Huey Lewis has canceled all of his 2018 performances after revealing he's suffering from severe hearing loss that doctors believe was caused by Meniere’s disease, an inner ear disorder.
The 67-year-old singer, who with his band, Huey Lewis and the News, scored a string of 1980s hits including "The Power of Love," "I Want a New Drug" and "Heart and Soul," shared the update Friday in a candid letter to fans.
"Two and a half months ago, just before a show in Dallas, I lost most of my hearing. Although I can still hear a little, one on one, and on the phone, I can't hear music well enough to sing," Lewis wrote. "The lower frequencies distort violently, making it impossible to find pitch."
The singer revealed that he had visited several medical institutions, including the Mayo Clinic, and that doctors believe he has Meniere’s disease, a disorder of the inner ear that causes vertigo and tinnitus.
According to the Mayo Clinic website, the disease "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." In some cases, the disease's symptoms have been known to subside.
"Needless to say, I feel horrible about this," Lewis wrote in his letter, "and wish to sincerely apologize to all the fans who've already bought tickets and were planning to come see us."
He also assured fans he was thinking optimistically about the future.
"I'm going to concentrate on getting better," he wrote, "and hope that one day soon I'll be able to perform again."