Huey Lewis & The News

Even at the height of their popularity, Huey Lewis & The News projected a sense of down-to-earth fun that set them apart from the bigger-than-life pop stars who dominated the ’80s. Formed in 1979 from the ashes of Bay Area bands Soundhole and Clover (the latter of which famously backed up Elvis Costello on My Aim Is True), The News seemed like the kind of guys with whom you could knock back a pint at the pub. This quality was played up in both their cover art (as in the bar scene gracing 1983’s septuple-platinum Sports) and their music videos, which MTV aired constantly. But personality doesn’t make hit records; ace musicians do—and what made Lewis and crew such a commercial force was a talent for wrapping vintage rhythm ’n’ blues in a modern sound that, while not New Wave, reflected the genre’s punchy aesthetic. Signing with Chrysalis shortly after their formation, the crack unit rattled off one smash after another, including “I Want a New Drug,” “The Heart of Rock and Roll,” and “Heart and Soul.” By the middle of the decade, the group had leaned even harder into pure pop, producing the chart-topping “The Power of Love” (featured on the Back to the Future soundtrack) and “Hip to Be Square” (later immortalized in the edgy satire American Psycho). As the ’90s gave way to the ’00s, the band’s schedule slowed down, as Lewis, whose charisma is as on point as his harmonica playing, racked up a string of movie and television appearances. Still, they’ve continued to drop stellar sets like 2010’s Soulsville (a tribute to Stax) and 2020’s Weather, which find them embracing the gritty soulfulness that has always been at the core of their music. Since 2020, Lewis has hosted '80s Radio with Huey Lewis on Apple Music Hits.