For most of his career, pianist and vocalist Mickey Gilley lived in the shadow of his cousin Jerry Lee Lewis, performing a similar fusion of country, rock, blues, and R&B. Raised in Ferriday, Louisiana, Gilley decided to pursue music after Jerry Lee Lewis had a hit with his first Sun single, "Crazy Arms." He recorded for independent Texas labels in the late 1950s without much success, then became a local favorite in the early 1960s by playing a long series of bars and clubs. A few singles became Texas hits, but his first national success came in 1968 with the minor hit "Now I Can Live Again" on Paula Records. In 1970, he opened Gilley's Club in Pasadena with Sherwood Cryer at the former Sherry's Club. In 1974, "Room Full of Roses," released on Astro Records, became a local hit and then a number one country hit with national distribution through Playboy Records, also reaching number 50 on the pop charts. That song launched more than a decade of updated, countrypolitan-inflected honky tonk hits, and Gilley added 16 more number one hits, including "I Overlooked an Orchid," "City Lights," "She's Pulling Me Back Again," "True Love Ways," "Stand By Me," "That's All That Matters," and "A Headache Tomorrow (Or a Heartache Tonight)." After Playboy folded in 1978, he signed with Epic Records, and in 1979 the film Urban Cowboy, based on Gilley's Club and featuring his cameo and several of his songs, brought him national attention and helped produce six straight number one singles. He continued to have Top Ten hits until 1986, after which his career declined as a new generation of country singers replaced him on the charts and financial problems led to the closing of Gilley's Club. In the early 1990s, he revived his career by becoming one of the first country stars to open a permanent theater in Branson, Missouri, and although he recorded some albums in that decade, he focused mainly on the theater.