FM
Biography
Mickey Leroy Gilley was born 9th March 1936 in Natchez, Mississippi. Best known as a Country music singer and piano player, he moved to Houston at age 17 and began playing rock n roll in local clubs, cutting "Tell Me Why" and "Oo-ee-baby" for the local Minor label. He experienced little success on a succession of labels - Dot (Memphis), Rex (New Orleans), Khoury (Lake Charles, Louisiana) until in 1960 he cut "Is It Wrong" for Potomac which became a regional hit. Sadly, the label folded and Mickey continued trying on the Lynn, Sabra and Princess labels.
He was performing very much in the rock n roll piano style of his cousin Jerry Lee Lewis (and another cousin, the Reverend Jimmy Swaggart). He formed his own label, Astro in 1964 and cut an album named after a Lewis success "Down the Line". Re-issued on Paula, the album was a regional hit. The big time, however, continued to elude him although he had a minor hit with "Now I Can Live Again" from the album. At an Astro session he laid down a version of George Morgan's old hit "Room Full of Roses" which attracted airplay locally and was picked up for national release by Hugh Heffner's Playboy label. It hit No. 1 in the Country charts. After 12 further hits with the label, Playboy was taken over by Epic and Gilley moved there for his most consistent run of album and singles success.
