NME News

Bo Diddley dies aged 79

Guitar legend passes away from heart failure

June 2, 2008 | 7 Comments
Bo Diddley news RSS feed
More Bo Diddley news, reviews, videos and tour dates
Post this on Twitter or Follow NME

Bo Diddley died today (June 2), it has been announced.

A spokesperson confirmed that the guitar legend has passed away due to heart failure. He was 79.

The rock 'n' roll pioneer, famed for his homemade square guitar, suffered a stroke in May 2007 while touring in Iowa, which was followed by a heart attack in August the same year.

Doctors said the stroke had affected his ability to speak and he was convalescing in Florida when he died.

Diddley was born Otha Ellas Bates (and was later known as Ellas McDaniel) on 28 December 1928 in McComb, Mississippi.

Bo Diddley first came to prominence in 1955 when he topped rhythm and Blues charts with the track 'Bo Diddley', while some of his other hits included 'Who Do You Love', 'Before You Accuse Me' and 'Mona'.

Check out Bo Diddley's greatest Youtube video clips on the NME Office Blog now.

For more on Bo Diddley and a biography visit Bo-diddley.com or check out Bo Diddley's Wikipedia entry.

Bo Diddley was inducted into the Rock N Roll Hall Of Fame in 1987.

Share this story:
Del.icio.us
Digg
Furl
Reddit
Bebo

Follow NME on Twitter

More News:

PREVIOUS NERD announce new album details

NEXT Albert Hammond Jr pays tribute to Bo Diddley

Buy NME Magazine right now

Subscribe here or get this week's issue delivered to your door

Comments (7)

Add a comment

lango987

Jun 2, 2008

rip to a true music legend

acedrums

Jun 2, 2008

R.I.P Bo.

Andromeda International Records

Jun 2, 2008

Bo Diddley, like all great rock and roll legends, did not set out to be famous; unlike too many wannabes of today in an ill-fated American Idol period, Bo, an incredible musician and vocalist with an fantastic, no frills, 'let's get right down to business' stage show, just made great records. The legendary Chess Records of Chicago knew this; label heads Leonard & Phil Chess captured Bo at what he did best, singing and playing his heart out. Bo's early recordings for Chess Records on the Checker label had a distinctive sound, complimented by the musician's unique playing style that simply could not be duplicated. You did not have to know the name of the song in order to tell that was THE Bo Diddley playing on the record---whether it be his, on the instrumental guitar battle duet lp with label mate Chuck Berry (Checker), or even the wonderful Latin-tinged, sweet guitar picking on the extremely rare 78 rpm "Billy's Blues--Part One" (Argo) credited to another label mate, the immortal Billy Stewart---all of it was just Bo, just pure talent. As the music styles of the 50's changed, so did Bo's musicianship, which had never stopped growing. The 60's found Bo still rocking but able to incorporate some R & B: check out his "Oh Baby (I Love You)" where he is joined with then future pop star, Minnie Riperton on background vocals. It is common folklore of how Bo Diddley influenced many guitar players, especially those coming from the British Invasion, which would all but kill classic artists of Bo's era from TV, radio and records but, nonetheless, Bo pressed---and played---on, for decades, right up to the very end, Bo gave his audience everything he had in performance. Bo, as I gently lower the tone arm down right now on one of your great 78s, I know only your physical body left this plane. You will live on forever----in our hearts. Play a little loud at that heavenly Bo Diddley concert so I can hear a little of it down here. My deepest love goes out to the Bo Diddley family---Mark Matlock/Andromeda International Records androintl@earthlink.net

cupsfromikea

Jun 2, 2008

gutted. RIP safe in the knowledge you WERE better than Chuck Berry

Jess_a

Jun 3, 2008

R.I.P Bo Diddley who'd have thunk buying your album on the off chance at music zone could have given me so many hours of musical pleasure you could have given me, a true musical legend

Jon F

Jun 3, 2008

It's a shame that more people are commenting on My Chemical Romance's affair than this. Not that they don't deserve something, but Bo Diddley has been one of the greater influences on rock music of the past few decades and deserves much better than this.Much respect to a legend!