Huey Lewis Says Upcoming Broadway Show is His ‘Salvation’ Following Hearing Loss (Exclusive)

Huey Lewis opens up about his upcoming Broadway show.

Speaking at the premiere of the Netflix documentary The biggest night in pop on Monday, Lewis, 73, revealed this exclusively to PEOPLE The heart of rock and roll – which opens on April 22 – was his “salvation” after losing his hearing.

“Well, we’re very excited. We’ve been working on it for a long time,” the singer-songwriter tells PEOPLE in Los Angeles. “I lost my hearing seven years ago, so I can’t sing or perform, but I can do this. And man, it’s been a lifesaver for me personally and I’m really happy.”

Lewis was diagnosed with Meniere’s disease after hearing a sudden roar that no one else heard backstage at a private performance in Dallas in 2018. The condition affects the inner ear and causes dizziness and hearing loss.

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Huey Lewis at the premiere of “The Greatest Night in Pop”.

Charley Gallay/Getty Images

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“Musical theater is probably, I think, because it’s the most demanding, at the same time, the most rewarding form of artistic expression and it’s immensely collaborative,” he adds to PEOPLE. “So we’ve been working as a group on this for almost a decade now, and we’re really excited to see it all come together.”

Lewis, who sang on the 1985 charity single “We Are The World,” also told PEOPLE what it was like to feature on the song with fellow stars like Lionel Richie, Michael Jackson and Stevie Wonder.

“Well, obviously I was nervous,” Lewis tells PEOPLE. “And one thing I remember, which is interesting, is that they wanted to do the lead vocal in one pass mostly because there were, I think, five microphones and they wanted to gradually turn one up while gradually turning the other down so that the ambience of the room matched and everything .”

Huey Lewis and Lionel Richie at the premiere of “The Greatest Night In Pop”.

Gilbert Flores/Variety via Getty Images

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He adds, “and so the first time Lionel sings, ‘The time is coming,’ and then somebody messed up, I guess it was the first time Stevie Wonder did it.”

“So they came back and did it again. And then Stevie Wonder messed up a little bit, playfully,” explains Lewis. “Then they did it a third time. Then they got all the way to Al Jarreau and he was screwing up a bit, messing up. So they start over.”

The musician tells PEOPLE that he then asked the sound engineer, “‘Hey, Humberto, the next time someone messes up, can you let them go all the way through so I can practice my line?’ ”

“We never had to practice on the line in that thing. And Michael was so sweet, he said, ‘That’s a good idea,'” adds Lewis.

Speaking about his and Jackson’s friendship after the song, Lewis adds, “We exchanged messages once or twice. He congratulated me on my next record.”

“And I got a message from Bob Dylan that I’ll treasure for the rest of my life,” he continues. “He sent me a wonderful message from Bob Dylan. It was a special night.”

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Source: HIS Education