Is Huey Lewis OK? Musician reveals he went into depression after 'devastating' hearing loss: 'It just sounds like noise'
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Huey Lewis struggled a lot after losing his hearing ability! The musician recently told Page Six that he can’t even hear the music anymore since his diagnosis a few years ago. “It’s cacophony for me. It just sounds like noise,” the singer — who fronted the enormously popular ’80s band ‘Huey Lewis and the News.’
The 73-year-old explained that listening to music is more difficult than speech, “It occurs in all frequencies with harmonics and other things and what happens with my particular hearing loss, is not only is it hearing loss, but it ends distortion to the bottom end.” The ‘Stuck with You’ singer lost his ability to hear after it was established that he has an inner ear disorder, Meniere’s disease.
Is Huey Lewis OK?
Huey Lewis, the popular singer of the 80s had a hard time coming to terms with his hearing disorder. The star was at the peak of success when he was diagnosed with Meniere’s disease which began in the right ear. According to Hopkins Medicine, “Meniere disease is a balance disorder. It’s caused by an abnormality in part of the inner ear called the labyrinth. Fluid build-up here can cause a severe spinning sensation (vertigo) and affect the hearing.”
The ‘Back in Time’ crooner shared, “I was freaked out.” He added that his ENT doctor tried to calm him down by naming a few of the other musicians who faced hearing issues, “He said, ‘Jimi Hendrix had one ear, Brian Wilson had one ear, I have one ear and I’m in a barbershop quartet. '” Lewis said, “When he said, ‘You only need one,’ he was right. You can do pretty much anything with one ear.” The ‘Power of Love’ singer finally lost his left ear hearing in 2017. “It was devastating at first. I pretty much laid in bed for six months. I worried, I panicked.”
'I slowly improved'
Lewis tried whatever he could, which included holistic treatments, chiropractors, acupuncture, and changing his diet in the hope to get back his lost hearing. “I was in a real depression. I lost 20 pounds. I pretty much stayed in bed, but I have two great children and they wouldn’t stand for it basically, and I slowly improved.”
The Grammy winner told the outlet, “There’s a lot of people out there much worse off than I am and it’s very important for me to realize that. My life is not as great as it used to be but it’s still better than most.”