Coachella 2020 Lineup: Rage Against The Machine, Frank Ocean, Calvin Harris & More Announced

• 1 Huey Lewis On The 40th Anniversary Of 'Sports,' Never Seeing 'American Psycho' & The Importance Of Radio
• 2 From Usain Bolt To Manny Pacquiao To Miles Bridges, 5 Professional Athletes That Successfully Made The Jump To Music
• 3 GRAMMY Rewind: Watch Lionel Richie & Michael Jackson Win Song Of The Year For "We Are The World"
• 4 Intersection Of Sports & Music With Pusha T, 9th Wonder & NBA, MLB & NHL Reps
• 5 Taylor Swift, Halsey And Tayla Parx Lead First-Ever All-Female Lineup At 2020 Capital One JamFest

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Huey Lewis & The News Sports Tour 1984 KFOG

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Sports (30th Anniversary Edition) [2013 Remaster]

“When I listen to the Sports record now, I realize it’s a record of its time,” Huey Lewis told Vampire Weekend’s Ezra Koenig on an episode of Apple Music’s Time Crisis. “It’s a collection of singles—that’s what was going on. That’s the only way you could exist.” It is tempting to say that if you looked up 1983 in the dictionary, you would find the cover of Huey Lewis & The News’ third album Sports, but that doesn’t exactly track. (Why would a year be listed in the dictionary?) Yet the absolutely hit-laden album is such a precise time capsule of the moment when the ’80s became “the ’80s” that later generations may know it best as a ubiquitous American Psycho reference. Lewis’ proudly un-hip taste (“I come from R&B, my favorite singer’s Johnny Taylor,” he says) proved to be wise counter-programming coming out of the ’70s as a new form of radio-friendly rock was taking shape. For all the album’s beer-commercial trappings, right down to the sports-bar cover art, its architect was the thirtysomething son of first-wave Marin County hippies whose idea of counterculture rebellion was to start a band with a lead saxophonist. Lewis had been playing harmonica in the Bay Area band Clover for much of the ’70s—even on Thin Lizzy’s Live and Dangerous—and by the time he formed his own band, he knew how to play the game: “We’re recording in ’81, ’82—there’s only one avenue to success and that’s radio,” he says. “That’s where you had to be to exist. There was no other way of making a living in the music business. We aimed every song at radio and [made] each one different—one kind of R&B-ish, one kind of a rock tune, one kind of a ballad—because we didn’t know which one was going to hit or what.” With two-thirds of its tracklist essentially comprising a greatest-hits collection, Sports went on to sell some 10 million copies. Among those six hits were the shout-your-city’s-name-here opener “The Heart of Rock and Roll” and the winking “I Want a New Drug,” reveling in its retro regular-guy style at a moment when MTV-driven avant-garde electro-pop was in vogue. “We knew we needed a hit,” Lewis says. “We didn’t think we were going to have six of them.”

September 15, 1983 18 Songs, 1 hour, 20 minutes A Capitol Records Release; ℗ 2013 Capitol Records, LLC

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JOHNNY COLLA RELEASES THE THIRD PART OF HIS ‘VOICES’ TRILOGY!

Johnny Colla’s VOICES ONLY!!! spotlights the amazing backing vocals from his first two releases  I HEAR VOICES! and I HEAR OTHER VOICES!! . Johnny says,  “ Over the years I’ve had so many requests from fans and musicians wanting to know how I put my BVs together, so I thought I’d finally release a sort-of ‘how-to’ that might help explain it all. “  Johnny went on to say the collection of songs also contains some ‘dribs and drabs’ that weren’t audible on the first two  Voices  releases,  “…purely for entertainment purposes! This final collection lets my amazingly talented background singers do all the talking…uh, singing!” VOICES ONLY will be available this April at  www.johnnycolla.com

Back to The News: Johnny Colla on recording “We Are the World” – Pacific Sun

Johnny Colla of Huey Lewis and the News recalls a stellar night when the musical stars aligned. Read the article in the Pacific Sun

“The Heart of Rock and Roll” Broadway Edition!

Just released! Watch the Broadway cast of “The Heart of Rock and Roll” have some fun with the title track. The video features stars Corey Cott, McKenzie Kurtz, and Tamika Lawrence.

More information and tickets at  heartofrocknrollbway.com

A Chance To Meet Huey This Wednesday in NYC!

A special Valentine’s Day event! Discount tickets to our Broadway musical, “The Heart of Rock and Roll,” and a chance to meet Huey!

• The James Earl Jones Theatre in New York City 138 West 48th Street, New York, NY
• 2/14 at 12:30 pm 

Tickets for just $19.85 (the year “Power of Love” was released). Limit 2 tickets per person.

PLUS the first 50 people in line will get to meet Huey and receive a keepsake #HeartOfRNR polaroid photo!

Huey Lewis announces cast for Broadway musical ‘The Heart of Rock and Roll’

Get ready to rock with the cast of THE HEART OF ROCK AND ROLL! The new feel-great musical comedy inspired by the chart-topping anthems of Huey Lewis and The News is coming to Broadway! Performances begin on March29. Tickets on sale now!

“The casting process has so far been the most thrilling part of creating this show. It’s all just words and notes on a page until an actor gives it life,” says Huey. “I am so grateful that this incredible company, made up of some of the world’s most talented stage performers, will be telling our story and singing our songs.”

Starring in the lead roles of Bobby and Cassandra, who Huey calls “the will-they/won’t-they couple at the center of our story,” are Corey Cott and McKenzie Kurtz . Kurtz is current starring as Glinda in Wicked , and has also appeared in Frozen and in the NBC Live production of Annie . Cott’s credits include Newsies  and parts in TV shows like Law & Order: SVU and The Good Fight.

“I know tons of Broadway fans already know just how dynamic and gifted they are, but their chemistry together is nothing short of electric,” Huey says of Cott and Kurtz.

The Heart of Rock and Roll is set in 1987 and features classic Huey hits like “Hip to Be Square” and “If This Is It.” It tells how Bobby, who gave up music to climb the corporate ladder, and his boss Cassandra, who always puts the family business first, react to getting a second shot at making their dreams come true.

Previews of the show begin at the James Earl Jones Theatre on March 29; opening night is set for April 22.

Netflix’s New Documentary ‘The Greatest Night in Pop’ Goes Behind the Scenes of 1985’s ‘We Are the World’

Netflix’s upcoming documentary ‘The Greatest Night In Pop’ features interviews with Huey Lewis, Lionel Richie, Bruce Springsteen, Cyndi Lauper & more as they recall recording the hit charity single “We Are The World” on Jan. 25, 1985. The show premieres on Netflix on January 29th! Watch the trailer.

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Huey Lewis Admits Bob Dylan Wrote Him a Song in the '80s, but He Can't Find It: 'Big Mistake'

"Note to self: when Bob Dylan sends you a song, record it," the Huey Lewis and the News frontman said

Dave Quinn is a Senior Editor for PEOPLE. He has been working at the brand since 2016, and is the author of the No. 1 New York Times best-selling book, Not All Diamonds and Rosé: The Inside Story of the Real Housewives from the People Who Lived It.

Leon Bennett/Getty Images; Kevin Mazur/WireImage

Huey Lewis doesn't have many regrets in life, but not recording a song Bob Dylan penned for him is definitely one of them.

During an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! Monday, the frontman, 73, recalled the gaff, explaining that he was sent a tune written by the legendary folk-rock singer during the heyday of Lewis' band, Huey Lewis and the News, but never acted on it.

"He sent me a cassette and a lovely note saying he liked the last record and here's a song of mine," Lewis said of the gift from Dylan, who is generally regarded as one of the greatest songwriters in the history of music.

Lewis' story got worse from there. "Not only did I not cut it, I don't know where the cassette is," he admitted.

The "I Want a New Drug" singer went on to stress that he didn't lose Dylan's song. "It's part of my cassette collection, where there's thousands of cassettes there. So I can probably find it," Lewis added.

Asked why he didn't record the song Dylan cut for him, Lewis told Kimmel , 56, "I have no idea," explaining that he "probably" played the song for his bandmates, including keyboardist Sean Hooper, drummer Bill Gibson, bassist Mario Cipollina, lead guitarist Chris Hayes, and saxophonist Johnny Colla. "I can't remember to be honest."

"It was a big mistake, what can I say? I'm sorry," said Lewis. " It was a mistake. Note to self: when Bob Dylan sends you a song, record it."

Lewis and Dylan, 82, have crossed paths in music before, both singing together on 1985's "We Are the World" as part of the starry supergroup USA for Africa.

The process of recording that chart-topping, history-making song was documented in the recent Netflix  documentary  The Greatest Night in Pop . Lewis, who gave a new interview for the film, revealed in the special that he was panicking when he was given his solo after Prince didn't show up to the session.

“So now I get Prince’s line. I mean, those are pretty big shoes to fill!” Lewis said in the doc. “From that moment on, I was nervous out of my brain.”

Dylan, meanwhile, had his own nerves when recording the song, facing a bit of stage fright when it came time to sing his solo, according to the doc. Though Quincy Jones tried to help talk him through it, Stevie Wonder was ultimately able to assuage Dylan’s nerves. After clearing the room, Wonder sang the lines while mimicking Dylan’s signature delivery to help him hear his part.

Lewis was on Jimmy Kimmel Live! to promote The Heart of Rock and Roll , the new Broadway musical built around his catalogue of hits.

The show — featuring tunes like "Do You Believe in Love," "Hip to Be Square," "If This Is It," "The Power of Love" and "Stuck with You" — begins performances on March 29 at the James Earl Jones Theatre, ahead of an April 22 opening. Tickets are now on sale .

Featuring a story by Tyler Mitchell and a book by Jonathan Abrams, the musical is directed by Gordon Greenberg. Corey Cott and McKenzie Kurtz star.

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. 

“Musical theater is probably, I think because it's the most demanding, it's also the most rewarding form of artistic expression and it's immensely collaborative,” Lewis told PEOPLE in January. “So we've been working as a group for almost a decade now on this, and very excited to see it all come together.”

Jimmy Kimmel Live! airs weekdays (11:30 p.m. ET) on ABC.

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• May 25, 1983 Setlist

Huey Lewis and the News Setlist at Agora Ballroom, West Hartford, CT, USA

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Huey Lewis and the News Gig Timeline

• May 18 1983 Richfield Coliseum Richfield, OH, USA Add time Add time
• May 24 1983 Tally Ho Wilmington, DE, USA Add time Add time
• May 25 1983 Agora Ballroom This Setlist West Hartford, CT, USA Add time Add time
• May 27 1983 Agora Ballroom New Haven, CT, USA Add time Add time
• Jul 25 1983 Saddle Rack San Jose, CA, USA Add time Add time

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Huey Lewis Lost Bob Dylan-Written Song Tape Before Recording

I n an astonishing revelation that has left both fans and the music industry abuzz, Huey Lewis disclosed a regretful oversight that, in his own words, he'll likely never forget. During a candid conversation with Jimmy Kimmel on Monday night, Lewis, the iconic frontman of Huey Lewis and the News, opened up about a significant opportunity that slipped through his fingers: a song personally penned for him by the legendary Bob Dylan.

The discussion took place against the backdrop of Lewis promoting "The Heart of Rock and Roll," a Broadway musical inspired by his band's hits. Amidst reminiscing about his storied career and memorable moments, including his participation in the historic "We Are the World" recording alongside giants like Dylan, Lewis shared a startling anecdote.

According to Lewis, Dylan, in a gesture of admiration for Lewis's last album, sent him a cassette tape containing a song he had written specifically for Huey Lewis and the News. Accompanying the tape was a heartfelt note from Dylan expressing his appreciation.

However, in an almost unfathomable turn of events, Lewis admitted, "Not only did I not cut it, I don't actually know where the cassette is."

Lost Dylan-Lewis Tape

The audience groaned in disbelief as Kimmel probed further, uncovering that the tape was lost among thousands of others in Lewis's vast collection.

Though Lewis suggested the possibility of finding it eventually, the moment underscores a poignant "what could have been" in music history. Kimmel humorously proposed that Lewis should endeavor to locate the cassette and include the song in his musical, adding a layer of intrigue to the show slated to premiere in New York City at the end of March.

Bob Dylan, a luminary in the realm of songwriting, has garnered accolades including 10 Grammy Awards and the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2016 for his profound lyrical contributions to American music. His enduring impact on music and culture, paired with his distinctive poetic expression, makes the lost song not just a missed opportunity for Lewis but a lost artifact of musical history.

Reflecting on the incident, Lewis expressed regret over not recording the song and humorously noted, "Note to self: when Bob Dylan sends you a song, record it." This candid admission has sparked widespread conversation, leaving many to wonder about the potential collaboration that never came to fruition between two of music's most influential figures.

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