Who is Bo Diddley

Bo Diddley is a self-invented man, when it comes to his history. If you read interviews from the past several decades, you'll find him telling many different stories in response to the same questions about his influences and sources. Some details, however, seem to remain constant. He went from a boxer to a singer to a violin player before he got hooked on blues guitar, in part through the influence of John Lee Hooker. And then Bo Diddley discovered rock and roll. With all of that history, how could he not be a legend in his own time (and beyond, since his death in June, 2008)?

Bo Diddley toured with The Everly Brothers, Little Richard, and the brand-new Rolling Stones in 1963. He played with The Grateful Dead in 1972, The Clash in 1979, and The Rolling Stones again in 1994. Muddy Waters wrote Mannish Boy in response to his hit I'm a Man. Who Do You Love was so amazing that was covered by the Doors, the Grateful Dead, Carlos Santana, the Band, and the Yardbirds, and George Thorogood had a massive hit with the song. Rolling Stone Magazine named him twentieth on their list of the hundred greatest artists of all time, with a fabulous tribute from Iggy Pop. Heck, the Jesus and Mary Chain recorded a song called Bo Diddley Is Jesus.

Through four wives, four children, and thousands of performances, Bo Diddley kept inventing and creating. His success came through clean living and nasty lyrics. While steering clear of drugs and alcohol, he wrote raw, in-your-face music that never pulled any punches and preceded the later rap and hip-hop tactics of talking about yourself and your way with women. And all of the while, the songs were fun--fun to hear, fun to dance to, fun to try your luck at playing.

Not only did Bo Diddley popularize his famous back-beat and playing style, but he learned how to make instruments and taught himself to make and tweak various electric embellishments that made them sound just the way he wished. To his iconic rectangular guitars he added buttons, knobs, and switches that changed the music to suit his mood and lyrics. He claims to have invented the gadget that have the rock world tremolo and allowed folks like Jimi Hendrix to develop their own signature sound.

Bo Diddley also pioneered the home recording studio and modified equipment to do exactly what he wanted. Diddley was a man not satisfied with the status quo in instrumentation and gadgetry--he knew what he wanted and taught himself how to get it, at least where his guitar was concerned. He went from a street musician to one of the icons of rock and roll by knowing exactly what his instruments could do and by playing and singing anything it took to get audiences moving at his live performances.