On Sunday, September 20th during the Sunday Morning Country Classic Spotlight we're featuring Mickey Gilley. 

Mickey Gilley was born March 9, 1936 in Natchez, Mississippi.  He comes from a pretty famous family.  His first cousin, Jimmy Swaggert, became a TV evangelist and another first cousin, Jerry Lee Lewis, became a rock n' roll singer and later a country star himself.

In the early 1970's he managed to break through into country stardom, but it wasn't until the late 1970's, when he became associated with the Urban Cowboy Movement that he became a country superstar.

In 1970, Mickey opened up his first club in Pasadena, Texas called Gilley's Club.  The club became known as the World's biggest honky-tonk.  In the early 1990's, he became one of the  first country stars to open a theater in Branson, Missouri.  Mickey was one of the pioneering entertainers who helped build Branson into one of the world's most popular vacationing destinations.

His career included 15 years of chart success with 17 number one country hits.  He was married twice and a father of four children.  In July 2009, Gilley was helping a neighbor move some furniture when he fell with a love seat falling on top of him crushing four vertebrae.  The incident left him temporarily paralyzed from the neck down.

Join me this Sunday at 11 a.m. for the Sunday Morning Country Classic Spotlight when we feature the music of Mickey Gilley.  We're on air at 98.1 FM Minnesota's New Country, online and on your mobile device.  We take your requests at 320-252-9897 or by email to dick@minnesotasnewcountry.com.

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