Born on This Day in 1936, the Cousin of a Rockabilly Superstar Who Found His Own Music Success With an 80s Country Standard

On March 9, 1936, Mickey Gilley was born in Natchez, Mississippi. Raised in Ferriday, Louisiana, Gilley was born into country music royalty. He is the cousin of country and rock superstar Jerry Lee Lewis, plus famed pianist Carl McVoy, Jim Gilley, and artist and pastor Jimmy Swaggart.

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Gilley’s career in country music spans decades, although his early years didn’t hint at the massive success he would have. Beginning in 1958, Gilley released nine singles, with none of them charting. It wasn’t until 1964 that Gilley released his first album, Lonely Wine, a record that did not have any singles.

In 1974, 16 years after his first single, Gilley had his first No. 1 single, with “Room Full Of Roses”. The song, the title track of his sophomore record, began a lengthy streak of hits at radio, with songs like “City Lights”, “Don’t the Girls All Get Prettier at Closing Time”, “Lonely Nights”, “Put Your Dreams Away”, and more.

Mickey Gilley Finds Crossover Success, Thanks to ‘Urban Cowboy’

Gilley remained one of country music’s biggest success stories after “Room Full Of Roses” was released. But he didn’t have any crossover success until 1980, with “Stand By Me“. The song, first recorded by Ben E. King, became part of the Urban Cowboy soundtrack. One of the biggest hits of Gilley’s career, he admits he was hesitant to even record the song.

“I was a little reluctant,” Gilley admits to The Bluegrass Station. “But the arrangement they put on it made it a different song than the Ben E. King version. When we got the song recorded, people were raving about it, and it turned out to be a hit. Now I close my shows with it.”

According to Gilley, “Stand By Me” changed everything for him.

“I wasn’t just known as a honky-tonk piano player anymore. I was known as a country performer,” he explains. “It gave me a little more clout. I got to play for two presidents. They gave me a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, invited me to come to Hollywood and do some acting roles, and I did ‘The Fall Guy’, ‘Fantasy Island’, ‘The Dukes Of Hazzard’, and ‘Murder, She Wrote’.”

Gilley had one other crossover hit in his career. In 1981, he had a Top 15 pop hit with “You Don’t Know Me”, which also became one of his many country No. 1 singles. Gilley continued releasing music throughout his life. His last album, Two Old Cats, released with Troy Payne, came out in 2018.

Gilley passed away from bone cancer in 2022. He was 86 years old when he died.

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