Huey Lewis' Broadway endeavor is helping him overcome his darkest time.
After permanent hearing loss left him "devastated and depressed," Lewis' music is getting its time in the spotlight with a new Broadway musical, The Heart of Rock & Roll. Using his music to tell the story, the production features hits like "Power of Love" and "If This Is It," similar to ABBA's Mamma Mia.
Days before the production opens on Broadway, Lewis has revealed that while he may never fully recover from the devastating loss, he has found "salvation" with the new production.
"Therapeutic might be the wrong word because 'therapeutic' implies you get better," he said on Good Morning America. "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."
In 2018, Lewis was diagnosed with Ménière's disease, a lifelong condition in the inner ear that can lead to vertigo and hearing loss. Due to his loss of sound, Lewis was no longer able to sing with his band, causing Huey Lewis and the News to cancel their remaining tour dates that year.
Since he was used to "Workin' For a Livin'" by touring his beloved catalog of hits, he tells Whitefish Review that the new illness "ruined everything," leading him into a dark era of depression.
"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."
As the incurable disease may never leave Lewis, he is not letting it define him. He has funneled his creative abilities into the new production amid his "lousy hearing." While the musical opens on April 23, fans should not expect Lewis to jump onstage with the cast for a surprise performance any time soon.
"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," he told Rolling Stone.
The life stories of artists like Michael Jackson, Neil Diamond, Cher, and Tina Turner have all gotten the stage treatment in recent years. While this musical uses Lewis' music, it is not a Broadway re-telling of his life story, but does include "lots of parallels" to his life.
"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."
The musical does feature a new song from Lewis, "Be Someone," which he wrote by sending voice memos to bandmate Johnny Colla and the Broadway show's musical director, Brian Usifer.
Since fans may never get to see Lewis back on stage, he has given some tips to the musical's leading man, Corey Cott. He contributed to "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."
As the legendary singer weighs his options about potential hearing cures like a cochlear implant, his rocker legacy is living on in the The Heart of Rock And Roll, running on Broadway at the James Earl Jones Theatre.
SUICIDE: If you or someone you know is considering suicide, please contact the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline by dialing 988, text "STRENGTH" to the Crisis Text Line at 741741 or go to 988lifeline.org.
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