Mickey Leroy Gilley was an American country music singer, songwriter, and entrepreneur, who’s Honky-Tonk in Pasadena, TX rose to fame in the 80’s hit movie, Urban Cowboy. Opening in 1971, the 90,000 square ft dancehall was entered into the Guinness Record Book as the World’s largest Honky-Tonk, featured a mechanical bull, and musicians such as Willie Nelson, Charlie Daniels, Hank Williams Jr., George Jones, Conway Twitty, and Jerry Lee Lewis (Gilley’s cousin) as regular performers. The hall closed in 1989 and burned down a year later.
Throughout the years Gilley would try to bring his business back to his adopted hometown but even in the 2000’s he recieved backlash from local church leaders.
Gilley died on May 7, 2022 at his home in Branson Missouri.
“His talent and larger-than-life personality helped ignite a new interest in country music as he introduced the world to Pasadena through his dance hall and ‘Urban Cowboy’ in 1980,” Pasadena Mayor Jeff Wagner said in a statement after Gilley’s death.
Mickey Gilley’s life will be celebrated on June 9, 2022 by the city of Pasadena, along with friends and family at the Pasadena Convention Center.
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