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Huey Lewis and the News - one of America's most popular bands of the mid-1980's - rocketed to stardom with their catchy, crowd-pleasing combination of British pub rock, R&B, and rock.

Lewis was born Hugh Anthony Cregg III in New York City and grew up in Marin County. In 1967, before beginning college at Cornell, Lewis traveled in Europe and learned to play the harmonica. After leaving Cornell, Lewis moved to San Francisco and joined the country-rock band Clover in 1971, along with keyboardist Sean Hopper. He changed his name to Huey Louie after Donald Duck's nephews (which became "Huey Lewis").

On the urging of Nick Lowe, Clover relocated to England in 1976 to try their sound on the U.K.'s pub rock scene. Lowe produced the group's first single, "Chicken Funk," and, the following year, the band, minus Lewis, supported Elvis Costello on his debut album, My Aim Is True. Polygram released two Clover albums but when the band's leader, John McFee, left to join the Doobie Brothers, the band broke up and returned to California.

Lewis and Hopper began jamming at a Marin County bar called Uncle Charlies, where they formed American Express with Mario Cipollina (bass), Johnny Colla (saxophone, guitar) and Bill Gibson (drums), who had all played in one of Van Morrison's backing bands. In 1980, the group added lead guitarist Chris Hayes and were offered a contract by Chrysalis who requested that the band change their name. The members chose Huey Lewis & the News and released their debut album later that year.

In 1982, Picture This, the group's second album, became a hit on the strength of the Top Ten single "Do You Believe in Love." Released in 1983, the group's third album, Sports, was a multi-platinum success. "Heart and Soul," "I Want a New Drug," "The Heart of Rock & Roll," and "If This Is It" all became Top Ten hits, and Sports climbed to number one in 1984, selling over seven million copies. The group was also awarded a Grammy for Best Video/Long Form for "The Heart of Rock and Roll." The News had their first number one single in 1985 with "The Power of Love," which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Song from the soundtrack to Back to the Future.

In 1986, the group's fourth album, Fore!, featured five Top Ten singles: "Stuck With You." "Hip to Be Square," "Jacob's Ladder," "I Know What I Like," and "Doing It All for My Baby." 1988's release, Small World, produced the Top Ten hit "Perfect World." Three years later they followed up with Hard at Play, which was released on their new label, EMI. The group released the covers album Four Chords & Several Years Ago in 1994 on Elektra which included the hit, "But It's Alright."

In addition to performing and touring with the News, Lewis has made appearances in several movies, including Back to the Future, Shortcuts, and Duets, which featured the hit duet "Cruisin'" with Gwyneth Paltrow. Lewis also recently made his Broadway debut as lawyer Billy Flynn in the musical Chicago.