Huey Lewis has been dealing with severe hearing loss for the past two years, but you wouldn't know that from the latest full-length album, Weather, from his band, Huey Lewis & the News.
While Lewis is reluctant to tour again on account of his advancing battle with Ménière's disease, the hit-maker was in good spirits Tuesday speaking to 710 WOR New York's Len Berman and Michael Riedel in the Morning about the new album and his health.
Lewis was still able to sing on Weather on account of his "episodic" hearing issue (he has good days and bad), but he says he might never tour again and this might be his last album. He tells Berman and Riedel that he's at peace with his career and his new lifestyle.
"It is sad, and it was devastating for the first couple months, but first of all, you can get used to almost anything," Lewis says. "I had to remind myself that there's lots and lots of people who are much worse off than I am. I'm still a lucky guy, I have lots of stuff to be grateful for, and it's sometimes hard, but it's important to realize that."
Weather is Lewis & the News' first album of new material in 20 years, a collection of songs the band has been working on over the past decade. The resulting LP is a satisfying helping of the same R&B-driven pop that helped the News rule the charts in the '80s.
When Riedel asked if Lewis could take any inspiration from the famously deaf master composer Ludwig van Beethoven, Lewis joked, "He didn't have any hits (laughs)."
Though not being able to tour has been a blow to Lewis, he said the "silver lining" is that he's been able to focus on his band's musical, The Heart of Rock and Roll, which is coming to Broadway next season.
"I love that world [of live theater] myself," Lewis added. "The people are at once talented, funny, smart and sweet and generous and just a lot of fun to be with."
Listen to the full interview via iHeartRadio in the player above.
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