Bo Diddley
 Otha
Ellas Bates McDaniel was born on 30 December 1928 in McComb,
Mississippi, and at the age of five, moved with his family to
the south-side of Chicago. He spent his formative years studying
classical violin, and later taught himself to play guitar.
As a teenager in high school, McDaniel formed his first group,
The Langley Avenue Jive Cats, and after he graduated he created
another band who began playing the blues in Chicago night clubs,
supplementing his meagre guitarist income with jobs as a
construction worker and a light-heavyweight boxer (where he
acquired the nickname 'Bo Diddley').
In 1955 he auditioned for Checker Records (a subsidiary of
Chess) and had his first single - also called Bo Diddley
- released the same year.
Bo brought an exciting new sound to records - a pulsating
jungle beat, heavy bass and the incessant shuffling of maracas.
The sound became the Bo Diddley trademark, and was immortalised
much later by The Rolling Stones
on Not Fade Away.
Diddley also pioneered the use of a totally electric sound on
records. He was noted for his array of weird and wonderful
guitars, which were self-designed and often self-made. His
favourites were a bright red oblong-shaped axe, one covered
entirely in fur, and another covered in bright purple carpet.
Bo was also a great showman, looking much larger than life in
extravagant stage clothes. Although he only amassed three
minor hit records - Say Man, Pretty Thing and Hey,
Good Looking,
Bo Diddley was responsible for writing many R&B classics
including Roadrunner, I'm A Man, Who Do You
Love? and You Can't Judge A Book By Looking At The Cover.
They were all covered by major recording artists during the 1960's
and 1970's.
His performing career was given a tremendous boost in 1972 when
he appeared in Richard Nader's rock & roll revival show and
was later featured in the movie Let
The Good Times Roll.
 In
1976 he recorded a new album, Twentieth Anniversary of
Rock for RCA, featuring such celebrated colleagues as Joe
Cocker, Billy Joel and Keith Moon
of The Who.
Two years later he undertook a successful British tour with
another legendary rock & roller from the 1950s, Carl
Perkins.
Diddley served for two and a half years as Deputy Sheriff in
the Valencia County Citizens' Patrol while continuing his musical
career. During that time he personally purchased and donated three
highway patrol pursuit cars.
Bo Diddley was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame
in 1987 and received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in
1998.
In 2005, Bo celebrated his 50th anniversary in music with
successful tours of Australia, Europe and North America, and he
performed a number of shows around the US in 2005 and 2006.
He passed away on 2 June 2008 in the small farming town of
Archer, Florida, from heart failure following a stroke and a
previous heart attack. His last words were reportedly "I'm
going to heaven".
His influence on succeeding generations of musicians has been
immense - with artists such as Buddy
Holly, The Rolling Stones, The
Yardbirds, The Animals and The
Clash drawing heavily on his musical legacy.
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