BLACK HISTORY SPOTLIGHT: BO DIDDLEY

Thursday, June 5, 2008

In honor of Black Music Month, Concrete Loop will feature a musician as a Black History Spotlight each week during the month of June. Bo Diddley, who influenced rockers and rappers alike, died earlier this week at the age of 79.

Bo Diddley (1928-2008) was a key figure in the blues genre and creator of one of the foundational rhythms of rock and roll: the Bo Diddley beat.

Bo Diddley was born Ellas Otha Bates on a small farm near McComb, Mississippi. At 8 months old, he was adopted and raised by his mother’s cousin, Gussie McDaniel, whose last name he took and became Ellas McDaniel. When Ellas was 6 or 7, the family moved to Chicago, which is where he got the name Bo Diddley from the kids at Willard Elementary School. Bo Diddley studied violin as a child and also taught himself how to play guitar after seeing John Lee Hooker.

Bo Diddley began his musical career playing on street corners with friends as a band called the Hipsters, later known as 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.

In 1951, he landed a regular spot at the 708 Club on the south side of Chicago. In late 1954, he teamed up with Billy Boy Arnold and recorded demos of “I’m a Man” and “Bo Diddley“. The latter became an R&B hit in 1955, and before long, his distorted, amplified, custom-made guitar with its rectangular shape and pumping rhythm style became a familiar, much-imitated trademark.

On Nov. 20, 1955, Bo Diddley appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show and infuriated the host. Bo Diddley had been asked to sing a pop song about the misery of coal mining, “Sixteen Tons“. However, he sang “Bo Diddley”. He later recalled: “Ed Sullivan says to me in plan words: ‘You are the first black boy that ever double crossed me!’ I was ready to fight, because I was a little young dude off the streets of Chicago, an’ him callin’ me ‘black’ in them days was as bad as sayin’ ‘nigger’. My manager says to me, ‘That’s Mr. Sullivan!’ I said: ‘I don’t give a shit about Mr. Sullivan, he don’t talk to me like that!’ An’ so he told me, he says, ‘I’ll see that you never work no more in show business. You’ll never get another TV show in your life!’” This substitution resulted in Bo Diddley being banned from further appearances on the show.

He continued to have hits through the 1950s and 1960s and released 11 full-length albums for Checker Records. Bo Diddley broke through as a crossover artist with white audiences, but rarely tailored his compositions to teenage concerns. In 1963, he starred in UK concert tour with the Everly Brothers and Little Richard. The then-unknown Rolling Stones appeared much lower on the same bill.

In 1971, Bo Diddley lived in Los Lunas, New Mexico, where he served as a law officer while continuing his musical career. He served for two and a half years as Deputy Sheriff in the Valencia County Citizens’ Patrol and during that time, he personally purchased and donated three highway patrol pursuit cars.

Over the decades, his performances ranged from sweaty Chicago clubs to rock and roll oldies tours. On March 25, 1972, he played with The Grateful Dead at the Academy of Music in New York. He appeared as an opening act for The Clash in 1979 and as a guest of the Rolling Stones. Bo Diddley was one of the first American male musicians to include women in his band and also set up one of the first home recording studios.

The British Invasion helped increase the public’s awareness of Bo Diddley’s importance. However, his career as a recording artist in commercial and artistic terms was over by the time the British music invasion hit America. He recorded with declining frequency and his writing or recording material was never on par with his early classics.

In 1987, Bo Diddley was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and did a classic Nike television commercial with Bo Jackson. That same year, he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He received the Lifetime Achievement award by the Rhythm and Blues Foundation at the Seventh Annual Pioneer Awards in 1996.

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 and Robbie Robertson at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s 20th annual induction ceremony. and in the UK, Uncut magazine included his 1958 debut album “Bo Diddley” in its listing of the ‘100 Music, Movie & TV Moments That Have Changed The World’.

On May 17, 2007, Bo Diddley was admitted to intensive care in Creighton University Medical Center in Omaha, Nebraska, following a stroke during a concert at Council Bluffs, Iowa. Tests indicated that the stroke affected the left side of his brain, impairing his speech and speech recognition. A spokeswoman said that Diddley was in “guarded” condition. While recovering, he came back to his hometown for the unveiling of a plaque on the National Blues Trail devoted to him.

Bo Diddley died on June 2, 2008, of heart failure at his home in Archer, Florida. Divorced from his fourth wife, Bo Diddley is survived by four children, 15 grandchildren, 15 great-grandchildren, three great-great-grandchildren and a brother.