Pirate Utopian
3rd June 2008, 11:18
Bo Diddley was a musical innovator who helped forge the sound and contributed to the style of rock 'n' roll. He sported a trademark fedora, played an iconic square-shaped guitar and from it he extracted a deep, rusty reverb and a peculiar playing style that influenced generations of players.
Diddley died Monday of heart failure at his home in Archer, Fla.; he was 79. He'd been in ill health for much of the past year, having suffered a stroke and a heart attack in 2007.
Prior to those ailments, though, Diddley remained a vigorous performer, continuing to tour regularly, as he'd done since he began performing in the mid '50s, when he helped shape rock 'n' roll.
"He was by far the most underrated of any '50s star,'' says producer Phil Spector. "You listen to those (reissued box sets) and the rhythmic invention, the consistent high quality of imagination and performance, the excellence of the writing, the power of the vocals - nobody else ever did it better or had a deeper, more penetrating influence.''
Perhaps no guitarist was more influenced by Diddley's sound and style than ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons, who carries on Diddley's tradition of strange-looking instruments and full-bodied guitar riffs with prickly solos. Gibbons called Diddley "the 'artiste.'
"He was the man who constructed the sound we all grew to revolve around,'' he said. "And a vision of simplicity delivered through effortless expression and sense of humor. Many times, Bo made a point to say, 'I'll always be around,' and we know he will.''
Diddley's biggest hit by the numbers was Say Man. It was the only song of his to hit the pop charts, reaching No. 20 in 1959. But the song that cinched his legend was the one that carried his name. Bo Diddley was a tune teeming with enough swagger and slang as to excuse the strangeness of its self-referential title.
Bo Diddley bought his babe a diamond ring
If that diamond ring don't shine,
He gonna take it to a private eye,
If that private eye can't see He'd better not take the ring from me
Diddley owned that song for obvious reasons. His other compositions became fertile soil for decades of subsequent rock and pop, blues and gospel. His music was a vital influence on the British Invasion and '70s hard rock.
Who Do You Love? is among his most covered songs, a touchstone for an entire generation of '60s rockers looking to put their own spin in the blues. It has been covered on live and studio recordings by the Rolling Stones, the Band, the Doors, Townes Van Zandt, the Jesus and Mary Chain, George Thorogood and Cross Canadian Ragweed.
The Stones' Keith Richards told Rolling Stone magazine that watching Diddley "was university for me.''
Diddley's style was built on taking the simple and adding his own flair. He brought his tremelo-heavy guitar playing to the "shave and a haircut, two bits'' 5/4 rhythm, often adding a percussionist and his raspy baritone voice to the mix.
Diddley could be cryptic about the birth of "the Bo Diddley beat.'' The official release announcing Diddley's death mentioned that he once claimed it was something he heard in church. Another time, he suggested it sprung from trying to play Gene Autry's Jingle Jangle.
The beat is a thread running through rock history from Buddy Holly's Not Fade Away to George Michael's Faith.
Diddley built his style from the name up.
He was born Ellas Otha Bates on Dec. 30, 1928, in McComb, Miss. He was raised in Chicago by his mother's cousin and took her last name, going by Ellas McDaniel. In Chicago he played music in church and on street corners. His handle was either the handiwork of childhood classmates, as he once stated in an interview, or flipped from the diddley bow, a homemade instrument of African descent shaped roughly like a guitar with a single string and played with some implement in a slide style.
Just like the name, he was known for making up his own way of playing the guitar, and also for creating his own instruments.
His first single was the Bo Diddley/I'm a Man, released in 1955. His music during the late-'50s and '60s - on the Chess and Checkers labels - defied easy categorization. There existed obvious elements of blues and gospel, but it's resistance to easy categorization made it something other.
He made a handful of landmark albums in that same era including Bo Diddley, Go Bo Diddley and Bo Diddley Is a Gunslinger. Toward the end of the '60s, he also made some fiery blues recordings with Muddy Waters and Little Walter.
By the 1970s, performers were influenced by those influenced by Diddley, rather than by the guitarist himself.
He enjoyed a late-career rediscovery through a novelty appearance in Nike's Bo Knows campaign featuring athlete Bo Jackson.
It created a fresh awareness of Diddley, who was victim to poor management during his hot years. While he made his most influential recordings, Diddley was paid flat fees and didn't see royalties for his most important work.
His last recording was the A Man Amongst Men, released in 1997 and later nominated for a Grammy. He earned a lifetime achievement award from the Grammys in 1998. Diddley was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1986.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ent/celebrities/5814037.html
Diddley died Monday of heart failure at his home in Archer, Fla.; he was 79. He'd been in ill health for much of the past year, having suffered a stroke and a heart attack in 2007.
Prior to those ailments, though, Diddley remained a vigorous performer, continuing to tour regularly, as he'd done since he began performing in the mid '50s, when he helped shape rock 'n' roll.
"He was by far the most underrated of any '50s star,'' says producer Phil Spector. "You listen to those (reissued box sets) and the rhythmic invention, the consistent high quality of imagination and performance, the excellence of the writing, the power of the vocals - nobody else ever did it better or had a deeper, more penetrating influence.''
Perhaps no guitarist was more influenced by Diddley's sound and style than ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons, who carries on Diddley's tradition of strange-looking instruments and full-bodied guitar riffs with prickly solos. Gibbons called Diddley "the 'artiste.'
"He was the man who constructed the sound we all grew to revolve around,'' he said. "And a vision of simplicity delivered through effortless expression and sense of humor. Many times, Bo made a point to say, 'I'll always be around,' and we know he will.''
Diddley's biggest hit by the numbers was Say Man. It was the only song of his to hit the pop charts, reaching No. 20 in 1959. But the song that cinched his legend was the one that carried his name. Bo Diddley was a tune teeming with enough swagger and slang as to excuse the strangeness of its self-referential title.
Bo Diddley bought his babe a diamond ring
If that diamond ring don't shine,
He gonna take it to a private eye,
If that private eye can't see He'd better not take the ring from me
Diddley owned that song for obvious reasons. His other compositions became fertile soil for decades of subsequent rock and pop, blues and gospel. His music was a vital influence on the British Invasion and '70s hard rock.
Who Do You Love? is among his most covered songs, a touchstone for an entire generation of '60s rockers looking to put their own spin in the blues. It has been covered on live and studio recordings by the Rolling Stones, the Band, the Doors, Townes Van Zandt, the Jesus and Mary Chain, George Thorogood and Cross Canadian Ragweed.
The Stones' Keith Richards told Rolling Stone magazine that watching Diddley "was university for me.''
Diddley's style was built on taking the simple and adding his own flair. He brought his tremelo-heavy guitar playing to the "shave and a haircut, two bits'' 5/4 rhythm, often adding a percussionist and his raspy baritone voice to the mix.
Diddley could be cryptic about the birth of "the Bo Diddley beat.'' The official release announcing Diddley's death mentioned that he once claimed it was something he heard in church. Another time, he suggested it sprung from trying to play Gene Autry's Jingle Jangle.
The beat is a thread running through rock history from Buddy Holly's Not Fade Away to George Michael's Faith.
Diddley built his style from the name up.
He was born Ellas Otha Bates on Dec. 30, 1928, in McComb, Miss. He was raised in Chicago by his mother's cousin and took her last name, going by Ellas McDaniel. In Chicago he played music in church and on street corners. His handle was either the handiwork of childhood classmates, as he once stated in an interview, or flipped from the diddley bow, a homemade instrument of African descent shaped roughly like a guitar with a single string and played with some implement in a slide style.
Just like the name, he was known for making up his own way of playing the guitar, and also for creating his own instruments.
His first single was the Bo Diddley/I'm a Man, released in 1955. His music during the late-'50s and '60s - on the Chess and Checkers labels - defied easy categorization. There existed obvious elements of blues and gospel, but it's resistance to easy categorization made it something other.
He made a handful of landmark albums in that same era including Bo Diddley, Go Bo Diddley and Bo Diddley Is a Gunslinger. Toward the end of the '60s, he also made some fiery blues recordings with Muddy Waters and Little Walter.
By the 1970s, performers were influenced by those influenced by Diddley, rather than by the guitarist himself.
He enjoyed a late-career rediscovery through a novelty appearance in Nike's Bo Knows campaign featuring athlete Bo Jackson.
It created a fresh awareness of Diddley, who was victim to poor management during his hot years. While he made his most influential recordings, Diddley was paid flat fees and didn't see royalties for his most important work.
His last recording was the A Man Amongst Men, released in 1997 and later nominated for a Grammy. He earned a lifetime achievement award from the Grammys in 1998. Diddley was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1986.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ent/celebrities/5814037.html