Mickey Gilley

My only failure was the restaurant in Myrtle Beach. I kept it open for four years. It was in a tourist town, it was only busy four and half, five months of the year. But the bills kept coming all year.

Back then I thought if you cut a record, you were automatically a star.

A record co. is just a vehicle for public appearances.

I've grown up with my audience; they're my age or older. Not a lot of kids are coming to see me.

Cause I can make more money going in and doing my recordings and selling them through my entities that I have, rather than going to a record co. and them release a record and pay me 5 percent of what they make off it.

All my money was made doing the dates and selling products when I was out there on the road.

I had seventeen No. 1 songs and I didn't see anything like that kind of money.

I had some airline stock, but the airlines tanked. I didn't have a lot of money in them, though.

I try to stay ahead of things, if you know what I mean. I take the money I make and reinvest it.

It's the same with the ballplayers. Babe Ruth spent a lot, too and the ballplayers make a lot more money now.

I guess the nicest thing about being, I won't say famous but being popular is a more proper word for me to use would be that if you've got a recognizable name, a lot of times you can get people to do things for you ordinarily that you wouldn't get done.

When a record co. finds a guy now, they want to own everything. They want to own the rights to market that person's particular name. They want a piece of the action all the way through.