When Huey Lewis & The News released “Stuck With You” in July 1986, they were riding the momentum of Sports and fresh off a blockbuster soundtrack hit with “The Power of Love.” The new single was a sunnier, more romantic affair: Lewis and guitarist Chris Hayes built it around a simple idea—love that lasts, even when it feels like you’re “stuck” together. Hayes later admitted he borrowed some of the song’s structure from Donald Fagen’s I.G.Y., while Lewis confessed the inspiration came from a real woman who, ironically, didn’t like the track at all once she heard it.
Listeners disagreed. Within weeks, “Stuck With You” shot to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 and stayed there for three weeks, the band’s second U.S. No. 1. Abroad, it climbed as high as No. 2 in Australia, cracked the Top 10 in Canada and New Zealand, and reached No. 12 in the UK. Critics called it a “romantic pop song” (Cash Box) with “street-corner harmonies” (Billboard), and its breezy hook turned it into a fixture of late-’80s radio.
The music video helped seal the deal. Shot in the Bahamas by director Edd Griles, it plays like a mini-romantic comedy, with Lewis and model Keely Shaye Smith stranded together on a tiny island. The production leaned into the tropical fantasy—underwater dives, aerial shots, even an island cookout staged from a barge so the frame stayed pristine. Costume designer Bambi Breakstone, fresh from Miami Vice, brought a splash of style, and Smith’s easy chemistry with Lewis gave the video a warm center. MTV rotated it heavily, and it became as closely tied to the song’s identity as the chorus itself.
The single was packaged in several formats, the basic 7-inch pairing “Stuck With You” with a remix of “Don’t Ever Tell Me That You Love Me.” Expanded editions added live cuts of “The Heart of Rock & Roll” and “Trouble in Paradise.”Meanwhile, the parent album Fore! dropped a month later, ultimately selling three million copies in the U.S. alone.
Nearly four decades later, “Stuck With You” remains one of Huey Lewis & The News’ defining moments. It isn’t just a chart statistic or a platinum plaque—it’s the snapshot of a band at their peak, smiling through a love song on a Bahamian beach, and making it sound effortless.
Quick facts
Release: July 21, 1986 (Chrysalis)
Album:Fore! (Aug 20, 1986)
Writers: Huey Lewis, Chris Hayes
Producers: Huey Lewis & The News
Length: 4:20 (single)
Video director: Edd Griles
Lead actress: Keely Shaye Smith
Filmed: Bahamas, July 1986
U.S. Billboard Hot 100: No. 1 (3 weeks, Sept 1986)
