Mickey Gilley's namesake Texas honky-tonk inspired the 1980 film “Urban Cowboy” and a nationwide wave of Western-themed nightspots . FOX13
Country star Mickey Gilley, whose namesake Texas honky-tonk inspired the 1980 film "Urban Cowboy" and a nationwide wave of Western-themed nightspots, has died. He was 86.
Gilley — cousin of rock ‘n’ roll pioneer Jerry Lee Lewis — opened Gilley’s, "the world’s largest honky tonk," in Pasadena, Texas, in the early 1970s. By mid-decade, he was a successful club owner and had enjoyed his first commercial success with "Room Full of Roses." He began turning out country hits regularly, including "Window Up Above," "She's Pulling Me Back Again" and the honky-tonk anthem "Don’t the Girls All Get Prettier at Closing Time.
"I am doing exactly what I want to do. I play golf, fly my airplane and perform at my theater in Branson, Missouri," he said. "I love doing my show for the people."Meanwhile, the giant nightspot’s attractions, including its famed mechanical bull, led to the 1980 film "Urban Cowboy," starring John Travolta and Debra Winger and regarded by many as a countrified version of Travolta’s 1977 disco smash, "Saturday Night Fever.
But the club shut down in 1989 after Gilley and his business partner Sherwood Cryer feuded over how to run the place. A fire destroyed it soon after.
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