Huey Lewis and the News morphed from a San Francisco-based band called Clover, formed in 1967, which eventually included Lewis on harmonica and Sean Hopper on keyboards. The group (which also contained guitarist John McFee, who would later leave to join the Doobie Brothers) relocated to London at the urging of producer/artist Nick Lowe, who felt they would fit in perfectly with the U.K. pub scene. Members of Clover would also go on to be the backing band on the first Elvis Costello album, My Aim Is True.
When Clover released two albums and failed to chart a hit, they split with Hopper and Lewis, returning to San Francisco to form the band that would eventually become the News. The group recorded a handful of demos with the help of Mutt Lange and signed with Chrysalis Records, who suggested the name Huey Lewis and the News. The band would go on to have some big hits and become darlings of the MTV programmers.