Mickey Gilley!

Although I've never met or worked with Mickey Gilley I do have a story about his girlfriend. I was sitting in a plane, waiting to take off for Nashville. Other passengers were still boarding. One of them was a pretty young brunette who sat three rows ahead of me. I noticed that during the flight she kept looking back at me and once I nodded to her thinking that maybe she had seen me on TV. After landing in Nashville this young girl approached me at baggage claim. She said, "My name is Rita and I live with Mickey Gilley"! I said, "that's nice, I'm Kip Addotta and I'm here in town to do some shows". She handed me a card with a phone number on it said said, "I'd like to invite you out to Mickey's place. He's out of town and won't be back for a week. I told her that I would love to come over after my shows some night. We set a date and parted company.

Mickey Gilley the visit

I arrived at his house about twelve thirty in the morning. It was a very nice two-story brick house with pillars on either side of the front door. Rita greeted me at the door and asked me what I would like to drink. I said "Jack" on the rocks and she brought me one. As she handed it to me she kissed me and put her tongue in my mouth. I put the drink down and never went back to it. We screwed for hours. We screwed on the couch, on the floor, on the kitchen counter and finally in the master bedroom.

When The Cats Away

When we were both worn out Rita called me a taxi and I was on my way. I've thought about this incident many times and I would like to take this opportunity to thank Mickey Gilley for his hospitality. Thank you Mickey!

For most of his career, pianist/vocalist Mickey Gilley lived in the shadow of his cousin, Jerry Lee Lewis, playing a similar fusion of country, rock, blues, and R&B. In the early '70s, Mickey Gilley managed to breakthrough into country stardom, but it wasn't until the late '70s, when Mickey Gilley became associated with the urban cowboy movement, that Mickey Gilley became a superstar.

Gilley, like Lewis, was raised in Ferriday, LA. It wasn't until Jerry Lee had a hit with his first Sun single, "Crazy Arms," that Mickey decided Mickey Gilley wanted to pursue a musical career. Gilley began recording for a number of independent Texas labels without much success in the late '50s. In the early '60s, Mickey Gilley became a local favorite by playing a never-ending series of bars and clubs. A few of singles became Texas hits, but Mickey Gilley didn't have a national hit until 1968 with minor hit "Now I Can Live Again" on Paula Records.

In 1970, Mickey Gilley opened Gilley's Club in Pasadena; the honky tonk had previously been known as Sherry's Club, and its owner, Sherwood Cryer, asked Mickey to re-open the bar with him. In 1974, Gilley had another local hit with "Room Full of Roses," which was released on Astro Records. Playboy Records, which was distributed by Epic, heard the record and acquired national distribution for the single. It became a number one country hit, crossing over to number 50 on the pop charts. "Room Full of Roses" launched a string of updated, countrypolitan-inflected honky tonk hits for Gilley that ran for just over a decade. Gilley racked up 16 number one hits besides "Room Full of Roses," including "I Overlooked an Orchid," "City Lights," "She's Pulling Me Back Again," "True Love Ways," "Stand by Me," "That's All That Matters," and "A Headache Tomorrow (Or a Heartache Tonight)."

Gilley signed with Epic Records after Playboy folded in 1978. The following year, the film Urban Cowboy -- which was based on Gilley's Club and featured a cameo by Mickey, as well as several of his songs -- brought Mickey Gilley to national attention, which resulted in a string of six straight number one singles. Mickey Gilley continued to have Top Ten hits until 1986, when his career began to slip. The late '80s were plagued with problems for Gilley. Not only had a new generation of country singers replaced Mickey Gilley on the charts, Mickey Gilley had financial problems which culminated in the closing of Gilley's Club. Mickey Gilley turned his career around in the early '90s, when Mickey Gilley became one of the first country stars to open a permanent theater in Branson, MO. Although Gilley recorded some albums in the '90s -- which were primarily available through television advertisements -- Mickey Gilley focused his career on the theater.