Mickey Gilley has accomplished what most artists only dream of — a long and fulfilling career marked by loyal fans and financial success. One of the secrets behind Mickey’s longevity is his ability to balance the heart of an entertainer with the brain of a businessman. He hasn’t had to “reinvent” himself to stay in the game. He has stayed current with the times, but Mickey knows what not to change. He has treated his fans with the same respect throughout the years, maintained his consistent high-quality performances, selected classic songs that withstood the fickleness of trends and tapped into business opportunities with an uncanny foresight.
He scored his first string of consecutive number-one hits in the mid-’70s — “Roomful of Roses,” “I Overlooked An Orchid,” “City Lights,” “Window Up Above,” “Don’t The Girls All Get Prettier At Closing Time” and “Bring It On Home To Me.” In all, Mickey has achieved a remarkable 39 Top-Ten country hits, with 17 of those songs reaching the No. 1 spot on the country charts. In 1976, he swept the ACM Awards, hauling home trophies for Entertainer of the Year, Top Male Vocalist, Song of the Year, Single of the Year and Album of the Year. He was ranked among the top-fifty country music hitmakers in the 1989 book written by record research historian Joel Whitburn.
The entertainer continues to maintain a residence in Pasadena, Texas. His hobbies include golf, walking and flying his own airplane.