Country hitmaker and bar owner Mickey Gilley died at age 86 over the weekend. In 1971 he launched the honky-tonk nightclub Gilley’s, which was the inspiration for the 1980 film Urban Cowboy, that starred John Travolta.  The clubs started popping up throughout North America, with one in Thunder Bay for a short time, with the mechanical bull.

Gilley started playing piano at age 13 with cousin Jerry Lee Lewis and started his career in the 1950s had 17 number one hits starting with Room Full of Roses in 1974, and continued with The Window Up Above and Don’t The Girls All Get Prettier at Closing Time, among other classics..