Bo Diddley

Bo Diddley, born Ellas Otha Bates on December 30, 1928, and later known as Ellas McDaniel, was an American singer, guitarist and songwriter widely regarded as one of the founding figures of rock and roll. Raised in Chicago after being born in McComb, Mississippi, he originally trained on violin before switching to guitar after hearing John Lee Hooker perform live. He signed with Checker Records, a subsidiary of Chess Records, in the mid-1950s.

Diddley is best known for the syncopated, Afro-Cuban-derived rhythm pattern that came to be called the «Bo Diddley beat», first showcased on his 1955 self-titled single «Bo Diddley» and carried through hits like «I'm a Man», «Who Do You Love?» and «Say Man». His raw, propulsive guitar sound, often played on custom-built rectangular «cigar box» guitars, and his showmanship on stage made him a defining live act even as his chart success cooled through the 1960s.

His influence on rock music is difficult to overstate: Buddy Holly, the Rolling Stones, the Who, the Doors and Bruce Springsteen have all cited him as a formative influence, and the Bo Diddley beat itself became a recurring building block across decades of rock, pop and R&B. He continued performing until shortly before his death on June 2, 2008, remembered as a pioneering architect of rock and roll's rhythmic vocabulary.