27 Facts About Mickey Gilley

Mickey Leroy Gilley was an American country music singer and musician.

Mickey Gilley charted 42 singles in the top 40 on the US Country chart.

Mickey Gilley was a cousin of Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl McVoy, and Jimmy Swaggart.

For many years, Mickey Gilley lived in the shadow of his well-known cousin, Jerry Lee Lewis, a successful rock and roll singer and musician in the 1950s and early 1960s.

Mickey Gilley grew up in Louisiana, just across the Mississippi River from where Lewis grew up.

Mickey Gilley's family moved to the east side of Houston, Texas, in the 1940s, where he attended Galena Park High School.

Mickey Gilley was primarily a guitarist at the time and took his guitar to school to entertain classmates.

Mickey Gilley's record "Call Me Shorty" on the Dot label sold well in 1958.

Mickey Gilley had a minor hit from the album called "Now I Can Live Again".

In 1970, Mickey Gilley joined in a partnership with Sherwood Cryer.

Mickey Gilley shared Gilley's Club with Sherwood Cryer, who asked Gilley to re-open his former bar with him.

In 1974, just for fun, Mickey Gilley recorded a cover of "Room Full of Roses", written by Tim Spencer of the Sons of the Pioneers, which was a hit for George Morgan.

Mickey Gilley's version was released by Astro Records, but Playboy Records obtained national distribution on it and Mickey Gilley was signed to Playboy Records, working with his long-time friend Eddie Kilroy.

Mickey Gilley had a string of top 10 hits through the rest of the 1970s, including his signature hit, "Don't the Girls All Get Prettier at Closing Time", in 1976.

Mickey Gilley's career got new life when his cover of the soul standard "Stand by Me" was used in Urban Cowboy.

Mickey Gilley tried his hand at acting, taking a dramatic role in an episode of The Fall Guy in 1982 ; he later returned to the series in a cameo as himself.

Not only was his chart success fading, but Mickey Gilley had a series of financial problems that led to the closing of his club.

Mickey Gilley turned his attention to Branson, Missouri, where he built a theater, which was a soon-to-be boomtown for the country music industry.

Mickey Gilley appeared on "Urban Cowboys", episode 9 in the third season of American Pickers, which aired originally on September 5,2011.

In 2012, Mickey Gilley signed a Branson-based vocal group, Six, to a three-year lease to perform in his theater, with an option to buy it when the contract expired.

Mickey Gilley returned to the studio in 2017 and released Kickin' It Down the Road the same year.

In 2018, Mickey Gilley teamed up with longtime friend Troy Payne to record his last studio album Two Old Cats, a CD containing 13 classic country duets.

Mickey Gilley was the mother of three of his four children.

Mickey Gilley was double first cousins with both Jerry Lee Lewis and evangelist Jimmy Swaggart of Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

In July 2009, Mickey Gilley was helping a neighbor move some furniture when he fell with the love seat falling on top of him, crushing four vertebrae.

Mickey Gilley died on May 7,2022, of complications from bone cancer.

Mickey Gilley was a licensed pilot, holding an instrument rating with commercial pilot privileges for multi-engine airplanes, as well as private pilot privileges for single engine aircraft.