Huey Lewis and the News play Monday at Jesse Hall
COLUMBIA — Huey Lewis and the News, a popular 1980s rock band and the musical force behind the “Back to the Future” theme song, will perform Monday night in Jesse Auditorium.
Their performance kicks off the 2009-2010 University of Missouri Concert series.
Known for top-of-the-chart hits such as “I Want a New Drug,” “If This Is It” and “The Power of Love,” the San Francisco-based band is expected to draw many of their longtime followers. But some of the concertgoers will be more recent fans.
“I’ve been listening to them since I was little. My parents are from the Bay Area, and Huey Lewis and the News are really big there,” said Kacie Yearout, an MU freshman.
Huey Lewis and the News came together in 1979 as a collaboration between the Clover and Soundhole, two competitive bands from the Bay Area. With the release of its third album, “Sports,” the band gained considerable MTV airtime and Billboard success.
“I remember watching their videos on MTV,” said Nick Soha, store manager of Streetside Records. “I was still kind of young, but my older sister had all of their albums. They were huge.”
In 1985, the band wrote two songs for Robert Zemeckis’s science-fiction comedy, “Back to the Future.” Huey Lewis had a role in the film as a teacher who rejects a high school band’s song as “too darn loud.” That song was the Academy Award-nominated “The Power of Love.”
“‘The Power of Love’ is one of their greatest hits,” Soha said. “Writing that song really made Huey Lewis and the News even more memorable.”
Besides “Back to the Future,” the band also recorded “Once Upon a Time in New York City” for the 1988 Disney animation “Oliver and Company.”
In 2000, Lewis starred opposite Gwyneth Paltrow in the offbeat comedy “Duets.” Huey Lewis and the News also wrote a theme song for the 2008 comedy “Pineapple Express.”
“Monday night will be a great time for anyone who loves Huey and his band,” said Mike Dunn, director of the University of Missouri Concert Series. “They are really a musician’s musicians. I believe they even perform a cappella for part of the show.”