According to Zach Farnum, his publicist, Mickey Gilley, the pioneer of the “Urban Cowboy” style, died on May 7 in Branson, Missouri. He was 86 years old.
His wife, Cindy Loeb Gilley; his children, Kathy, Michael, Gregory, and Keith Ray; four grandchildren; and nine great-grandchildren survive him.
NPR reports, according to a statement released by Farnum, that the Natchez, Mississippi native “passed peacefully” surrounded by family and close friends. According to the statement, he had recently returned home after performing ten shows in April.
Gilley had seventeen number one country singles, beginning in 1974 with Room Full of Roses. In 1980, Gilley had major crossover success with a country-flavored cover of Ben E. King’s Stand By Me, which reached number one on the Billboard Hot Country chart and number three on the Adult Contemporary chart.
The film Urban Cowboy, starring John Travolta and Deborah Winger, was set in Gilley’s own Honkytonk club in Pasadena, Texas. The film breathed new life into his musical career and popularized country-western culture in urban settings, including mechanical bull riding, which is featured prominently in the movie.
Gilley was one of the first significant country singers to open his theater in Branson, MO., in 1989, assisting in the transformation of the Ozark hamlet into a major entertainment tourism destination.
In 1984, Gilley was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Gilley’s cousin and fellow crossover music star, Jerry Lee Lewis, best known for singing Great Balls of Fire, is among his surviving relatives.
