Powered by hits like "Heart and Soul," "I Want a New Drug," "The Heart of Rock & Roll," and "If This Is It," the album eventually sold more than 10 million copies in the United States alone. Two years later, "The Power of Love" helped turn Back to the Future into a cultural phenomenon, cementing Huey Lewis as one of the most recognizable stars of the MTV era.
Long before he topped the charts, Lewis was hitchhiking across Europe with little more than a harmonica. He busked on street corners in Spain, earning enough money to continue traveling, and later recalled learning to play while waiting for rides across America.
His first major band, Clover, found only modest success, though it led to memorable collaborations with artists like Nick Lowe and Elvis Costello. Lewis later joked in a 2013 interview with Rolling Stone that on Costello's debut album, "All the harmonica that isn't on the Elvis Costello record was played by me."
"We knew we had to have a hit," Lewis told Rolling Stone. "There was only one avenue to success, and that was to have a hit record."
The gamble paid off. Sports produced four Top 10 singles, reached No. 1 on the Billboard album chart and became one of the best-selling albums of the 1980s. It transformed the band into arena headliners and made Lewis one of the decade's biggest stars.
'Back to the Future' Took Things to Another Level
That film was Back to the Future and it introduced millions to "The Power of Love," which became Lewis's first No. 1 hit. He also wrote "Back in Time" for the film and made a memorable cameo as the school official who rejects Marty McFly's band by declaring they are "just too darn loud."
Facing Life's Toughest Challenge
In 2018, Lewis announced that he had been diagnosed with Ménière's disease and could no longer hear well enough to perform.
Rather than shelving the songs the band had already recorded, they released the EP Weather.
Lewis has remained candid about the realities of hearing loss. Although a cochlear implant later restored enough hearing for conversation, he has acknowledged that he is unlikely to perform music ever again.
On his 76th birthday, it's worth remembering that while Huey Lewis may never have been critics' favorite frontman, he became something arguably more important: the voice behind some of the most joyful, enduring and instantly memorable songs of the rock era.
Related: Michael J. Fox Reveals Surprising Rock Legends Who Picked Up Guitar After 'Back to the Future' (Exclusive)
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