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Boyle County Public Library will host a program and book signing with Obie Slater for his book, “Obie Slater Remembers Club Cherry,” at 2 p.m. Sunday in the community room at the library.
Slater’s book highlights his time as the manager of Club Cherry, a Lebanon nightclub, which had a constant stream of performers such as Ike and Tina Turner, Otis Redding, B.B. King and Ray Charles.
Under his management, Slater turned Club Cherry into one of Lebanon’s hottest clubs. As Slater says in his book, “The stars kept coming and their popularity kept growing ... so did the reputation of the Club Cherry.”
Club Cherry was part of a connected string of music venues throughout the eastern and southern United States known as the Chitlin’ Circuit. During the era of racial segregation, which lasted into the early 1960s, these popular venues featured talented African-American performers and catered primarily to African-American audiences.
Obie Slater was born in 1929 to a family of sharecroppers on a plantation in Mississippi. A chance connection led him to Tennessee in 1950, where his willingness to work hard earned him the respect of the owners of the hotel he worked for. A new opportunity at the Gilcher Hotel brought him to Danville in 1955, and eventually to Club Cherry, which he managed until 1968. Today, Slater resides in Lebanon with his dog, Pooch.
The Boyle County Public Library serves the city of Danville and surrounding communities, and is actively committed to enriching the lives of its patrons. The library is at 307 W. Broadway.