Mickey Leroy Gilley (March 9, 1936 – May 7, 2022) was an American country music singer and songwriter. Although he started out singing straight-up country and western material in the 1970s, he moved towards a more pop-friendly sound in the 1980s, bringing him further success on not just the country charts, but the pop charts as well. Among his biggest hits are "Room Full of Roses", "Don't the Girls All Get Prettier at Closing Time", and the remake of the Soul hit "Stand by Me". Gilley charted 42 singles in the top 40 on the US Country chart. He was a cousin of Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl McVoy, and Jimmy Swaggart. Biography Early life and the rise to fame Gilley was born to Arthur Fillmore Gilley (November 27, 1897 – February 2, 1982) and Irene Gilley ( Lewis; September 11, 1900 – August 14, 1985) in Natchez, Mississippi. For many years, 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. Gilley grew up in Louisiana, just across the Mississippi River from where Lewis grew up. Gilley's family moved to the east side of Houston, Texas, in the 1940s, where he attended Galena Park Highschool. He was primarily a guitarist at the time and took his guitar to school to entertain classmates. Gilley, Lewis, and their cousin, Jimmy Swaggart, played together as children. Lewis taught them his piano style. They sang both boogie-woogie and gospel music, but Gilley did not become a professional singer until Lewis hit the top of the charts in the 1950s. Gilley then cut a few singles and played sessions in New Orleans with producer Huey P. Meaux. His record "Call Me Shorty" on the Dot label sold well in 1958. In the 1960s, he played at many clubs and bars, gaining a following at the Nesadel Club in Pasadena, Texas. Paula Records released Gilley's first album, Down the Line, in 1967. He had a minor hit from the album called "Now I Can Live Again". In 1970, Gilley joined in a partnership with Sherwood Cryer. Sherwood owned the club under the name Shelly's. His first nightclub in Pasadena, Texas, called Gilley's Club. It later became known as the "world's biggest honky-tonk". Gilley's Club and its mechanical bull were portrayed in the 1980 film, Urban Cowboy. He shared Gilley's Club