A few weeks ago we got pretty excited when we learned that Huey Lewis & The News would be playing Fenway Park this summer, so this news is a bummer on several levels — the band has cancelled all its live appearances this year as frontman Huey Lewis deals with hearing loss.
Lewis made the announcement Friday afternoon (April 13) via Twitter, where he states that doctors believe he has developed Meniere’s Disease. The Mayo Clinic defines Meniere’s as “a disorder of the inner ear that causes episodes in which you feel as if you’re spinning (vertigo), and you have fluctuating hearing loss with a progressive, ultimately permanent loss of hearing, ringing in the ear (tinnitus), and sometimes a feeling of fullness or pressure in your ear.”
Lewis, who has enjoyed a career that has lasted decades in the music business, says he first began experiencing symptoms before a recent show in Dallas.
“Although I can still hear a little, one on one and on the phone, I can’t hear music well enough to sing,” Lewis writes. “The lower frequencies distort violently making it impossible to find pitch… The doctors believe I have Meniere’s Disease and have agreed that I can’t perform until I improve.”
Huey Lewis & The News were set to play Fenway Park with Jimmy Buffett on August 9, and were also scheduled to play San Francisco festival Outside Lands on the weekend of August 10 to 12.
Read his full statement below. Featured image via Live Nation.
Huey Lewis and The News cancel all 2018 performances. See attached note from Huey. pic.twitter.com/FbWqDlGwnR
— Huey Lewis (@Huey_Lewis_News) April 13, 2018