VIDALIA — Vidalia Mayor Hyram Copeland remembers the first time he realized his cousin Mickey Gilley was a singing success.

Copeland was sitting in the audience at a sold-out Jackson (Veterans) Memorial Stadium, waiting for Gilley to take the stage.

“I remember thinking he had finally made it; he had gotten the music career he wanted,” Copeland said.

Gilley had good music genes, it seems. He is also the cousin of fellow Ferriday legends Jerry Lee Lewis and Jimmy Swaggart.

“I lived with his mother and father growing up,” Copeland said. “I was closer to Mickey than I was to Jerry and Jimmy.”

Copeland said he knows the hard work and dedication Gilley had put into his music career so it was a joy to see that pay off.

“It took (Gilley) a long time to make it where he is now,” Copeland said. “He is a real fine person who has earned what he has accomplished.”

Copeland will once again be tapping his foot to Gilley’s music today. Gilley will give concerts at 2 and 6 p.m. today at the Vidalia Conference and Convention Center. The shows are fundraisers for the Delta Music Museum support group, Friends of the Delta Music Museum.

Gilley was born in 1936 in Natchez and grew up in Ferriday hanging out with Lewis and Swaggart.

Growing up in Ferriday, listening to music was one of Gilley’s favorite pass times, said Judith Bingham, director of the Delta Music Museum in Ferriday.

“He use to listen to music from clubs in the area,” she said.

Bingham said Gilley’s early years in Ferriday were the basis for his future singing career.

Gilley left Ferriday at the age of 17 to work construction in Houston. He continued to play music at local nightclubs from time-to-time but soon decided music was where he needed to be.

“After seeing the money Jerry Lee was making singing, he decided he could do it, too,” Bingham said.

From that point on, Gilley pursued a music career, and Bingham said his music took off after he purchased Gilley’s Bar in Pasadena, Texas.

“He had a lot of famous people come in and sing there,” she said. “He started the Urban Cowboy craze, and it got so big that they made a movie about the bar and Gilley called ‘Urban Cowboy.’”

Gilley’s own recording career began to take off in the 1970s and continued to flourish into the 1980s with hits like “Room Full of Roses” and “Don’t the Girls All Get Prettier at Closing Time.”

In 1976, Gilley took home five Academy of Country Music awards including the award for Song of the Year for “Don’t the Girls Get Prettier at Closing Time,” Entertainer of the Year and Top Male Vocalist of the Year.

He had 39 top 10 hits on the country charts, 17 of which reached the No. 1 position.

After the success of the bar and the rise of his music throughout the nation, Bingham said Gilley opened up Mickey Gilley Theatre in Branson, Mo.

“He was one of the first people to build a theatre there,” she said.

Bingham said, despite his success, Gilley has never forgotten where he was raised.

“He is very proud of his roots,” she said. “Some people who become celebrities forget their roots, the fact that he hasn’t speaks very well of him.”

Bingham said Gilley has done many things for Ferriday to show the support he has for his hometown.

“He did the ribbon-cutting for the Arcade Theatre when it opened,” she said. “He also flies in every year to attend the Mickey Gilley Celebrity Golf Tournament.”

Bingham said that residents of Ferriday should be thankful for their country music legend.

“I think it is a great tribute to us to see what he does for the community,” she said. “And I know it is a tribute to him to see the support from us.”