SOMERVILLE, Mass. (CelebrityAccess) — Johnny D’s Uptown Restaurant and Music Club, a fixture of the Boston music scene for more than four decades, will be closing its doors early next year.

According to the Boston Globe, Owner Carla DeLellis says she plans to shutter the venue in January or February of 2016. DeLellis told the Globe that she felt it was time for a change, and that the decision to close the venue was not driven by financial circumstances.

The Globe reported that DeLellis, who owns the building, intends to convert it into a multistory mixed-use building, with commercial units at street level and three stories of residential space.

Johnny D's was first opened by DeLellis's parents in 1969 as a bar, and then a country music venue before it was reworked into its present configuration as a nightclub and restaurant. Performers who've graced the stage at the venue include Alison Krauss, Ben Harper, The Dixie Chicks, Bettye LaVette, Lee Ann Womack, and Booker T. Jones among numerous others.

“They covered it all and with quality and integrity,” Rounder Records founder Ken Irwin told The Globe. “And they were always great to the artists and had respect for them. It was just a place that people liked to play.” – Staff Writers

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