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Pioneer Bo Diddley Dies at Age 79
By
RON WORD
The Associated Press
JACKSONVILLE,
Fla. (AP) — Bo Diddley, a founding father of
rock 'n' roll whose distinctive "shave and a haircut,
two bits" rhythm and innovative guitar effects inspired
legions of other musicians, died Monday after months of ill
health. He was 79.
Diddley
died of heart failure at his home in Archer, Fla., spokeswoman
Susan Clary said. He had suffered a heart attack in August,
three months after suffering a stroke while touring in Iowa.
Doctors said the stroke affected his ability to speak, and
he had returned to Florida to continue rehabilitation.
The legendary
singer and performer, known for his homemade square guitar,
dark glasses and black hat, was an inductee into the Rock
and Roll Hall of Fame, had a star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame,
and received a lifetime achievement award in 1999 at the Grammy
Awards. In recent years he also played for the elder President
Bush and President Clinton.
Diddley
appreciated the honors he received, "but it didn't put
no figures in my checkbook."
"If
you ain't got no money, ain't nobody calls you honey,"
he quipped.
The name
Bo Diddley came from other youngsters when he was growing
up in Chicago, he said in a 1999 interview.
"I
don't know where the kids got it, but the kids in grammar
school gave me that name," he said, adding that he liked
it so it became his stage name. Other times, he gave somewhat
differing stories on where he got the name. Some experts believe
a possible source for the name is a one-string instrument
used in traditional blues music called a diddley bow.
His first
single, "Bo Diddley," introduced record buyers in
1955 to his signature rhythm: bomp ba-bomp bomp, bomp bomp,
often summarized as "shave and a haircut, two bits."
The B side, "I'm a Man," with its slightly humorous
take on macho pride, also became a rock standard.
The company
that issued his early songs was Chess-Checkers records, the
storied Chicago-based labels that also recorded Chuck Berry
and other stars.
Howard
Kramer, assistant curator of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
in Cleveland, said in 2006 that Diddley's Chess recordings
"stand among the best singular recordings of the 20th
century."
Diddley's
other major songs included, "Say Man," "You
Can't Judge a Book by Its Cover," "Shave and a Haircut,"
"Uncle John," "Who Do You Love?" and "The
Mule."
Diddley's
influence was felt on both sides of the Atlantic. Buddy Holly
borrowed the bomp ba-bomp bomp, bomp bomp rhythm for his song
"Not Fade Away."
The Rolling
Stones' bluesy remake of that Holly song gave them their first
chart single in the United States, in 1964. The following
year, another British band, the Yardbirds, had a Top 20 hit
in the U.S. with their version of "I'm a Man."
Diddley
was also one of the pioneers of the electric guitar, adding
reverb and tremelo effects. He even rigged some of his guitars
himself.
"He
treats it like it was a drum, very rhythmic," E. Michael
Harrington, professor of music theory and composition at Belmont
University in Nashville, Tenn., said in 2006.
Many other
artists, including the Who, Bruce Springsteen and Elvis Costello
copied aspects of Diddley's style.
Growing
up, Diddley said he had no musical idols, and he wasn't entirely
pleased that others drew on his innovations.
"I
don't like to copy anybody. Everybody tries to do what I do,
update it," he said. "I don't have any idols I copied
after."
"They
copied everything I did, upgraded it, messed it up. It seems
to me that nobody can come up with their own thing, they have
to put a little bit of Bo Diddley there," he said.
Despite
his success, Diddley claimed he only received a small portion
of the money he made during his career. Partly as a result,
he continued to tour and record music until his stroke. Between
tours, he made his home near Gainesville in north Florida.
"Seventy
ain't nothing but a damn number," he told The Associated
Press in 1999. "I'm writing and creating new stuff and
putting together new different things. Trying to stay out
there and roll with the punches. I ain't quit yet."
Diddley,
like other artists of his generations, was paid a flat fee
for his recordings and said he received no royalty payments
on record sales. He also said he was never paid for many of
his performances.
"I
am owed. I've never got paid," he said. "A dude
with a pencil is worse than a cat with a machine gun."
In the
early 1950s, Diddley said, disc jockeys called his type of
music, "Jungle Music." It was Cleveland disc jockey
Alan Freed who is credited with inventing the term "rock
'n' roll."
Diddley
said Freed was talking about him, when he introduced him,
saying, "Here is a man with an original sound, who is
going to rock and roll you right out of your seat."
Diddley
won attention from a new generation in 1989 when he took part
in the "Bo Knows" ad campaign for Nike, built around
football and baseball star Bo Jackson. Commenting on Jackson's
guitar skills, Diddley turned to the camera and said, "He
don't know Diddley."
"I
never could figure out what it had to do with shoes, but it
worked," Diddley said. "I got into a lot of new
front rooms on the tube."
Born as
Ellas Bates on Dec. 30, 1928, in McComb, Miss., Diddley was
later adopted by his mother's cousin and took on the name
Ellis McDaniel, which his wife always called him.
When he
was 5, his family moved to Chicago, where he learned the violin
at the Ebenezer Baptist Church. He learned guitar at 10 and
entertained passers-by on street corners.
By his
early teens, Diddley was playing Chicago's Maxwell Street.
"I
came out of school and made something out of myself. I am
known all over the globe, all over the world. There are guys
who have done a lot of things that don't have the same impact
that I had," he said.
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