Beginning on upright bass at the tender age of seven, and turning to the electric at thirteen Mario draws his inspiration from classical music (his personal preference), Frank Zappa, Chick Corea, Led Zeppelin, Captain Beefheart, and Miles Davis. Ron played with different bands around the Bay Area and also taught some lucky music students privately. Like Clover, Soundhole had spent time backing singer Van Morrison. "You don't get to meet all those people in a lifetime or a career. Click to reveal You decide! At the tender age of 13, he went east to boarding school at the Lawrenceville School in New Jersey, where he began to play the harmonica After graduating, he hitch-hiked throughout western Europe playing his harmonica for a year, and then attended Cornell University for a year and a half, where he played in bands, and went to some classes. One song, "Perfect World," reached number three on the pop charts, but the album was significantly less successful than Sports. "Well, our first album didn't do anything," Lewis said during a 2013 Rolling Stone interview. Al Schmitt, multi Grammy award winning sound engineer, has singled out Johnnie as having one of the best baritone sax tones Ive ever recorded.. 2023 FOX News Network, LLC. "It was really a record for its time," Huey Lewis told Billboard. A few years later they took it all the way to the top when they evolved into Huey Lewis and the News. Usually it's only bad for a week. Huey Lewis and the News is the debut album by American rock band Huey Lewis and the News, released in 1980. The song is about women, not drugs, according to Song Facts. Huey Lewis & The News 1980 press shot (Art: Ron Hart) The band that would eventually gain fame under the name Huey Lewis and the News evolved out of a Bay Area band called Clover, a group that initially made its mark within the pub rock scene in the U.K. During a 1984 interview withRolling 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. "It was unbelievable," he said. For their debut album, see, Last edited on 19 December 2022, at 00:48, Learn how and when to remove this template message, Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal, List of artists who reached number one in the United States, List of artists who reached number one on the U.S. dance chart, List of bands from the San Francisco Bay Area, List of number-one dance hits (United States), "Huey Lewis and the News find it's still 'Hip to be Square', "Huey Lewis and The News Prep First Album of New Songs in 18 Years", "To Get His News on the Air, Rocker Huey Lewis Had to Wait for a Commercial Break", "Live Aid 1985: The Day the World Rocked", "Live Aid: Bob Geldof's Original Response to SPIN's 1986 Expos", "Huey Lewis & the News Small World Review", "Ron Stallings, prominent saxophonist, dies", "Seth Rogen Brings Huey Lewis Aboard Pineapple Express", "Huey Lewis and the News at Ardent Studios", "Huey Lewis and the News Cancel 2018 Shows Due to Singer's Hearing Loss". The single, "Exodisco" (a disco version of the theme from the film Exodus) was largely ignored. The band has sold over an estimated 30 million records worldwide, according to an interview with Johnny Colla in 2006. But it was a different story when it came to the soundtrack. Why did Mario Cipollina leave Huey Lewis? Most recognized for his tenure as the brooding bassist who anchored Huey Lewis & The News during their 1980s platinum run, Mario Cipollina also plied his craft quite impressively with his brother John for Quicksilver Messenger Service, Robert Hunter, Jonathan Cain, Tony Williams Lifetime (The Joy of Flying), Johnny Nitro, Bill Champlin, Nick Lowe & His Cowboy Outfit, and Melvin Seals, among others. Without Lewis, they eventually became the backing band for Elvis Costello's first album My Aim Is True. Their most successful album, Sports, was released in 1983. Although he cant make more music, the old hits are still playing. I'm just totally in awe of Ray Charles." [16][17] They would continue to tour regularly, playing around 70 dates a year, until 2018, when the band halted all touring after it was revealed that Lewis had Mnire's disease, an inner ear disorder. Cipollina was the original bassist for Huey Lewis and the News when it first came together more than 26 years ago for Monday night jam sessions at a Corte Madera nightclub. ", Huey Lewis and the News wrote "The Power of Love" and "Back in Time" for the film Back to the Future. He moved back to the Bay Area in 1969, aiming to make music, which he did while supporting himself as a landscaper and carpenter, among other jobs. At a generous 21 tracks, Greatest Hits is not only five songs longer than Time Flies, but it's a better-chosen collection, too. The band was very deliberate with its song choices by the time it made its third album. [2], Huey Lewis and the News Picture This Sports Fore! DRUMS, PERCUSSION, VOCALS Bill Gibson was born in Sacramento, California and began playing music last century at the ripe old age of 7. Fore! Lewis later told Questlove (via UltimatePrince.com) that it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. He also writes about the cannabis industry, outdoor adventure, Native American issues and the culture of the West. He has the nickname of 'Bad Boy' and formed half of a distinguished Bay Area rock and roll brother act, with John Cipollina, (who passed away in 1989.) Chris comes from a musical family, but as Huey says, hes the pick of the litter! His sister, Bonnie Hayes, is a celebrated Bay Area singer-songwriter and band leader and brother Kevin Hayes, who sometimes jams with Bonnie too, plays drums with the Robert Cray Band. After living in Houston, Texas until age 8, Rons family then settled in San Francisco, California. Huey Lewis and the News/HULEX Corp. All Rights Reserved. In 1971, Cregg hooked up with one of the Bay Area's better-known bands, Clover. Background. He was the oldest of two sons, his brother living in Los Angeles. But, I mean, really bad, where I'm almost deaf. On February 14, 2020, as Harrah became the band's new rhythm guitarist, they released Weather (their first studio album of new songs since Plan B),[19] which contains songs the band recorded prior to Lewis's hearing loss.[20][21]. The young Stef started to play in bands when he was still in elementary school. GUITAR, VOCALS Born in Oakland, California, Stef Burns grew up in neighboring Walnut Creek. He is equally comfortable performing with blues, jazz and rock bands, and blends the genres effortlessly. Title . These arent the only Hayes siblings, Chris is the oldest male of seven children! 39 How do you spell IPE? Legal Statement. He brings the honesty of the blues to jazz, and the swing and melodic conception of Jazz to blues music, without compromising the essence of either. Six-thousand or so gigs later, he still loves his job. No content on this website is to be used with out express written consent from Hulex Corp.Powered by PDI DESIGN, New Weather e-Book Available Exclusively to NEWS-letter Subscribers. In 1984, Ray Parker Jr. was signed by the producers of Ghostbusters to develop the film's eponymous title song. 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. GUITAR, VOCALS Christopher John Hayes was born November 24, 1957 in Sacramento, California. Most recognized for his tenure as the brooding bassist who anchored Huey Lewis & The News during their 1980s platinum run, Mario Cipollina also plied his craft quite impressively with his brother John for Quicksilver Messenger Service, Robert Hunter, Jonathan Cain, Tony Williams Lifetime (The Joy of Flying), Johnny Nitro, Bill Champlin, Nick . He is the brother of the late 1989 guitarist of Quicksilver Messenger Service , John Cipollina . "We produced the second album ourselves and kind of broke even." Email. [citation needed]. Chris Hayes: We had a lot of good times together. He explained, "It's like, am I tired of holding the best lotto ticket or the best thing to ever happen? Both musicians founded the group Huey Lewis and the American Express in 1979 together with Huey Lewis , Sean Hopper and Bill Gibson . He hitchhiked through Europe and was the son of beatniks, for example. Don't miss this exclusive interview with the iconic Mario Cipollina.Thanks for listening. His band was working on a new album, and Lewis was also planning a musical he hoped would hit Broadway. Jun 16, 2012. Huey Lewis and the News was peaking in popularity when it opened up on tour with .38 Special in 1984. Years later, Lewis was able to chuckle about the incident, but it was probably tough to hear such criticism at the time. He added, "We thought it would be kind of a nice inside joke you know, if we were uncredited and sort of disguised.". The Broadway productions hes played in SF include, Jersey Boys, Saturday Night Fever, Book of Mormon, Anything Goes, Spamalot, Motown the Musical, In the Heights, Pippin, Anastasia, Wizard of OZ, American in Paris, Drowsey Chaperone, Something Rotten, Bronx, Tale, Aladdin, Color Purple, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Miss Saigon, Les Miz. In 2002 Mario was quoted in the San Jose Mercury News, that his passion in life is to play music. He told Entertainment Weekly in 2016 that he never got tired when people said to him, 'Who you gonna call?" Sound Hole disbanded in 1976 and Bill started to play with legendary San Francisco bassist Jack Casady, Nick Buck, and Brian Marnell in a punk band called SVT. Huey Lewis & the News had a string of hits in the 1980s, including "The Power of Love" and "I Want a New Drug.". The band returned to the Bay Area by the end of the 1970s. He reports that there are 129 miles of on-street bikeways and 97 miles of off-street bikeways in the city alone. Mario was also a member of The Novato Frank Band (whom he recorded with) as well as a member of Terry and the Pirates. Facebook gives people the power to share and makes the world more open and connected. Bassist Mario Cipollina left the band in 1995, and was replaced by John Pierce. (1986. Wanting to be a Saxophone player, his elementary school band teacher gave him a clarinet to become familiar with the mouthpiece. In 2018, Huey Lewis was diagnosed with an inner-ear disorder known as Meniere's disease. The dispute was ultimately settled out of court. It was during this time, while working with Boz on the album Middle Man record producer/ engineer Bill Schnee introduced John to the band Pablo Cruise. The filmmakers then gave film footage with the Huey Lewis song in the background to Ray Parker Jr., to aid Parker in writing the theme song.[24]. We learned how to improvise together. Huey still manages to have the crowd on their feet and sounds absolutely the same as he always does.. 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. Their song " The Power of Love " is featured in Rock Band 3 . What kind of hearing loss does Huey Lewis have? Mario Cipollina was born on November 10, 1954 in San Rafael, California, USA as Mario Carlo Cipollina. 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. [25] As a result, Koch Records were forced to recall and destroy approximately 100,000 copies of the album. 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