Photo of Huey Lewis and the News
In a recent interview, pop legend Huey Lewis described how he considered killing himself after being diagnosed with Ménière’s disease, which left him with severe hearing loss.
Lewis first experienced symptoms of the disease, which also causes tinnitus and vertigo, during a performance in March of last year, and it has only gotten worse. He says that, while he can hear speech with great difficulty, he cannot hear music at all.
This, understandably, made him depressed.
While talking with the Whitefish Review, Lewis said, “In the first two months [after the diagnosis], I was suicidal. I can honestly share that with you. I thought, s—, I’m just going to commit suicide. I actually contemplated my demise. You know, like pills. I figured pills were the easiest way to go. I mean, would I have? I don’t know.”
Lewis further said that his fans have helped him get through this difficult period in his life.
“The fans have been amazing,” he said. “The support I get from people, ordinary people, is amazing. Because when you do this, you don’t think about that. You do it because you’re just writing a song. You’re having fun, and you don’t realize you’re affecting people’s lives. And I get these letters from people who have cancer or they’re debilitated somehow or have life-threatening stuff going on. I was always going so fast, I would never take a chance to really appreciate what that means.”
In spite of Lewis’ disease, he and his band early next year will release their first new album in nearly 20 years called Weather, which features tracks mostly recorded before the onset of Lewis’ disease. The first single from the album, entitled “While We’re Young,” is already available.
Lewis made news last week when he was one of a number of 80s artists 17-year-old singer Billie Eilish could not name when quizzed by Jimmy Kimmel.