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+in memoriam. bo diddley

Radio. Manabu Yamaguchi

.::in memoriam

bo diddley musician. blues man. inventor
Perhaps equal parts musician and inventor, Diddley brought a subversive yet full blown verbosity to the world of creation. As evidence we submit to you this list of inventions: The name “Bo Diddley,” the popularization of the “tremolo” effect in guitar playing, the “Big B” square body guitar, the three strokes/rest/two strokes syncopated beat (i.e. the Rock and Roll beat), the notion that women guitarists could riff with the big boys, and, for that matter, Rock and Roll itself. Even the concept of Battle Rap may have ostensibly flowed from the mind of Bo. The man was, quite simply, an innovator in every sense of the word. As is customary here at Nat Creole, we try to ensure that no tree falls silently in the woods. Bo Diddley was one of the biggest trees in the forest of 20th century music. His passing shall not go without the sound of horns. Let the trumpets blare. Rest in Peace Bo Diddley. Thank you.
1928 Bo Diddley is born on December 30 under the name Otha Ellas Bates in McComb, Mississippi, a small town near the border of Louisiana. Gussie McDaniel, the first cousin of Diddly’s mother, primarily raised Bates and also raised three children of her own. 1934 McDaniel moves her family to the South Side of Chicago when Diddley was 6 years old. 1935 A neighborhood family gives Diddley a violin. He would play the instrument vigorously for the 8 years and the technique he established would greatly influence his guitar playing. 1949 John Lee Hooker’s R&B hit, “Boogie Chillen” inspires Diddley to switch his instrument of choice from the violin to the guitar. 1951 Diddley forms a band called the Hipsters (later the Langley Avenue Jive Cats) while in high school and lands a gig at the 708 Club on the South Side of Chicago after performing in the Maxwell Street Open Air Market. 1953 Sugar Boy Crawford records “Jock-A-Mo,” a New Orleans mambo song that incorporated the Afro-Cuban clave. This signature rhythm would play a great role in the music of Bo Diddley. 1954 Diddley makes a demo with his band, which now included Jerome Green on maracas, which ends up in the hands of Phil and Leonard Chess of Chess Records. Impressed with the sloshing sound of Diddley’s tremolo on the guitar, the brothers decide to release the group’s first single. 1955 Diddley records his monumental first single, “Bo Diddley” b/w “I’m a Man,” on Checkers Records. It tops the R&B chart for two weeks. Diddley makes his network TV debut on The Ed Sullivan Show. Asked to play “Sixteen Tons,” the song popularized by Tennessee Ernie Ford, Diddley plays “Bo Diddley” instead. An enraged Sullivan tells Diddley that he would never work in television again and it is another 10 years before the guitarist appears on a network show. 1956 Diddley releases “Pretty Thing” which goes on to become a Top Forty hit and one of his most recognizable songs. 1957 After losing his guitar player Jody Williams to the Army, Diddley hires Peggy Jones (Ne. Lady Bo) to replace him. Lady Bo becomes the first woman to play in Major Rock and Roll act. 1959 Diddley records what some believe to be the first “ Battle” Rap caught on record. “Say Man,” a kind of novelty record that featured Diddley and maracas player Jerome Green playing the dozens would go on to enter the Pop Top Forty and give Diddley his greatest cross-over success. 1963 Diddley completes his highly successful tour of Britain, performing with the Everly Brothers, Little Richard and the Rolling Stones, as the opening act. 1964 Diddley teams up with another Rock and Roll legend in Chuck Berry to release the album, Two Great Guitars. The album includes monumental guitar jams in which the two legends trade off and on. 1966 Bo Diddley releases The Originator, an album whose title reflects his rightful conviction that he was a rock and roll pioneer. 1971 With his career seemingly in decline, Diddley picks up and moves to New Mexico and settles in the town of Los Lunas. Diddley later becomes a deputy sheriff in the town while still making music. 1974 Diddley’s contract with Chess Records expires, thus ending the legendary relationship between the two entities. 1969 The Super Blues Band, a collaboration between Muddy Waters, Bo Diddley and Little Walter, is released on Checkers Records. 1979 Joe Strummer and Paul Simonon of the legendary British punk-rock group The Clash recruit Diddley to be their opening act on group’s inaugural U.S. tour. 1987 Diddley is inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame at the second annual induction dinner Diddley and Ron Wood of the Rolling Stones form the group The Gunslingers and set out on a North American tour. 1989 Diddley appears in the popular “Bo knows….” Nike ad campaign in which he tells baseball great Bo Jackson, “Bo, you don’t know Diddley.” 1996 Diddley receives the Lifetime Achievement Award at the seventh annual Rhythm and Blues Foundation Pioneer Awards in Los Angeles. Diddley receives a Grammy nomination for A Man Among Men, his last major-label album. The album marks Diddley’s return to the major label market and features an all star cast of musicians including Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones. 1998 Diddley is inducted into the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences Hall of Fame as a musician of lasting historical importance. 2007 After a concert in Council Bluffs, Iowa, Diddley suffers a stroke and is taken to the Creighton University Medical Center. 2008 On June 2, Bo Diddley dies at age 79 of heart failure at his home in Archer, Florida.
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