Rock legend gone at 79
By Alvin A. Reid Of the St. Louis American
Chuck Berry had more hits with Chess Records, but Bo Diddley left an impression on rock ‘n’ roll that is just as permanent.
Diddley, whose driving back beat led to several of his own hits and mega successes for bands including the Rolling Stones, The Who and George Thorogood and the Destroyers, died of heart failure on Monday morning (June 2, 2008) at his home in Archer, Fla.
He was 79.
There were more than 35 family members at his home when he passed away.
“There was a gospel song that was sang and he said, ‘Wow,’ with a thumbs up. The song was ‘Walk Around Heaven,’ and in his last words he stated that he was going to heaven,” said Garry Mitchell, a grandson of Diddley.
The Rolling Stones covered Diddley songs Mona and Crackin’ Up, and Mick Jagger called him “a wonderful, original musician who was an enormous force in music and was a big influence on (us).”
Jagger said, “He was very generous to us in our early years and we learned a lot from him. We will never see his like again.”
Locally, radio pioneer and St. Louis American columnist Bernie Hayes said, “I have lost a good friend. He was amazing and one of the greatest exponents of R&B and the blues, and he was one of the most popular musicians all over the world.”
Hayes praised Diddley’s “creativity and distinct, unorthodox style of playing his guitar and his vocal style.”
“He always focused on his fans, as much as his music and he really knew how to work the crowd.”
Bo Diddley was born in Mississippi and raised in Chicago. He first played violin and trombone before John Lee Hooker inspired him and he took up the electric guitar.
B.B. King told the Los Angeles Times “one of the founding fathers of rock ‘n’ roll has left the building he helped construct.”
His unique square guitars (often homemade) earned him a record contract with Chess Records, and in 1955 he had his first hit with the two-sided “Bo Diddley/I’m A Man.”
He had several hits in the late 1950s and early 1960s. His appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show has become a classic video, and helped lead to his induction the Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame in 1987.
More than any song, Diddley is best known for a distinctive rhythm pattern known to most musicians as “the Bo Diddley beat.” Because American intellectual property law protects lyrics and melodies but not rhythms, Diddley was unable to capitalize on his greatest innovation.
When this was pointed out to him by an interviewer, Diddley proudly said, “So what? I ain’t starving.”
Born Ellas Bates, Diddley later took the last name of Gussie McDaniel, a cousin who helped raise him. According to Diddley’s website, the exact origin of his stage name is unknown; some sources say he picked it up while boxing as a young man, others that it came from a one-string instrument called a Diddley bow.”
Diddley’s last St. Louis area performance was Sept. 7, 2006 at The Voodoo Lounge in Harrah’s Casino. Recent St. Louis scheduled appearances were cancelled because of his health.
“To say he will be missed is a gross understatement,” said Hayes.