New Hobby Helps Huey Lewis Deal With the End of His Music Career

Huey Lewis confirmed that music was no longer part of his life, eight years after losing his hearing to Meniere’s disease.

He’d lost the use of his right ear in the ‘90s, but when his left ear shut down in 2018, it marked the end of the singer’s career.

In a recent episode of Inside of You, Lewis explained how much his life had changed since then, and agreed that there was always hope for medical and technological advances that might help him.

Explaining how he dealt with his first hearing failure, Lewis said: “My dad was a doctor and he sent me to this famous ENT guy… He looked at it and said, ‘Well, get used to it!’ I said, ‘What do you mean, “get used to it?” I’m a musician; I’m a singer. I need my hearing!’

“He says, ‘You only need one ear … Jimi Hendrix had one ear, Brian Wilson had one ear. I have one ear and I’m in a barbershop quartet!’”

Lewis recalled being worried about his first stage show with 50 percent hearing, especially about how his in-ear monitors would affect him. “I was very apprehensive – and it was fine, because your brain is so savvy that it moves everything to the middle.

“So I existed on one ear for, you know, 25 years. And then my left ear bailed; and now I’m deaf, basically, without the technology.”

He has a cochlear implant in his left ear and a regular hearing aid in the right, which are compatible with phones and computers. “What has that done? Well, changed my life,” he said. “Music is not part of my life anymore. It’s a hard pill to swallow.”

He explained that the technology distorts human speech so “people sound like they took a hit of helium,” and music doesn’t translate in a way he can enjoy. “Sometimes I play [an album] because I know it so well. I can hear the beat and I know what’s going on, but I can’t enjoy it.

“Music used to be fun. Now [it’s like] ‘I’m gonna try so hard to get it,’ and it just ends up frustrating for me… I can’t feel the warmth, you know?”

Lewis confirmed the situation had caused depressive episodes, particularly in the first six months of diagnosis, and he lamented his inability to perform concerts. “My bass player, John Pierce, is playing with Toto now, and they’re just killing it out there… and I gotta say, God, I wish –– I’d like to do that!”

He went on to explain how the discovery of fishing had helped, saying it felt like he’s “conducting nature” in the wilderness. “The thing that’s nice about [the situation] is, if I had hearing I’d still be on the road, probably… and I don’t miss that.

Huey Lewis Misses Playing Shows – But He Doesn’t Miss Touring

“I miss [doing] a show once in a while; I miss the camaraderie of the fellas and the circus-like thing that it is. But, man, I’ve fished so many great places and had so many great experiences and met all kinds of different people… So I gotta look at the positive.”

Asked what developments might be possible in the near future, Lewis said: “This Meniere’s thing, they don’t know anything about; but that would be nice to treat if they can figure that out.

“What they do have on the horizon is one of these cochlear implants that’s all internal … It lives inside your skin and you put a thing on your each to charge it every once in a while.
“It means you can swim, you can sleep at night – you see, I have to take all my stuff out to sleep at night. And so I’m deaf at night. If there’s a fire I’m in trouble!”