Biography
Country western star Mickey Gilley was born on March 9, 1936, in Natchez, Mississippi. He was the cousin of future rockabilly legend Jerry Lee Lewis and televangelist Jimmy Swaggart, and grew up in Ferriday, Louisiana. As children, the three cousins would play piano together, singing gospel and boogie-woogie tunes. After Lewis rose to fame in the 1950s, Mickey pursued a professional music career, releasing some singles before working as a session musician in New Orleans.
Married for the first time at 17, Gilley had a minor hit with "Call Me Shorty" in 1958, but it took years for him to step out of Jerry Lee’s shadow and gain recognition. His debut album, Down the Line, came out in 1967 and included the modest hit "Now I Can Live Again." In 1971, he opened Gilley's Club in Pasadena, Texas, a nightclub billed as the "world's biggest honky tonk." The club gained fame as the setting for the 1980 film Urban Cowboy, which significantly raised Gilley’s national profile. Throughout the 1980s, he achieved crossover success by blending country with pop, scoring hits on the charts for 15 consecutive years and earning 17 number-one country singles.
Gilley and his business partner Sherwood Cryer eventually clashed over changes made to the club. Gilley sued Cryer over their "50-50" agreement, arguing it disproportionately favored Cryer. Gilley won $17 million in the lawsuit, but the dispute destroyed their relationship and led to Gilley's Club closing in 1989. In 2006, Gilley opened another club under the same name in Dallas. Additionally, there is a Gilley's in Las Vegas, and the town of LaPorte, Texas, approved a new Gilley's near the original location.
