Mickey Leroy Gilley (born March 9, 1936) is an American
country music singer and
musician. Although he started out singing straight-up country and western material in the 1970s, he moved towards a more pop-friendly sound in the 1980s, bringing him further success on not just the country charts, but the pop charts as well. Among his biggest hits are "
Room Full of Roses," "
Don't the Girls All Get Prettier at Closing Time," and the remake of the Soul hit "
Stand by Me". He is also the cousin of
Jerry Lee Lewis,
Carl McVoy, Jim Gilley and
Jimmy Swaggart. According to the
Federal Aviation Administration, Gilley is a licensed pilot, who holds an instrument rating with commercial pilot privileges for multi-engine airplanes, as well as private pilot privileges for single engine aircraft.