Bo Diddley Found Dead 2008-06-02 by Dave de Sylvia EMERITUS | 8 Comments | Bo Diddley, one of the founding fathers of rock n' roll (and was lucky enough to meet and jam with the hair metal god Jay Link in the '80s), has died.
Diddley, best known for popularising the "Bo Diddley beat," has battled with chronic illness for some time, and finally succumbed to heart failure on Sunday night/Monday morning.
Diddley was born Ellas Otha Bates on December 30, 1928 in McComb, Mississippi to a teenage mother. He was adopted by his mother's cousin's family and took the name McDaniel, moving with the family to Chicago aged seven, one of the hotspots for commercial blues music in the pre-war period.
In 1951, McDaniel adopted the stage name Bo Diddley, a southern slang phrase meaning "nothing at all," when he was offered his first residency at a local club. In 1954, he cut the track "Bo Diddley," the first recorded instance of the "Bo Diddley Beat" on a Bo Diddley record- and what an appropriate name to choose! He developed his own distinctively rectangular "Twang Machine" guitar, which was later developed by the Gretsch guitar company.
Diddley was known as "the Originator," a reference to the seminal influence he's had on so many of rock n' roll's subgenres, from surf rock to glam rock and hip hop. The distinctively rhythmic style of his music, where songs would often contain no chord changes, relying on rhythmic rather than harmonic development, can be seen as one of the most pivotal developments in 20th Century pop music.
Bo Diddley was 79.
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Tagged: Bo Diddley
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the man was cool as shit. rip....
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RIP Mr Diddley.
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RIP
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nnnnnnnooooooooooo
RIP
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this sucks so much. RIP  look how awesome that guitar thingamabob he's using is. *sigh*
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RIP.
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he had a long life so rip
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I never listened to his music, but you have to respect the legacy he left behind
R.I.P
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