Bo Diddley | |
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![]() Diddley in 1957 | |
Background information | |
Birth name | Ellas Otha Bates[1] |
Also known as |
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Born | McComb, Mississippi, U.S. | December 30, 1928
Died | June 2, 2008 Archer, Florida, U.S. | (aged 79)
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Years active | 1943–2007 |
Labels | |
Website | BoDiddley.com |
Ellas Otha Bates (December 30, 1928 – June 2, 2008), known professionally as Bo Diddley, was an American guitarist and singer who played a key role in the transition from the blues to rock and roll. He influenced many artists, including Buddy Holly,[3] Elvis Presley,[4] the Beatles, the Rolling Stones,[5] the Animals, George Thorogood, Syd Barrett,[6] and the Clash.[7]
His use of African rhythms and a signature beat, a simple five-accent hambone rhythm, is a cornerstone of hip hop, rock, and pop music.[5][8][9] In recognition of his achievements, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987, the Blues Hall of Fame in 2003, and the Rhythm and Blues Music Hall of Fame in 2017.[10][8][11] He received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Rhythm and Blues Foundation and the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.[12] Diddley is also recognized for his technical innovations, including his use of tremolo and reverb effects to enhance the sound of his distinctive rectangular-shaped guitars.[13][14]
the biggest and baddest of all the original rock & rollers [...] there was far, far more to Bo than his patented beat and walloping gut-bucket blues [...] he could ease into dirty psychedelic funk-rock in the '70s
Elvis Presley, a young, still raw hayseed, was making his first trip to the Big Apple to see his new record company, and the Apollo was where he wanted to be. Night after night in New York he sat in the Apollo transfixed by the pounding rhythms, the dancing and prancing, the sexual spectacle of rhythm-and-blues masters like Bo Diddley. ... In 1955, Elvis's stage presence was still rudimentary. But watching Bo Diddley charge up the Apollo crowd undoubtedly had a profound effect on him. When he returned to New York a few months later for his first national television appearance, on Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey's "Stage Show," he again spent hours at the Apollo after rehearsals. On the Dorsey show Elvis shocked the entire country with his outrageous hip-shaking performance, and the furor that followed made him an American sensation.
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