Bobby Frank Cherry was born on June 20, 1930, in Mineral Springs, a neighborhood in Clanton, Alabama. He grew up in a time when racial tensions were high in the southern United States. As a young man, he joined the United States Marine Corps. In the Marines, he learned about demolitions and explosives, skills that would later be significant in his life.

After his time in the military, Cherry worked various low-paying jobs. He spent a long time as a truck driver, which often kept him on the road. During this period, he married Virginia, and together they had seven children. Their marriage was marked by struggles and violence. Cherry expected respect and obedience from his family, and he often used physical punishment to assert his control.

Virginia Cherry died of cancer in 1968. After her death, Bobby Cherry placed their children in an orphanage called Gateway Mercy Home or with relatives. Following this sad event, he remarried four times, including to his third wife, Willadean Brogdon. Willadean would later share information about their life during her testimony at his trial.

In the early 1970s, Cherry left Birmingham and moved to the suburbs of Dallas, Texas. In Texas, he worked as a welder and owned a carpet cleaning business in Grand Prairie. In 1988, he had a heart attack and subsequently moved to a small town in Henderson County, Texas, with his fifth wife, Myrtle.

Throughout his life, Cherry was involved in violent incidents that reflected the racial prejudices of his time. For example, he assaulted a black minister, Fred Shuttlesworth, in 1957 while Shuttlesworth was advocating for school integration.

Bobby Frank Cherry was involved in the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in Birmingham, Alabama, on September 15, 1963. The bombing killed four young African-American girls and injured over 20 people. At his trial, Cherry initially delayed proceedings by claiming that he suffered from vascular dementia, which he argued impaired his ability to assist in his defense. Ultimately, he was found mentally competent to stand trial.

During the trial, testimony revealed Cherry’s connections to the Ku Klux Klan. His son testified that Cherry bragged about his involvement in the bombing. Witnesses, including his ex-wife, said he claimed to have “lit the fuse.” Informant Mitchell Burns, who knew Cherry and fellow defendant Thomas Edwin Blanton, provided recordings and notes showing their conversations, which included approval of the bombing.

Prosecutors presented evidence of Cherry's past violence, including a videotape showing him assaulting civil rights leader Fred Shuttlesworth. The prosecution also demonstrated the force of the explosives used in the bombing by showing a video of similar explosives destroying a car. Cherry denied involvement in the bombing during the trial but was ultimately convicted on four counts of murder.

Cherry was sentenced to life in prison. After attempts to appeal his conviction were unsuccessful, he remained in custody at various Alabama correctional facilities. He claimed throughout his imprisonment that he was a victim of a false campaign against him. Bobby Frank Cherry died in custody on November 18, 2004, at the age of 74. He is buried in Payne Springs Cemetery in Texas.