h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Hi,

Thank you very much for linking to the BO DIDDLEY-The Originator website, the most detailed and accurate source of information about the legendary Bo Diddley on the web.

Please note, however, that contrary to the information stated in the heading for the Music Website Jukebox Gold section, that Bo Diddley is still very much alive and well and performing around the world in the year 2002.

David Blakey, Webmaster,
BO DIDDLEY-The Originator
A Celebration of his unique contribution to Popular Music.

Thank you for being so polite after that very unfortunate blunder on my part! I'm very sorry about the mistake, and delighted to hear that Bo is not only alive but also very active. His link has, of course, now been hastily moved to the correct section of the Jukebox page!

Hi,

Thank you very much!

Visitors to your great Music Website Jukebox might be interested to learn that one of the founding fathers of rock music and the popularizer of the world-famous "Bo Diddley beat", singer and guitarist Bo Diddley is to be honored with the National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters' (NABOB) prestigious Pioneer in Entertainment Award at the 18th Annual NABOB Communications Awards Dinner due to be held in Washington, DC on Friday March 8th 2002.

Bo Diddley's innovative pounding and hypnotic, Latin-tinged beat, his vast array of electric custom-built guitars, his use of reverb, tremelo and distortion to make his guitars talk, mumble and roar, his use of female musicians, his wild stage shows, and his on-record and on-stage rapping pre-date all others.

Born Ellas Bates in 1928 near the town of McComb, Mississippi, and later adopting the name Ellas McDaniel, Bo Diddley moved with his adopted family to the south side of Chicago in the mid-1930s. Initially studying the violin before taking up the guitar, it was around this time that he acquired the nickname "Bo Diddley" from his fellow pupils at the Foster Vocational High School in Chicago.

The newly-named Bo Diddley had long been fascinated by the rhythms that he heard coming from the sanctified churches. A frustrated drummer, he tried to translate the sounds that he heard into his own style. Gradually he began to duplicate what he did with his violin bow by rapidly flicking his pick across his guitar strings. He continued to practice the guitar through his early teens. Shortly before leaving school he formed his first group, a trio named The Hipsters, (later known as The Langley Avenue Jive Cats, after the Chicago street where he lived). In 1950, his still fondly-remembered maracas player Jerome Green joined the group, followed a year later by harmonica player Billy "Boy" Arnold.

After more than a decade of playing on street corners and in clubs around Chicago, Bo Diddley finally got the chance to cut a demo of 2 songs that he had written; "Uncle John" and "I'm A Man". After various rejections from local record labels, in the spring of 1955 he took the recordings to brothers Leonard and Phil Chess, the owners of Chess Records, and at their suggestion he changed the title and the lyrics of "Uncle John" to more reflect his own unique personality.

The 2 songs were re-recorded on March 2nd 1955, and released as a double A-side disc "Bo Diddley"/"I'm A Man" on the Chess Records subsidiary label Checker Records. It went straight to the top of the rhythm 'n' blues charts, establishing Bo Diddley as one of the most exciting and original new talents in American music.

With musical influences of his own ranging from Louis Jordan to John Lee Hooker, and from Nat "King" Cole to Muddy Waters, Bo Diddley was now set to help shape and define the sound and presentation of popular music for all time. From Elvis Presley to George Thorogood, from The Rolling Stones to ZZ Top, from The Doors to The Clash, from Buddy Holly to Prince, and from The Everly Brothers to Run DMC, all acknowledged the unique influences of Bo Diddley upon their own different styles of music.

In 1957 the first of several female musicians, Peggy Jones (aka Lady Bo), joined his group on electric guitar, followed in the early-1960s by Norma-Jean Wofford (aka Duchess) and by Cornelia Redmond (aka Cookie) in 1965. His current bass player, Debby Hastings began playing in his band in the mid-1980s and his current keyboards player (and manager), Margo Lewis, in the mid-1990s.

A string of hit records such as "Diddley Daddy", "I'm Sorry", "Crackin' Up", "Say Man", "Say Man, Back Again", "Road Runner", "You Can't Judge A Book By The Cover" and "Ooh Baby" during the 1950s and 1960s followed by several memorable appearances in movies such as "Sweet Toronto", "Let The Good Times Roll", "Trading Places" and "Hail! Hail! Rock & Roll" throughout the 1970s and 1980s, securing his place at the very heart of rock & roll and rhythm & blues music.

Now in his early 70s, Bo Diddley is still very much active in the recording studio and in the clubs and the concert halls around the world. He performed a rousing version of his classic song "Who Do You Love" with George Thorogood & The Destroyers in front of a TV audience of millions at the Live Aid Concert in Philadelphia in 1985. A couple of years later he was deservedly an early inductee into the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame. In 1996 he received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Rhythm 'n' Blues Foundation and in 1998 received another Lifetime Achievement Award this time from The Recording Academy at that year's annual Grammy Awards Ceremony. More recently, yet further honors were justifiably awarded to him when he was inducted into The Mississippi Musicians Hall of Fame, The North Florida Music Association Hall of Fame and on March 8th of this year he will be awarded the prestigious Pioneer In Entertainment Award by The National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters (NABOB).

NABOB is a non-profit corporation that represents the interests of African-American owners of radio and TV stations across the USA. The annual NABOB awards dinners honor persons who have made significant contributions to the broadcasting and entertainment industries and who have furthered the interests of the African-American community.

In the words of one of his many famous eponymous songs, "Bo Diddley Put The Rock in Rock 'n' Roll", and remember..... Bo Knows!

David Blakey, Webmaster,
BO DIDDLEY-The Originator
A Celebration of Bo Diddley's unique contribution to Popular Music.

Thank you! There's easily enough information in that last posting to make a great h2g2 Guide Entry on Bo Diddley! Would you like to submit it, or shall I?

Hi,

Thank you very much again!

Please do feel free to take any of the information in my postings here, and submit it to make a h2g2 Guide Entry on Bo Diddley. Thank you.

Bo Diddley has very warm feelings towards the British people. In the 1960s, a number of the influential English rhythm & blues groups such as The Rolling Stones, The Yardbirds, Manfred Mann, The Animals, The Kinks and The Who began performing his songs, and a number of English groups, such as The Pretty Things, The Diddley Daddies, The Roadrunners and The Cops 'n' Robbers, even named themselves after the titles of Bo Diddley songs.

As recently as November 2001, Bo Diddley performed to sell-out audiences in London and at the world-famous Cavern Club in Liverpool, England, and he hopes very much to be able to return to perform for many more of his fans in Britain later in 2002.

David Blakey, Webmaster,
BO DIDDLEY-The Originator
A Celebration of his unique contribution to Popular Music.