Mickey Gilley Biography

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Mickey Gilley
Country Music | 3 CD Set
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Between mechanical riding bulls, the movie "Urban Cowboy" and a cousin who is a rock ‘n’ roll legend, Mickey Gilley is a name to remember. Add a slew of No. 1 country hits and a theater in hotspot Branson, Missouri and— great balls of fire — Gilley is a star. The bull was a big deal in Gilley’s nightclub, a featured spot in the movie. The cousin — that would be the piano wizard who made "Great Balls of Fire" popular — Jerry Lee Lewis. (Gilley and Lewis are also cousins to evangelist, Jimmy Swaggart). Gilley was born in 1936 in Ferriday, Louisiana and began learning piano at an early age. His waitress mother saved her tips to buy him a piano at age 12 and at 17, he was in Houston playing bars. He made his first record in 1957, "Tell Me Why," and in 1959 had a regional hit with "Is It Wrong?," which had a young Kenny Rogers playing bass. In the mid ‘60s, Gilley started Astro Records in Houston, hitting locally again with "Lonely Wine," on an album that is now a collector’s item. Still just a regional star, he signed in 1968 with the Paula label in Louisiana and put out "Now I Can Live Again." Soon, he was heard by clubowner Sherwood Cryer, who invited him to his Pasadena, Texas club, Shelley’s, with a partnership on the horizon. The club name became Gilley’s in 1971 and became a hit as Gilley played there as resident performer. At this time, he recorded "She Called Me Baby," but DJs liked the b-side, a revival of one-time hit "Room Full of Roses." After much play, the tune was reissued nationally by Playboy Records and became a No. 1 country hit that also made pop charts, finally giving Gilley national exposure. He then topped the charts with "I Overlooked An Orchid" and had a Top 10 side with ex-Playmate Barbi Benton, "Overnight Sensation." He was now producing more No. 1 hits with revivals of old hits and new songs, even outdoing Lewis as his keyboard style was highly influenced by his cousin’s wild work on the piano. But a producer with his new label, Epic, wanted him to cut short the Lewis influence and put more effort in recording, the result being No. 1 "True Love Ways" and "Stand By Me" in 1980, a tune he sang in the John Travolta hit movie "Urban Cowboy." His partner, Cryer, had invented the mechanical bull and after the movie, made a fortune selling them to clubs around the country. Later, however, the partners split angrily in 1987 and Gilley eventually won a $17 million lawsuit. Gilley’s had become one of the biggest, if not THE biggest, club in Texas with seating of more than 3000, but closed after the legal action. Gilley continued into the ‘90s to tour and play around the country but in 1990, he opened Mickey Gilley’s Theater in Branson, where a number of country and pop stars have opened their own theaters to cater to the massive influx of year round tourists. Gilley plays there, offering his honky tonk piano and his many (seventeen) No. 1 hits in a show that includes music and comedy, plus reminiscing by Mickey himself of his early days in music. His show includes an eight-piece band and three backup singers. The site also includes Gilley’s Texas Cafe. Moreover, Dallas, Texas will be the site of the next Gilley’s, a huge entertainment complex due to open in 2001. At 65, there seems no end to this honky tonk piano pounder’s work in entertainment.

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