Although he is best known for formerly owning and operating one of the most famous country western nightclubs in the U.S., some may forget that Mickey Gilley is a legend in country music. Gilley, who was in concert at the Country Tonite Theatre in Pigeon Forge August 18th, has several Number 1 hits and won many awards and accolades, including 39 country music Top 10 hits, 16 of which went to Number 1.
His now defunct Gilley’s, which was located in Pasadena, Texas, was the backdrop for the 1980 movie “Urban Cowboy” with John Travolta. The club closed in 1989 and a year later, Gilley opened a theater in Branson, MO., where he also has a restaurant, Gilley’s Texas Café. “The main thing about life is what I do, and what I like to do is play the piano and sing,” Gilley said. “I try to have fun with the audience, between skits and doing hit songs.”
Born in Natchez, Miss., and growing up in Ferriday, La., Gilley has some famous bloodlines. He is a cousin of singer Jerry Lee Lewis and evangelist Jimmy Swaggert. Like both, Gilley is an accomplished pianist. “Jerry Lee was a big influence to me,” Gilley said. “I do a little skit in my show about us.”
Although he had several country hits beforehand, he credits the nightclub for putting his career on the map. “The nightclub was so popular – it’s the thing that sprung me into the limelight. The club was much more popular than Mickey Gilley. It just happened to carry my last name on it.”
Gilley has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He performs five shows a week at his Branson theater. “People here in Branson are doing two shows a day. I used to do that, but I can’t anymore. I’m not that young. Doing the show at my theater is a piece of cake, because it’s my theater and it’s easy to walk on stage and do my own thing,” Gilley said. “I have my piano there, and I feel like I’m partially on vacation.”
Gilley said he was last in Pigeon Forge some 15 years ago, performing at Dollywood. “I’m having fun, and time flies. I don’t think about going to different places. I just hope we do well for the people that book us into these places. That way, we can come back and visit again.”