Bo Diddley was born on December 30, 1928 in McComb, Mississippi under the name Elias Bates. He was adopted by his mother's cousin at age eight and changed his last name to McDaniel. His started his musical career by taking classical violin lesson, but switched to guitar after listening to John Lee Hooker on the radio. He got his nickname Bo Diddley from when he boxed during his teen years. He attended a vocational high school where he learned to make violins and guitars, but left school to work at manual jobs. He played his guitar on street corners in earn money. He left home because of a conflict with relatives and his church decrying his "devil's music."
In 1954, Diddley and his band recorded a demo record and circulated it among record producers. It was heard by Chess Records who had Diddley re-record the song (to remove the obscenities) and named it "Bo Diddley." It made it to number 2 on the Billboard R&B chart. Mark Guarino of the Arlington Heights Daily Herald said that ".Diddley infused a raw, distorted guitar power that hadn't been heard before." This helped to lay the foundation for rock and roll.
Like many other musicians, Bo Diddley fell on hard times during the 1960s. His guitar techniques and style was considered old school and work was hard to find. Diddley sold the rights to some of his songs in order to meet expenses and finance his children's education. Like many early musicians he received few royalties from his music; most of the earnings were siphoned off by record producers, music publishers, and booking agents. He has fought legal battles since 1980 trying to get the money due him and is very outspoken on underpayment, bad contracts, and other ripoffs perpetrated on early rock and roll musicians.
His live performances have been described as galvanizing with his hats and trademark square guitars. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987, received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Rhythm and Blues Foundation in 1996, a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and a Lifetime Achievement Grammy in 1998.
He died June 2, 2008 from heart failure. He was at his home recovering from a heart attack suffered in August 2007 only three months after he suffered a stroke.
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