Mickey Gilley parents: Arthur Fillmore Gilley, Irene Lewis Gilley

American country music singer and songwriter, Mickey Leroy Gilley was born on March 9, 1936, in Natchez, Mississippi, United States. Mickey owned a Texas nightclub that was behind a country music revival. The American artiste grew up with his parents, Arthur Fillmore Gilley and Irene Lewis Gilley in Ferriday, Louisiana. Mickey’s cousins Jerry Lee Lewis and Jimmy Swaggart also lived with them in Ferriday, Louisiana . Jerry Lee Lewis, was into rock and roll, while Mickey Gilley was more passionate about country music. All three cousins were knowledgeable about music and made a lot of time to blues joints at night. Micky’s mother, Irene Lewis noticed how passionate they were about music and saved enough money to buy them a piano, even though she earned only $18 a week. Mickey Gilley shared his experience on how his parents contributed to his music career and success in life. According to his account, he revealed: My mother acted as if she was addicted to my career, she was certainly aware of the consequences of angering my father and the one inevitable cutoff of our phone service but she still wasn’t able to resist anything to keep my career going as if her life depended on it’ ”. Mickey recalls. ” I believe that she did, in fact, live for my music during the times when she felt most defeated by life, on the days when the only reason she got out of bed was to get on the phone to find me places to sing. The only way my dad could stop her from spending on her habit at the expense of my career at the rest of the family’s welfare was to rip the phone line right out of the wall ”. He affectionately mentioned. ” Her obsession with my childhood career drove my father nuts. He reminded her often that she had four other kids to raise, and those words spending money on me that took away from the rest of the family. At a point I got feed up with my mother doing everything she can to make my music career a success due to the challenges we were facing as a family. In fact, I wanted her to focus on being a mother and not my career manager.” Mickey added. “One time, my mother took me to see Merle Haggard perform in Sudbury. I’m not sure if her hope was that I ‘d get to him, like that time she got me backstage at a Mickey Fillet and Loretta Lynn concert. She managed to get me on the tour bus and introduced to Mickey Gilley, but I never got to sing for him, even though my mother introduced me as a singer, hoping that’s what would happen. When I was nine years old, my mother brought me to my first disco band audition. That one didn’t go so well because none of us even knew what disco was, only that there was a goofy duck somewhere in the mix of it’s image”. He recalls. Mickey came to a point in his life where he had to take up responsibilities for his music career and not always depend on his mother. He therefore gave in to paying for series of about four or five one-hour sessions. From that point on, he was able to train himself through the help of some books on how to read and write music. And that was how he became more knowledgeable and started playing in bars and other events.

Mickey Gilley had a lot of hits songs like, “Don’t the Girls All Get Prettier at Closing Time”, “Room Full of Roses “and the remake of the Soul hit “Stand by Me” and among others. He also charted 42 singles in the top 40 on the US Country chart.

Mickey got married in 1953, to his first wife, Geraldine Garrett and they divorced in 1961. They had three children together (Keith Ray, Michael, and Kathy) before Geraldine died on March 6, 2010. His children, Kathy and Keith are also doing well in the music business. Gilley then got married to Vivian McDonald, his second wife and they had a son, Gregory. Vivian Gilley also passed away in 2019.

Mickey Gilley’s father Arthur Fillmore Gilley was born on November 27, 1897, and died on February 2, 1982, at the age of 84 while his mother Irene Lewis Gilley, born on September 11, 1900, and also died on August 14, 1985, at the age of 84.

The American singer and songwriter, Mickey Gilley died on May 7, 2022, at the age of 86.

ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7pLHLnpmroaSesrSu1LOxZ5ufonuotI6moJyjla56qLXLpZyyZaCWv6a606xkmqqkncKzecWio6Wln6eybrPIpaOesV2ev6a6xGajnq%2BZqHqotculnLJn