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Bo Diddley

 
Who2 Profiles:

Bo Diddley, Rock Musician / Guitarist

Bo Diddley
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  • Born: 30 December 1928
  • Birthplace: McComb, Mississippi
  • Died: 2 June 2008 (heart failure)
  • Best Known As: The early rock 'n' roll inventor nicknamed "The Originator"

Name at birth: Ellas Bates

Bo Diddley was born in Mississippi and raised in Chicago, where he was exposed to music and the blues. After studying violin and trombone, he took up the electric guitar. Diddley's flamboyance, square (often homemade) guitars and distinctive backbeat (sometimes described as "shave-and-a-hair-cut") earned him a record contract with Chess Records, and in 1955 he had his first hit with the two-sided "Bo Diddley/I'm A Man." Although he had several hits in the late 1950s and early 1960s, and appeared on TV with Dick Clark and Ed Sullivan, Diddley's aggressive beat, suggestive lyrics and raw performances ended up making him more influential than rich and famous. Still, he continued performing into the 21st century, and was recognized as an influence on artists ranging from Buddy Holly to The Rolling Stones. He was inducted into the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame in 1987.

He was born Ellas Bates but later took the last name of Gussie McDaniel, a cousin who helped raise him... The exact origin of his stage name is unknown; some sources say he picked it up while boxing as a young man, others that it came from a one-string instrument called a diddley bow... "Who Do You Love" (written by Diddley and later covered by George Thorogood) and the Who song "Magic Bus" are two songs with the distinctive Bo Diddley beat.

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guitarist; rock musician; rhythm and blues musician

Personal Information

Born Elias Bates on December 30, 1928, in McComb, MS; son of Eugene Bates and Ethel Wilson; legally adopted by mother's cousin, Gussie McDaniel, 1934; married Louise Woolingham (divorced); married Ethel Smith, 1946 (divorced); married Kay Reynolds, 1960.

Career

Formed Langley Avenue Jive Cats with Earl Hooker, early 1940s; recorded for Chess Records, 1955-74; toured the United Kingdom and performed with the Rolling Stones, 1963; toured with the Clash, 1979; performed at Live Aid Concert in Philadelphia, 1985; played at George Bush's presidential inaugural, 1989; performed at Bill Clinton's presidential inaugural, 1993.

Life's Work

Bo Diddley surprised the music world in the mid-1950s when he unleashed a new guitar sound, one dominated by heavy rhythmic drive and distortion, and one that was quickly absorbed by other players. "Unarguably one of the most-influential musicians in rock 'n' roll," noted Doug Pullen in Music Hound Rock, "Diddley's distinctive 'chunka, chunka' rhythm guitar riff is the stuff of which rock's bedrock was made." The sound formed the core of several hits, including "Who Do You Love," "Bo Diddley," and "You Can't Judge a Book by Its Cover." Dave Marsh wrote in the New Rolling Stone Record Guide, "Bo Diddley was one of the great fathers of rock & roll, ranking with such transitional blues artists as Fats Domino and Chuck Berry in both importance and influence."

Diddley was born Elias Bates in McComb, Mississippi, on December 30, 1928. At eight he was adopted by his mother's cousin, who taught Sunday school in Chicago, and changed his last name to McDaniel. He took classical violin lessons from Professor O.W. Frederick at Ebenezer Baptist Church, but later switched to guitar after hearing John Lee Hooker on the radio. In his teens he started boxing and became known by his nickname, Bo Diddley. He attended Foster Vocational High School, where he learned to build violins and guitars, but eventually quit school in order to work at manual labor jobs. He also played guitar on street corners during his spare time to make money, but his adoptive mother, his uncles, and the church's preachers and deacons protested against the "devil's music." Due to these conflicts, he later left home.

In the early 1950s Diddley and Billy Boy Arnold formed a band that included a washboard and maracas player. By 1954 the group was performing at the Sawdust Trail and Castle Rock in Chicago, and they recorded a demo to circulate at record labels like United and Vee-Jay. The disc finally came to the attention of Leonard Chess of Chess Records. He liked it, he told Diddley, but the song would have to be re-recorded and the obscene lyrics changed to make it marketable. Named after the singer, the single "Bo Diddley" rose to number two on Billboard's rhythm and blues chart. Mark Guarino wrote in the Arlington Heights, Illinois, Daily Herald, "Starting with his first hit, Diddley infused a raw, distorted guitar power that hadn't been heard before."

Diddley's guitar sound, filled with propulsive rhythm, helped to lay the foundation for rock-n-roll. In Marshall Cavendish's Illustrated Guide to Popular Music, writer Val Wilmer declared, "An entire rock generation cut its teeth on the 'Diddley beat,' which Bo first heard played on tambourines in church." Music scholars have traced the roots of the beat to an even earlier time. "Musicologists have pointed to that beat's roots in West Africa before slavery," wrote Dave Scheiber in the Chicago Sun Times, and "then to Deep South slaves patting out what became known as the 'Hambone' rhythm on their bodies."

As "Bo Diddley" rose on the chart, the singer was invited to appear on the Ed Sullivan Show, but there was a hitch. The producers had originally wanted Tennessee Ernie Ford to appear, because his hit "Sixteen Tons" was the fastest-rising single on the charts. They asked Diddley to perform "Sixteen Tons," believing it was the song, as opposed to the performer, that really mattered. When he complained that he didn't know the song, the producers rehearsed it with him and wrote the words to the song in large letters on cue cards. When the time came for the live broadcast, Dr. Jive introduced the guitarist, who took the stage and promptly began to sing "Bo Diddley." As he exited, he was reported to have said: "Man, maybe that was 'Sixteen Tons' on those cards, but all I saw was 'Bo Diddley!'"

1950s' rock-n-rollers like Diddley fell on hard times during the 1960s. Even though Jimi Hendrix and others built their guitar techniques on the work of early innovators like Diddley, the earlier style was considered passé. This attitude made it difficult for old-school players to find steady, good paying work. During this time Diddley acquired a number of debts attempting to finance his children's education. In order to meet expenses, he sold the rights to a number of his songs. Despite these difficulties, he continued to score a number of minor hits in the United States and England. "You Can't Judge a Book By It's Cover" rose to number 48 in the United States in 1962 and "Ooh Baby" entered the Hot Hundred; in the United Kingdom "Pretty Thing" reached the top forty in 1964 and "Hey Good Lookin'" followed in 1965.

Despite general public recognition of his contributions to rock-n-roll, and acknowledgements from high-profile players like the Rolling Stones and Bruce Springsteen, Diddley's innovative sound and string of hits have generated few financial rewards for the musician. "Like many early rock 'n' roll artists--especially African-American acts," noted Scheiber, "record producers, music publishers and booking agents pocketed most of the cash." Because he has received inadequate compensation for his work, Diddley has had to maintain an active touring schedule in order to support himself, despite health problems. "You gotta work," he told Anthony DellaFlora in the Albuquerque Journal. "If I ever got paid, maybe I wouldn't have to work. But I got ripped off very bad with the record companies and the publishing mess." Since 1980 Diddley has fought an ongoing legal battle seeking compensation for his music.

Diddley's legal and financial difficulties, however, have done little to slow the rock-n-roll innovator down. At the end of 2002, he had begun work on a rap song about Saddam Hussein ("Saddam Hussein, pick up your phone, if you do we might leave you alone"), and was planning to record his first album in four years at his home studio. He is one of the rare musicians to have performed at both Republican and Democratic presidential inaugurations. Diddley earned a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Rhythm and Blues Foundation. "We may never know exactly who is the father of rock 'n' roll," wrote DellaFlora, "but if a paternity test is ever performed, Bo Diddley's musical DNA will surely have to be sampled."

Awards

Lifetime Achievement Award, Rhythm and Blues Foundation; Star, Hollywood Walk of Fame; inducted into Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, 1987.

Works

Selected discography

  • Bo Diddley, Checker, 1957.
  • Go Bo Diddley, Checker, 1959.
  • Have Guitar, Will Travel, Checker, 1959.
  • Bo Diddley's Beach Party, Checker, 1963.
  • Golden Decade, Chess, 1973.
  • The Chess Box, Chess, 1990.
  • His Best (Chess 50th Anniversary Collection), Chess, 1997.

Further Reading

Books

  • Graff, Gary, ed., Music Hound Rock, Visible Ink, 1996, p. 202.
  • Marsh, Dave and John Swenson, eds., New Rolling Stone Record Guide, Random House, 1983, p. 140.
  • Ward, Ed, Geoffrey Stokes, and Ken Tucker, Rock of Ages: The Rolling Stone History of Rock & Roll, Summit Books, 1986, p. 111.
Periodicals
  • Albuquerque Journal, April 20, 2001, p. 3.
  • Chicago Sun Times, December 5, 2002, p. 41.
  • Daily Herald (Arlington Heights, IL), January 21, 2000, p. 4.
On-line
  • "Bo Diddley," All Music Guide, www.allmusic.com (February 3, 2003).
  • "Bo Diddley," Biography Resource Center, www.galenet.com/servlet/BioRC.

— Ronnie D. Lankford Jr

Columbia Encyclopedia:

Bo Diddley

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Diddley, Bo, 1928-2008, African-American singer, guitarist, and songwriter who was one of the founders of rock and roll, b. near McComb, Miss., as Otha Ellas Bates. He and his cousin, Gussie McDaniel, who raised him and whose last name he adopted, moved to Chicago when he was five. He studied violin, received his first guitar in 1940, and acquired the nickname "Bo Diddley." Within a decade he was performing in South Side clubs, often playing the rectangular electric guitar he designed. Diddley became known for his pounding signature beat (bom ba-bom bom, bom bom; later an essential component of rock music) and for his guitar effects, jive talk, and strutting stage style. He reached a wider audience with the release (1955) of his first record, containing "Bo Diddley" and "I'm a Man." He had a number of other hits, but is perhaps most important for his powerful influence on generations of rockers, e.g., Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Buddy Holly, Jimi Hendrix, the Rolling Stones, and Bruce Springsteen.

Bibliography

See G. R. White, Bo Diddley: Living Legend (1998).

AMG AllMovie Guide:

Bo Diddley

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Biography

Rock 'n' roll and R&B singer and musician Bo Diddley first appeared onscreen in 1966. ~ Rovi
Gale Musician Profiles:

Bo Diddley

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Guitarist, singer, songwriter

Alongside Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley is recognized as one of the first and most influential rock guitarists. In a career that has spanned well over three decades, Diddley has remained true to his original style. As Jeff Hannusch wrote in Guitar Player in 1984, perhaps the greatest thing one can say about Diddley is that "he has never had to sound like anyone else but Bo Diddley." He was born Otha Ellas Bates in 1928 in Pike County, Mississippi. In 1934 his mother sent him to Chicago to live with her cousin, Gussie McDaniel. After the McDaniels adopted Otha, he dropped his first and last names and was known as Ellas McDaniel. However, he soon acquired his nickname and soon-to-be professional title, Bo Diddley, which Guitars, From the Renaissance to Rock refers to as a mischievous or bully boy. "That’s how I got my name … from messin’ ‘round," stated Diddley in Rock 100.

Diddley studied violin under Professor O.W. Frederick for 12 years starting at age 7. He began teaching himself guitar in the early 1940s while attending Foster Vocational High School. At age 13 he was playing for change on Langley Avenue in Chicago with his friend Jerome Green. "I had a raggedy guitar, a washtub bass, a dude ‘sanding’ on a sheet of paper, and Jerome had maracas, shakin" "em, and man … it was lovely," Diddley told Guitar World. Besides violin and guitar, Diddley was also a trombonist with the Baptist Congress Band. By the time he was 20, Diddley had formed The Langley Avenue Jive Cats, with legendary slide guitarist Earl Hooker, playing at the 708 Club in Chicago.

After graduating from Foster’s, Diddley got married and began working odd jobs outside of music in construction and semi-pro boxing. He was laid off from the construction job for a spell and decided to take another shot at music. Diddley went out and bought an electric guitar for its volume potential in the rowdy clubs and then recorded a single on a disc cutter owned by one of his neighbors. Diddley pedaled the songs—"I’m a Man" backed with "Bo Diddley"—to various labels before arriving at the Chess brothers’ (Leonard and Phil) label in Chicago, home label to blues stalwarts like Muddy Waters, Willie Dixon, Howlin’ Wolf, and the chart-climbing Chuck Berry.

Chess saw a market for Diddley’s sound but they insisted that he change the lyrics to "Bo Diddley," which were rather obscene, and rerecord it. Diddley agreed and signed a contract with Chess in 1955. The single was released on a subsidiary label, Checker, and skyrocketed all the way to number 2 on the national R & B charts but didn’t even crack the pop charts. The album fio Diddley was also released in 1955 and Diddley appeared on the Ed Sullivan television show

before hooking up with Alan Freed’s rock and roll package to tour the country.

The "Diddley beat" was a simple, yet extremely infectious, "shave and a haircut, two bits" (a.k.a. "hambone") pattern. The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Rock calls it an "idiosyncratic syncopated rhythm." Perhaps it was in Diddley’s early influences (his mother was Cajun), this hypnotic guitar sound with little or no chord progressions being propelled by Jerome Green’s pounding congas, maracas and bass. Diddley’s lyrics were equally strange and laced with his odd sense of humor, "a view of all life … particularly sex, as a profound cosmic joke, played out at the expense of everyone, but particularly the solemn and pompous," wrote Dave Marsh in the Rolling Stone Record Guide. On stage, Diddley was backed by his equally bizarre stepsister, the Duchess, and her counterparts, Cookie and Sleepy King. "[Diddley’s] Bo-dacious caricatures are pure diddley daydreams out of a dada Disneyland," reported Rock 100.

As appealing as the sound was, Diddley did little to vary from it and it took another four years for him to break Billboard’s Hot 100 with "Crackin’ Up" in 1959. That same year, "Say Man" made the Top 20 pop charts but Diddley has never had another single make it past number 50 since. "I had this idea that everybody would like everything I recorded, which was totally wrong, and I had to learn that," he told Howard Mandel in Guitar World. During the ensuing lull in his career, Diddley was rediscovered by foreign rock and blues groups that comprised the British Invasion: the Rolling Stones, the Animals, and the Yardbirds. Their cover versions of Diddley tunes brought him somewhat back into the limelight. He continued to release a batch of albums during the sixties and seventies with jacket covers that portrayed him as everything from a gun-slinger to a black gladiator in Ben Hur garb.

As corny as his album covers and outlandish clothes may have seemed, when Diddley plugged in his axe, guitarists took note. His wild collection of instruments, custom-built for him alone by the Gretsch company, were years ahead of their time with their oblong, triangle, and star shapes sometimes covered in carpet or fur. They were as much a part of the show as the man himself. "Bo Diddley used the guitar as a part of a flashy strutting performance of flamboyance and obvious sexual suggestion," as stated in Guitars, From the Renaissance to Rock. Diddley tunes to an open D(D, A, D, F#, A, D), which accounts for part of his signature sound, but his use of tremolo, volume, pick-scraping, and various electronics are what make him one of the true innovators of rock guitar. "Bo Diddley on acid … I always just wanted to be wilder than Bo Diddley—which hasn’t happened yet, and probably is impossible," said Fabulous Thunderbirds guitarist Jimmie Vaughan in Guitar Player.

Living Blues quotes Diddley as having called his former boss and label head, Leonard Chess, a "thief." Writer Pete Golkin explained: "When Diddley, who during a difficult period years later sold the rights to his hit songs of the ’50s, complains about not receiving money owed him, it is done with a certain air of confusion about the times in which he and other artists quickly rose to stardom." Having experienced the financial plight that so many musicians have fallen into, Diddley decided to take career matters into his own hands and can now be found distributing his records on his own through Bokay Productions. "I’ve really been ripped off so much in the past, I don’t trust any of them anymore… I just got tired of beating my head against the wall. I don’t know what these companies are looking for, but I’ll tell you one thing: I’m going to sound like Bo Diddley until the day I die," he told Guitar Player.

Although his last charted single was "Ooh Baby" in 1967 (which only reached number 88), Diddley remains active by playing one-nighters with pickup bands and touring with his daughter’s band, Offspring. In 1979, English punk rockers, the Clash, paid tribute to Diddley by having him open a series of shows for them and he toured with Rolling Stones guitarist Ron Wood on a double bill called The Gunslinger’s Tour in 1988. "That term—rock and roll—has been misused," Diddley said in Guitar World. "A guy in the audience the other night, he kept buggin’ me: ‘Play some rock and roll!’ But I looked at him, pulled him off to the side, and said ‘Can I explain something’ to you?’ I had to school him. Because I was playin’ the only thing I knew how, my type of rock and roll—which is where it came from, because I was the beginning."

Selected discography

Single releases
Single releases on Checker between 1955 and 1962 include "Bo Diddley"/"I’m a Man—Spell It M-A-N," "Who Do You Love?," "Say Man," "Mona," "Road Runner," "Hey Bo Diddley," "Crackin’ Up," and "You Can’t Judge a Book By the Cover."

LPs
Bo Diddley, Checker, 1955, reissued, Chess, 1987.
Have Guitar, Will Travel, Checker, c 1960.
Bo Diddley Is a Gunslinger, Checker, c 1960, reissued, 1989.
In the Spotlight, Checker, 1964, reissued, 1987.
Two Great Guitars, Checker, 1964.
Super Blues Band, Checker, 1968.
Black Gladiator, Checker, 1971.
The London Bo Diddley Sessions, Checker, 1973, reissued, 1989.
Got Another Bag of Tricks, Chess, 1973.
Another Dimension, Chess, 1975.
20th Anniversary, RCA, 1976.
I’m a Man, MF, 1977.

Sources
Books
Christgau, Robert, Christgau’s Record Guide, Ticknor & Fields, 1981.
Dalton, David, and Lenny Kaye, Rock 100, Grosset & Dunlap, 1977.
Evans, Mary Anne, and Tom Evans, Guitars, From the Rennais sance to Rock, Facts on File, 1977.
Harris, Sheldon, Blues Who’s Who, Da Capo, 1979.
Kozinn, Allan, Pete Welding, Dan Forte, and Gene Santoro, The Guitar: The History, the Music, the Players, Quill, 1984.
Logan, Nick, and Bob Wolffinden, The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Rock, Harmony, 1977.
The Rolling Stone Record Guide, edited by Dave Marsh with John Swenson, Random House/Rolling Stone Press, 1979.

Periodicals
Guitar Player, June 1984; July 1986.
Guitar World, July 1984.
Living Blues, September-October 1989.
  • Genres: Rock

Biography

He only had a few hits in the 1950s and early '60s, but as Bo Diddley sang, "You Can't Judge a Book by Its Cover." You can't judge an artist by his chart success, either, and Diddley produced greater and more influential music than all but a handful of the best early rockers. The Bo Diddley beat -- bomp, ba-bomp-bomp, bomp-bomp -- is one of rock & roll's bedrock rhythms, showing up in the work of Buddy Holly, the Rolling Stones, and even pop-garage knock-offs like the Strangeloves' 1965 hit "I Want Candy." Diddley's hypnotic rhythmic attack and declamatory, boasting vocals stretched back as far as Africa for their roots, and looked as far into the future as rap. His trademark otherworldly vibrating, fuzzy guitar style did much to expand the instrument's power and range. But even more important, Bo's bounce was fun and irresistibly rocking, with a wisecracking, jiving tone that epitomized rock & roll at its most humorously outlandish and freewheeling.

Before taking up blues and R&B, Diddley had actually studied classical violin, but shifted gears after hearing John Lee Hooker. In the early '50s, he began playing with his longtime partner, maraca player Jerome Green, to get what Bo's called "that freight train sound." Billy Boy Arnold, a fine blues harmonica player and singer in his own right, was also playing with Diddley when the guitarist got a deal with Chess in the mid-'50s (after being turned down by rival Chicago label Vee-Jay). His very first single, "Bo Diddley"/"I'm a Man" (1955), was a double-sided monster. The A-side was soaked with futuristic waves of tremolo guitar, set to an ageless nursery rhyme; the flip was a bump-and-grind, harmonica-driven shuffle, based around a devastating blues riff. But the result was not exactly blues, or even straight R&B, but a new kind of guitar-based rock & roll, soaked in the blues and R&B, but owing allegiance to neither.

Diddley was never a top seller on the order of his Chess rival Chuck Berry, but over the next half-dozen or so years, he'd produce a catalog of classics that rival Berry's in quality. "You Don't Love Me," "Diddley Daddy," "Pretty Thing," "Diddy Wah Diddy," "Who Do You Love?," "Mona," "Road Runner," "You Can't Judge a Book by Its Cover" -- all are stone-cold standards of early, riff-driven rock & roll at its funkiest. Oddly enough, his only Top 20 pop hit was an atypical, absurd back-and-forth rap between him and Jerome Green, "Say Man," that came about almost by accident as the pair were fooling around in the studio.

As a live performer, Diddley was galvanizing, using his trademark square guitars and distorted amplification to produce new sounds that anticipated the innovations of '60s guitarists like Jimi Hendrix. In Great Britain, he was revered as a giant on the order of Chuck Berry and Muddy Waters. The Rolling Stones in particular borrowed a lot from Bo's rhythms and attitude in their early days, although they only officially covered a couple of his tunes, "Mona" and "I'm Alright." Other British R&B groups like the Yardbirds, Animals, and Pretty Things also covered Diddley standards in their early days. Buddy Holly covered "Bo Diddley" and used a modified Bo Diddley beat on "Not Fade Away"; when the Stones gave the song the full-on Bo treatment (complete with shaking maracas), the result was their first big British hit.

The British Invasion helped increase the public's awareness of Diddley's importance, and ever since then he's been a popular live act. Sadly, though, his career as a recording artist -- in commercial and artistic terms -- was over by the time the Beatles and Stones hit America. He'd record with ongoing and declining frequency, but after 1963, he'd never write or record any original material on par with his early classics. Whether he'd spent his muse, or just felt he could coast on his laurels, is hard to say. But he remains a vital part of the collective rock & roll consciousness, occasionally reaching wider visibility via a 1979 tour with the Clash, a cameo role in the film Trading Places, a late-'80s tour with Ronnie Wood, and a 1989 television commercial for sports shoes with star athlete Bo Jackson. ~ Richie Unterberger, Rovi
Wikipedia on Answers.com:

Bo Diddley

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Bo Diddley
Background information
Birth name Ellas Otha Bates
Also known as Ellas McDaniel
Born December 30, 1928(1928-12-30)
McComb, Mississippi, United States
Died June 2, 2008(2008-06-02) (aged 79)
Archer, Florida, United States
Genres Chicago blues, rhythm and blues, rock and roll, blues
Occupations Singer-songwriter, musician
Instruments Vocals, guitar, violin, synthesizer, keyboards, piano, organ, percussion, drums
Years active 1943–2008
Labels Checker, Chess, BoKay Productions, RCA, MF Productions, Triple X, Atlantic
Website BoDiddley.com
Notable instruments
Gretsch G6138

Ellas Otha Bates (December 30, 1928 – June 2, 2008), known by his stage name Bo Diddley, was an American rhythm and blues vocalist, guitarist, songwriter (usually as Ellas McDaniel), and inventor. He was also known as "The Originator" because of his key role in the transition from the blues to rock & roll, influencing a host of acts including Buddy Holly, Jimi Hendrix, The Rolling Stones, The Velvet Underground, The Who, The Clash, The Yardbirds, and Eric Clapton.[1] He introduced more insistent, driving rhythms and a hard-edged guitar sound on a wide-ranging catalog of songs. Accordingly, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and received Lifetime Achievement Awards from the Rhythm and Blues Foundation[2][3] and a Grammy Award from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. He was known in particular for his technical innovations, including his trademark rectangular guitar.

Contents

History

Early life and career

Born in McComb, Mississippi, as Ellas Otha Bates,[4] he was adopted and raised by his mother's cousin, Gussie McDaniel, whose surname he assumed, becoming Ellas McDaniel. In 1934, the McDaniel family moved to the largely black South Side area of Chicago, where the young man dropped the name Otha and became known as Ellas McDaniel, until his musical ambitions demanded that he take on a more catchy identity. In Chicago, he was an active member of his local Ebenezer Baptist Church, where he studied the trombone and the violin, becoming proficient enough on the latter for the musical director to invite him to join the orchestra, with which he performed until the age of 18. He was more impressed, however, by the pulsating, rhythmic music he heard at a local Pentecostal Church, as well as an interest in the guitar.[5][6]

Inspired by a concert where he saw John Lee Hooker perform,[7] he supplemented his work as a carpenter and mechanic with a developing career playing on street corners with friends, including Jerome Green (c. 1934–1973),[8] in a band called The Hipsters (later The Langley Avenue Jive Cats). During the summer of 1943–44, he played for tips at the Maxwell Street market in a band with Earl Hooker.[9] By 1951 he was playing on the street with backing from Roosevelt Jackson (on washtub bass) and Jody Williams (whom he had taught to play the guitar).[10][11] Williams later played lead guitar on "Who Do You Love?" (1956).[10] In 1951 he landed a regular spot at the 708 Club on Chicago's South Side, with a repertoire influenced by Louis Jordan, John Lee Hooker, and Muddy Waters.

In late 1954, he teamed up with harmonica player Billy Boy Arnold, drummer Clifton James, and bass player Roosevelt Jackson, and recorded demos of "I'm A Man" and "Bo Diddley". They re-recorded the songs at Chess Studios with a backing ensemble comprising Otis Spann (piano), Lester Davenport (harmonica), Frank Kirkland (drums), and Jerome Green (maracas). The record was released in March 1955, and the A-side, "Bo Diddley", became a #1 R&B hit.

McDaniel adopted the stage name "Bo Diddley". The origin of the name is somewhat unclear, as several differing stories and claims exist. Diddley claims that his peers gave him the nickname, which he first suspected to be an insult.[12] Bo Diddley himself said that the name first belonged to a singer his adoptive mother was familiar with, while harmonicist Billy Boy Arnold once said in an interview that it was originally the name of a local comedian that Leonard Chess borrowed for the song title and artist name for Bo Diddley's first single.

A "diddley bow" is a typically homemade American string instrument of African origin, probably developed from instruments found on the coast of west Africa.[13]

Success in the 1950s and 1960s

On November 20, 1955, he appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show, a popular television variety show, where he infuriated the host. "I did two songs and he got mad," Bo Diddley later recalled. "Ed Sullivan said that I was one of the first colored boys to ever double-cross him. Said that I wouldn't last six months". The show had requested that he sing the Merle Travis-penned Tennessee Ernie Ford hit "Sixteen Tons", but when he appeared on stage, he sang "Bo Diddley" instead. This substitution resulted in his being banned from further appearances.

The request came about because Sullivan's people heard Diddley casually singing "Sixteen Tons" in the dressing room. Diddley's accounts of the event were inconsistent.[14]

Chess included Diddley's recording of "Sixteen Tons" on the album Bo Diddley Is a Gunslinger,[15] which was originally released in 1960.[16]

He continued to have hits through the rest of the 1950s and even the 1960s, including "Pretty Thing" (1956), "Say Man" (1959), and "You Can't Judge a Book by the Cover" (1962). He released a string of albums whose titles, including Bo Diddley Is a Gunslinger and Have Guitar, Will Travel, bolstered his self-invented legend. Between 1958 and 1963, Checker Records released 11 full-length albums by Bo Diddley. Although he broke through as a crossover artist with white audiences (appearing at the Alan Freed concerts, for example), he rarely tailored his compositions to teenage concerns.

In 1963, he starred in a UK concert tour with the Everly Brothers and Little Richard. The Rolling Stones, still barely known outside London at that time, appeared as a supporting act on the same bill.

In addition to the many songs recorded by him, in 1956 he co-wrote, with Jody Williams, the pioneering pop song "Love Is Strange", a hit for Mickey & Sylvia in 1957.[17]

Bo Diddley was one of the first American male musicians to include women in his band, including "The Duchess" Norma-Jean Wofford, Peggy Jones (aka "Lady Bo"), Cornelia Redmond (aka Cookie), and Debby Hastings, who led his band for the final 25 years of his performing career. He also set up one of the first home recording studios.[7]

Later years

Bo Diddley touring Japan with Japanese band Bo Gumbos.

Over the decades, Bo Diddley's venues ranged from intimate clubs to stadiums. On March 25, 1972, he played with The Grateful Dead at the Academy of Music in New York City. The Grateful Dead released part of this concert as Volume 30 of the band's Dick's Picks concert album series. Also in the early 1970s, the soundtrack for the ground-breaking animated film Fritz The Cat contained his song "Bo Diddley", in which a crow idly finger-pops along to the track.

Bo Diddley spent many years in New Mexico, living in Los Lunas, New Mexico from 1971 to 1978 while continuing his musical career. He served for two and a half years as Deputy Sheriff in the Valencia County Citizens' Patrol; during that time he personally purchased and donated three highway patrol pursuit cars.[18] In the late 1970s, Diddley left Los Lunas and moved to Hawthorne, Florida where he lived on a large estate in a custom made log-cabin home, which he helped to build. For the remainder of his life he spent time between Albuquerque, New Mexico and Florida, living the last 13 years of his life in Archer, Florida, a small farming town near Gainesville.

He appeared as an opening act for The Clash in their 1979 US tour; in Legends of Guitar (filmed live in Spain, 1991) with B.B. King, Les Paul, Albert Collins, George Benson, among others, and joined The Rolling Stones as a guest on their 1994 concert broadcast of Voodoo Lounge, performing "Who Do You Love?" with the band. Sheryl Crow and Robert Cray also appeared on the pay-per-view special.

Illness

On May 13, 2007, Bo Diddley was admitted to intensive care in Creighton University Medical Center in Omaha, Nebraska, following a stroke after a concert in Council Bluffs, Iowa on May 12.[19] Starting the show, he had complained that he did not feel well. He referred to smoke from the wildfires that were ravaging South Georgia and blowing south to the area near his home in Archer, Florida. Nonetheless, he delivered an energetic performance to an enthusiastic crowd. The next day, as Bo Diddley was heading back home, he seemed dazed and confused at the airport. His manager, Margo Lewis, called 911 and airport security and Bo was immediately taken by ambulance to Creighton University Medical Center and admitted to the Intensive-care unit, where he stayed for several days. After numerous tests, it was confirmed that Bo Diddley had suffered a stroke.[20] He had a history of hypertension and diabetes, and the stroke affected the left side of his brain, causing receptive and expressive aphasia (speech impairment).[21] The stroke was followed by a heart attack, suffered in Gainesville, Florida, on August 28, 2007.[22]

While recovering from the stroke and heart attack, Diddley came back to his home town of McComb, Mississippi, in early November 2007 for the unveiling of a plaque devoted to him on the National Blues Trail stating that he was "acclaimed as a founder of rock and roll." He was not supposed to perform, but as he listened to the music of local musician Jesse Robinson who sang a song written for this occasion, Robinson sensed that he wanted to perform and handed him a microphone. That was the first and last time that Bo Diddley performed publicly after suffering a stroke.[23]

Death

Bo Diddley died on June 2, 2008 of heart failure at his home in Archer, Florida.[24][25] Garry Mitchell, a grandson of Diddley and one of more than 35 family members at the musician's home when he died at 1:45 a.m. EDT (05:45 GMT), said his death was not unexpected. "There was a gospel song that was sung (at his bedside) and (when it was done) he said 'wow' with a thumbs up," Mitchell told Reuters, when asked to describe the scene at Diddley's deathbed. "The song was 'Walk Around Heaven' and in his last words he said 'I'm going to heaven.'"[26]

His funeral, a four-hour "homegoing" service, took place on June 7, 2008, at Showers of Blessings Church in Gainesville, Florida and kept in tune with the vibrant spirit of Bo Diddley's life and career. The many in attendance chanted "Hey Bo Diddley" as a gospel band played the legend's music. A number of notable musicians sent flowers, including: George Thorogood, Tom Petty, and Jerry Lee Lewis.[27][28] Little Richard, who had been asking his audiences to pray for Bo Diddley throughout his illness, had to fulfill concert commitments in Westbury and New York City the weekend of the funeral. He took time to remember Bo Diddley, his friend of a half-century, performing his namesake tune in his honor.[29]

After the funeral service, a tribute concert was held at the Martin Luther King Center, also in Gainesville, and featured performances by his son and daughter, Anthony McDaniel and Evelyn Kelly, long-time background vocalist Gloria Jolivet, co-producer Scott "Skyntyte" Free, Diddley's touring band, The Debby Hastings Band, and guest artist Eric Burdon.

In the days following his death, tributes were paid to him by then-President George W. Bush, the United States House of Representatives, and an uncounted number of musicians and performers, including Eric Burdon, Elvis Costello, Ronnie Hawkins, Mick Jagger, B. B. King, Tom Petty, Robert Plant, Bonnie Raitt, George Thorogood, Robert Randolph and the Family Band, the Black Lips and Ronnie Wood. He was posthumously awarded a Doctor of Fine Arts degree by the University of Florida for his influence on American popular music and in its "People in America" radio series about influential people in American history, the Voice of America radio service paid tribute to him, describing how "his influence was so widespread that it is hard to imagine what rock and roll would have sounded like without him." Mick Jagger stated that "he was a wonderful, original musician who was an enormous force in music and was a big influence on The Rolling Stones. He was very generous to us in our early years and we learned a lot from him." Jagger also praised the late star as a one of a kind musician, adding, "We will never see his like again.[30] As his bass player Debby Hastings said: he was the rock that the roll was built on."[citation needed]

The documentary film Cheat You Fair: The Story of Maxwell Street by director Phil Ranstrom features Bo Diddley's last on-camera interview.[31]

In November 2009 the guitar used by Diddley in his last-ever stage performance sold for $60,000 at auction.[citation needed]

Bit acting parts

His pawnbroker character's offering Louis Winthorpe III "fifty bucks" created one of more quoted scenes in 1983's Trading Places. In the late 1980s, he teamed with Bo Jackson in Nike's famous "Bo Knows" commercials, saying his one line: "Bo, you don't know Diddley!"

In 1998, Bo appeared alongside legendary guitarists B.B. King, Eric Clapton, and Jeff "Skunk" Baxter as members of the Louisiana Gator Boys in the film Blues Brothers 2000.

In 2003, Bo was cast as himself in an episode of According to Jim, titled Bo Diddley.

Music Videos

In 1982, Bo was featured in the music video, Bad To The Bone by George Thorogood and the Destroyers as a pool shark.

Accolades

Bo Diddley achieved numerous accolades in recognition of his significant role as one of the founding fathers of rock and roll.

  • 1986: inducted into the Washington Area Music Association's Hall of Fame.
  • 1987: inducted the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Rockabilly Hall of Fame.
  • 1990: Lifetime Achievement Award from Guitar Player magazine.
  • 1998: Lifetime Achievement Awards from the Rhythm and Blues Foundation and the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences.
  • 1999: His 1955 recording of his song "Bo Diddley" inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame as a recording of lasting qualitative or historical significance.
  • 2000: Inducted into the Mississippi Musicians Hall of Fame and into the North Florida Music Association's Hall of Fame.
  • 2002: Pioneer in Entertainment Award from the National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters
  • 2002: Bo Diddley was honored as one of the first BMI Icons at the 50th annual BMI Pop Awards. He was presented the award along with BMI affiliates Chuck Berry and Little Richard.[32]
  • 2008: Although confirmed before his death in June 2008, an honorary degree was posthumously conferred upon Diddley by the University of Florida in August 2008.
  • 2009: Florida's Secretary of State announces Bo's induction into the Florida Artists Hall of Fame (induction to occur during Florida Heritage Month, March 2010).
  • 2010: Bo Diddley was inducted into the Hit Parade Hall of Fame.[citation needed]

In 2003, U.S. Representative John Conyers paid tribute to Bo Diddley in the United States House of Representatives describing him as "one of the true pioneers of rock and roll, who has influenced generations".[33]

In 2004, Mickey and Sylvia's 1956 recording of his song "Love Is Strange" was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame as a recording of qualitative or historical significance, and he was inducted into the Blues Foundation's Blues Hall of Fame. In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked him #20 on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.[34]

In 2005, Bo Diddley celebrated his 50th anniversary in music with successful tours of Australia and Europe, and with coast-to-coast shows across North America. He performed his song "Bo Diddley" with Eric Clapton, Robbie Robertson, and longtime bassist and musical director Debby Hastings at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 20th annual induction ceremony and in the UK, Uncut magazine included his 1957 debut album "Bo Diddley" in its listing of the '100 Music, Movie & TV Moments That Have Changed The World'.

In 2006, Bo Diddley participated as the headliner of a grassroots organized fundraiser concert, to benefit the town of Ocean Springs, Mississippi, which had been devastated by Hurricane Katrina. The "Florida Keys for Katrina Relief" had originally been set for October 23, 2005, when Hurricane Wilma barreled through the Florida Keys on October 24, causing flooding and economic mayhem. In January 2006, the Florida Keys had recovered enough to host the fundraising concert to benefit the more hard-hit community of Ocean Springs. When asked about the fundraiser Bo Diddley stated, "This is the United States of America. We believe in helping one another.".[35] In an interview with Holger Petersen, on Saturday Night Blues on CBC Radio in the fall of 2006[36] Bo Diddley commented about the racism that existed in the music industry establishment during the early part of his career that saw him deprived of his royalties from the most successful part of his career.

Bo Diddley performed a number of shows around the country in 2005 and 2006 with the fellow Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Johnnie Johnson Band, featuring Johnson on keyboards, Richard Hunt on drums, and Gus Thornton on bass. But from 1985 until he died, his touring band consisted of Debby Hastings (bass/musical director), Frank Daley or Nunzio Signore (guitar), Tom Major, Dave Johnson, Yoshi Shimada or Sandy Gennaro (drums), and his personal manager, Margo Lewis (keyboards).

The Bo Diddley beat

"Bo Diddley beat"/Son clave About this sound Play .

Bo Diddley was well known for the "Bo Diddley beat," a rumba-like beat similar to "hambone", a style used by street performers who play out the beat by slapping and patting their arms, legs, chest, and cheeks while chanting rhymes.[37] Somewhat resembling "shave and a haircut, two bits" beat, Diddley came across it while trying to play Gene Autry's "(I've Got Spurs That) Jingle, Jangle, Jingle".[38] Three years before Bo's "Bo Diddley", a song that closely resembles it, "Hambone", was cut by Red Saunders' Orchestra with The Hambone Kids.

In its simplest form, the Bo Diddley beat can be counted out as a two-bar phrase:

"One and two and three and four and one and two and three and four and..."

The bolded counts are the clave rhythm.

His songs (for example, "Hey Bo Diddley" and "Who Do You Love?") often have no chord changes; that is, the musicians play the same chord throughout the piece, so that the rhythms create the excitement, rather than having the excitement generated by harmonic tension and release. In his other recordings, Bo Diddley used a variety of rhythms, from straight back beat to pop ballad style to doo-wop, frequently with maracas by Jerome Green.

Also an influential guitar player, he developed many special effects and other innovations in tone and attack. Bo Diddley's trademark instrument was the rectangular-bodied Gretsch nicknamed "The Twang Machine" (referred to as "cigar-box shaped" by music promoter Dick Clark). Although he had other odd-shaped guitars custom-made for him by other manufacturers throughout the years, most notably the "Cadillac" design made by Tom Holmes (who also made guitars for ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons, among others), Diddley fashioned the square guitar himself around 1958 and wielded it in thousands of concerts over the years. In a 2005 interview on JJJ radio in Australia, Bo implied that the design sprang from an embarrassing moment. During an early gig, while jumping around on stage with a Gibson L5 guitar, he landed awkwardly hurting his groin.[39][40] He then went about designing a smaller, less restrictive guitar that allowed him to keep jumping around on stage while still playing his guitar. He also played the violin, which is featured on his mournful instrumental "The Clock Strikes Twelve", a 12-bar blues.[41]

He often created lyrics as witty and humorous adaptations of folk music themes. The song "Bo Diddley" was based on the African American clapping rhyme "Hambone" (which in turn was based on the lullaby "Hush Little Baby"). Likewise, "Hey Bo Diddley" is based on the song "Old MacDonald". The rap-style boasting of "Who Do You Love", a wordplay on hoodoo, used many striking lyrics from the African-American tradition of toasts and boasts. His "Say Man" and "Say Man, Back Again," both of which were later cited as progenerators of hip-hop music, share a strong connection to the insult game known as "the dozens". For example: "You got the nerve to call somebody ugly, why you so ugly the stork that brought you into the world ought to be arrested".[42]

I used to get mad about people recording my things; now I got a new thing going. ... I don't get mad about them recording my material because they keep me alive.

Bo Diddley, 1969 Pop Chronicles interview.[43]

Notable cover versions

Bo Diddley's songs have frequently been covered by other artists.

song in concert.

Historic marker and other dedications

Bo Diddley was honored by the Mississippi Blues Commission with a Mississippi Blues Trail historic marker placed in McComb, his birthplace, in recognition of his enormous contribution to the development of the blues in Mississippi.[44]

On June 5, 2009 the city of Gainesville, Florida, officially renamed and dedicated its downtown plaza the Bo Diddley Community Plaza. The plaza was the site of many benefit concerts at which Bo Diddley performed during his lifetime to raise awareness about the plight of the homeless in Alachua County, and to raise money for local charities, including the Red Cross.

The Obamas' dog, Bo, is also said to be named after him.

The Mario characters known as Boos were originally called "Boo Diddleys" in Super Mario Bros. 3 as a reference to Bo Diddley, though this was long before Bo Diddley died.

Peter Cook & Dudley Moore did a sketch in which Moore played a character called "(the famous coloured singer) Bo Dudley" in reference to Diddley. Moore's vocal performance during the sketch, however, was a parody of James Brown's "Papa's Got A Brand New Bag".

Scottish alternative rock band The Jesus and Mary Chain have frequently cited Bo Diddley as an influence. This is most notable via the song 'Bo Diddley Is Jesus', a b-side to their 1987 UK Top Ten hit April Skies, the 12-inch version of which also included a cover of Bo Diddley's Who Do You Love?.

Discography

References

  1. ^ WENN (June 3, 2008). "Mick Jagger Leads Tribute For Diddley". showbizspy.com. http://showbizspy.com/news/06032008/mick-jagger-leads-tribute-for-diddley. Retrieved 2008-10-27. 
  2. ^ "Bo Diddley". The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum. http://www.rockhall.com/inductee/bo-diddley. Retrieved 2008-10-27. 
  3. ^ Rhythm and Blues Foundation
  4. ^ Some sources give his name as Otha Ellas Bates.
  5. ^ "Bo Diddley Bo Diddley, who has died aged 79, was one of the most important influences in the development of popular music, even though for much of his career he was seldom in the charts or in the recording studio.". The Daily Telegraph (London). June 2, 2008. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/2066171/Bo-Diddley.html. Retrieved April 26, 2010. 
  6. ^ "Bo Diddley Page". Tsimon.com. 2008-06-02. http://www.tsimon.com/diddley.htm. Retrieved 2011-02-20. 
  7. ^ a b "Bo Diddley". Rockhall.com. http://www.rockhall.com/inductee/bo-diddley. Retrieved 2011-02-20. 
  8. ^ David Blakey. "Jerome Green". Members.tripod.com. http://members.tripod.com/~Originator_2/jerome.html. Retrieved 2011-04-28. 
  9. ^ "1997 Interview". Cowdery.home.netcom.com. http://cowdery.home.netcom.com/maxwell/bo.html. Retrieved 2011-04-28. 
  10. ^ a b Dahl, Bill (2002). Jody Williams—Return Of A Legend [CD liner notes]
  11. ^ "BO DIDDLEY - The Originator". Members.tripod.com. http://members.tripod.com/~Originator_2/musicians.html. Retrieved 2011-02-20. 
  12. ^ "Show 3 - The Tribal Drum: The rise of rhythm and blues. [Part 1] : UNT Digital Library". http://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc19748/m1/. Retrieved 2011-04-28. 
  13. ^ Chris Morris, I'm A Man: The Chess Masters, 1955-1958 liner notes, Geffen Records, February 2007
  14. ^ TV-a-Go-Go: Rock on TV from American Bandstand to American Idol. Jake Austen. Edition: illustrated. Chicago Review Press. 2005. pages 14, 15. ISBN 1-55652-572-9, 9781556525728
  15. ^ "Bo Diddley Is a Gunslinger: Bo Diddley: Music". Amazon.com. http://www.amazon.com/Bo-Diddley-Gunslinger/dp/B0001XAQSW#moreAboutThisProduct. Retrieved 2011-02-20. 
  16. ^ "Dusty Groove America – Bo Diddley: Bo Diddley Is A Gunslinger". Dustygroove.com. http://www.dustygroove.com/item.php?id=sx6fryfrvp&ref=browse.php&refQ=cat%3D11%26amp%3Bpage%3D5. Retrieved 2011-02-20. 
  17. ^ David Blakey. "BO DIDDLEY – The Originator". Members.tripod.com. http://members.tripod.com/~Originator_2/career50s.html. Retrieved 2011-02-20. 
  18. ^ New Mexico Music Commission | Notable New Mexicans |[dead link]
  19. ^ Rock Pioneer Bo Diddley Sidelined by Stroke E!News[dead link]
  20. ^ Bo Diddley Bouncing Back E!News[dead link]
  21. ^ "Publicist: Bo Diddley Hospitalized After Stroke - Entertainment News Story - WTAE Pittsburgh". Thepittsburghchannel.com. 2007-05-16. http://www.thepittsburghchannel.com/entertainment/13334586/detail.html. Retrieved 2011-02-20. 
  22. ^ a b Ben Ratliff, "Bo Diddley, Who Gave Rock His Beat, Dies at 79". New York Times, June 3, 2008, p. A1
  23. ^ "WLBT 3 - Jackson, MS: Bo Diddley Honored In Hometown". Wlbt.com. 2010-01-01. http://www.wlbt.com/Global/story.asp?S=7305146&nav=menu119_3. Retrieved 2011-02-20. 
  24. ^ Levine, Doug (2 June 2008). "Rock 'n' Roll Guitar Legend Bo Diddley Dies". VOA News (Voice of America). http://voanews.com/english/archive/2008-06/2008-06-02-voa52.cfm. Retrieved 3 January 2009. 
  25. ^ Bo Diddley dead at age 79, spokesman says. Associated Press. June 2, 2008.
  26. ^ Loney, Jim (2008-06-02). "Rock 'n roll legend Bo Diddley dies in Florida". Reuters.com. http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSN0228500620080602. Retrieved 2011-04-28. 
  27. ^ Farrington, Brendon. "Bo Diddley Gets a Rocking Sendoff at Fla. Funeral", Miami Herald (June 8, 2008) accessed: 09 June 2008
  28. ^ "Bo Diddley." Calgary Herald (June 8, 2008) (http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/story.html?id=55a1635a-bd00-4662-9dfd-26fe5f5eb6e6 accessed 8 June 2008)
  29. ^ Perrucci, Dino. "Weekend of Legends". JamBase.com. June 6, 2008
  30. ^ "http://showbizspy.com/news/06032008/mick-jagger-leads-tribute-for-diddley
  31. ^ "''Cheat You Fair: The Story of Maxwell Street''". Maxwellstreetdocumentary.com. http://www.maxwellstreetdocumentary.com. Retrieved 2011-04-28. 
  32. ^ "BMI ICON Awards Honor Three of Rock & Roll’s Founding Fathers". bmi.com. http://www.bmi.com/news/entry/233284. Retrieved 2010-10-02. 
  33. ^ "Ellas Bates McDaniel, Bo Diddley biography". S9.com. http://www.s9.com/Biography/Diddley-Bo. Retrieved 2011-02-20. 
  34. ^ "The Immortals: The First Fifty". Rolling Stone Issue 946. http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/5939214/the_immortals_the_first_fifty. 
  35. ^ "Musical Performers". Floridakeysforkatrinarelief.com. 2006-01-08. http://www.floridakeysforkatrinarelief.com/musical_performers.htm. Retrieved 2011-02-20. 
  36. ^ "CBC Radio – Saturday Night Blues – Past Shows". CBC News. http://www.cbc.ca/snb/latestshow.html. 
  37. ^ Roscetti, Ed (2008). Stuff! Good Drummers Should Know, p. 16. Hal Leonard Corporation. ISBN 1-4234-2848-X.
  38. ^ "Blues Reflections". Afropop.org. 1970-04-03. http://www.afropop.org/multi/feature/ID/298/Blues+Reflections:+2003. Retrieved 2011-02-20. 
  39. ^ http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/jayandthedoctor/listen/boone_m1035862.mp3
  40. ^ http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/jayandthedoctor/listen/bodidleytw_m1035870.mp3
  41. ^ "Bo Diddley - I'm a Man: The Chess Masters, 1955-1958 - CD review". Oldies.about.com. 2008-02-25. http://oldies.about.com/od/buyersguides/gr/diddleymasters.htm. Retrieved 2011-02-20. 
  42. ^ "Say Man" (McDaniels) 1958
  43. ^ a b "Show 29 - The British Are Coming! The British Are Coming!: The U.S.A. is invaded by a wave of long-haired English rockers. [Part 3] : UNT Digital Library". Pop Chronicles. Digital.library.unt.edu. 1969. http://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc19784/m1/. Retrieved 2011-02-20. 
  44. ^ "Mississippi Blues Commission - Blues Trail". www.msbluestrail.org. http://www.msbluestrail.org/blues_trail/. Retrieved 2008-05-28. 

External links



 
 
Related topics:
Bo Diddley Rides Again/Bo Diddley in the Spotlight (2002 Album by Bo Diddley)
Super Blues (1967 Album by Little Walter)
Paul James (Blues Artist, '80s)

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