
Ellas Otha Bates, better known as Bo Diddley, was born 93 years ago today.
A rhythm and blues vocalist, guitarist, songwriter (usually as Ellas McDaniel), Diddley was a rock and roll pioneer. He was also known as The Originator because of his key role in the transition from the blues to rock, influencing a host of acts.
Among those he influenced were Buddy Holly, Jimi Hendrix, The Rolling Stones, The Velvet Underground, The Who, The Yardbirds, Eric Clapton, Elvis Presley and the The Beatles.
He introduced more insistent, driving rhythms and a hard-edged electric guitar sound on a wide-ranging catalog of songs, along with African rhythms and a signature beat (a simple, five-accent rhythm) that remains a cornerstone of rock and pop. He was also known for his technical innovations, including his trademark rectangular guitar.
Born in McComb, Mississippi as Ellas Otha Bates, 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. There he studied the trombone and the violin, becoming proficient enough on the latter for the musical director to invite him to join the orchestra. He performed there 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.
Inspired by a concert where he saw John Lee Hooker perform, 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), in a band called The Hipsters. During the summer of 1943–44, he played for tips at the Maxwell Street market in a band with Earl Hooker.
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). Williams later played lead guitar on "Who Do You Love?" (1956). That year he also 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. They recorded demos of "I'm A Man" and "Bo Diddley." They then 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. Bo Diddley himself said that the name first belonged to a singer his adoptive mother was familiar with.
Harmonicist Billy Boy Arnold said in an interview that the name was originally of a local comedian that Leonard Chess borrowed for the song title and artist name for Bo Diddley's first single. Guitar craftsman Ed Roman reported that another (unspecified) source says it was his nickname as a Golden Gloves boxer.
A "diddley bow" is a typically homemade American string instrument of African origin, probably developed from instruments found on the coast of west Africa. The American slang phrase bo diddly meaning "absolutely nothing" goes back possibly to the early 20th century or earlier. Diddly is a truncation of diddly-squat, retaining the same meaning of "nothing" and bo is an intensifier.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Bo Diddley spent from 1971 to 78 living in Los Lunas, New Mexico 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.
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.
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.
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 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. 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).
The stroke was followed by a heart attack, suffered in Gainesville, Florida, on August 28, 2007. 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.
Bo Diddley died at age 79 on June 2, 2008 of heart failure at his home in Archer, Florida.
Here, Bo Diddley performs “Bo Diddley” in 1965