Mickey
Gilley Returns To Touring
After Paralyzing
Accident In 2009 |
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 The original
Urban Cowboy, Mickey Gilley, is hitting the road
and will return to touring after recovering from
2009 tragic accident that left him paralyzed.
“I have always loved performing and I know
nothing else,” says Mickey Gilley.
“Getting back on stage in all of these
cities is something to look forward to each and
every day. The outpour of love and concern from
the fans, my fellow artist friends, and the music
community has kept me fighting to walk back on
that stage, so I am glad that time is finally
here.”
Throughout Gilley’s career, he has released
39 Top-Ten country hits with 17 of them hitting
No. 1 on country charts including, Stand By Me,
True Love Ways, You Don’t Know Me and A
Headache Tomorrow (Or A Heartache Tonight). In
1976, he swept the ACM Awards, receiving
Entertainer of the Year, Top Male Vocalist, Song
of the Year, Single of the Year and Album of the
Year. He has been ranked among the top-fifty
country music hit makers in the 1989 book written
by record research historian Joel Whitburn.
Aside from his many hits and being known as the
cousin to Jerry Lee Lewis and Jimmy Swaggart,
Gilley was instrumental in creating the
“Urban Cowboy” era with the opening of
Gilley’s in 1971 – known as the
World’s Largest Honky-Tonk. The famed-club
included mechanical bulls, pool tables, a rodeo
area, punching bags, a shooting gallery and a
dance floor that could hold thousands becoming
the forerunner of Hard Rock Café and other theme
restaurants. Esquire Magazine wrote an article
“The Ballad of the Urban Cowboy” based
on Gilley’s, which later became the movie,
“Urban Cowboy,” starring John Travolta.
In 2009, while helping his friend move, Gilley
became paralyzed from the neck down after a sofa
landed on top of him and crushed four vertebrae.
After several years of intense physical therapy
he has returned to the stage and is now walking,
singing and performing.www.gilleys.com
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