Bo Diddley
In the 1950s, as a founder of rock 'n' roll, Bo Diddley helped to reshape the sound of popular music worldwide. His original style of rhythm and blues influenced
generations of musicians. He was one of rock's most influential artists because he had something nobody else could claim, his own beat: chink-a-chink-chink,
ca-chink-chink; a syncopated beat (also known as "hambone" or "shave-and-a-haircut-two-bits"). It can be found in Buddy Holly's "Not Fade Away," Johnny
Otis's "Willie and the Hand Jive," among hundreds of other songs.<br><br>
Bo was born Otha Ellas Bates in McComb, MS. He was reared primarily by Gussie McDaniel, a first cousin of his mother, Esther Wilson. After the death of her
husband, Ms. McDaniel, who had three children of her own, took the family to Chicago, where young Otha's name was legally changed to Ellas B. McDaniel. He
was 6 when the family resettled on Chicago's South Side. He described his youth as one of school, church, trouble with street toughs and playing the violin for
both band and orchestra. Ellas studied classical violin from 7 to 15 and started on guitar at 12.<br><br>
He began performing in a duo with his friend Roosevelt Jackson, who played the washtub bass. They became a trio when another guitarist, Jody Williams was
added, then a quartet when a harmonica player, Billy Boy Arnold, was added. The band, first called the Hipsters and then the Langley Avenue Jive Cats, started
playing at the Maxwell Street open-air market. They were sometimes joined by another friend, Samuel Daniel, known as Sandman because of the shuffling
rhythms he made with his feet on a wooden board sprinkled with sand.<br><br>
Bo could not make a living playing with the Jive Cats in the early days, so he found jobs where he could: at a grocery
store, a picture-frame factory, and a blacktop company. He worked as an elevator operator and a meat packer. He also
started boxing, hoping to turn professional. In 1954, Bo made a demo recording with his band, which now included
Jerome Green on maracas. Chess Records liked the demo, especially Mr. Diddley's tremolo on the guitar, a sound
that seemed to slosh around like water. They saw it as a promising novelty and encouraged the group to return.
Otha Ellas McDaniel had a new name and the title of a new song, whose lyrics began, "Bo Diddley bought his babe
a diamond ring." "Bo Diddley" became the A side of his first single, in 1955, on the Checker label, a subsidiary of
Chess. It reached No. 2 on the Billboard singles chart. From 1958 and 1963, Checker released 11 full-length albums
by Bo Diddley.