Diddley scored few hit records but was one of rock's most influential artists nonetheless, because he had something nobody else could claim, his own beat: chink-a-chink-chink, ca-chink-chink.
Mr. Perkins, who dropped out of school after the third grade, taught himself the rudiments of blues guitar on a homemade instrument called a diddley bow: a length of wire stretched between nails driven into a wall.
As fans of the electric blues, a style being heard in Chicago after World War II, they signed such artists as Muddy Waters, Willie Dixon, Chuck Berry, Howlin' Wolf, Etta James, Koko Taylor, and Bo Diddley and played a major role in introducing black music to a wider white audience.
That syncopated beat (also known as "hambone" or "shave-and-a-haircut two-bits") had shave-and-a-haircut two-bitshythm-and-blueshave-and-a-haircut two-bitsiddley shave-and-a-haircut two-bitsit up.
(Among the rhythm-and-blues records that seem to have influenced Holly most were "Work with Me, Annie" by Hank Ballard and the Midnighters, "Bo Diddley" by Bo Diddley, and "Love Is Strange" by Mickey and Sylvia. Guitar riffs and rhythmic ideas from these three records crop up repeatedly in his work).
For all that, Diddley hit the pop charts just five times and the Top 20 only once (even though his 1955 debut single, "Bo Diddley," backed with "I'm a Man," was number one on the rhythm-and-blues charts).
He used tremolo, fuzz, and feedback effects to create a guitar sound on which only Jimi Hendrix has expanded (consider sonic outbursts like "Bo Diddley").
The company was known for its recordings of blues artists who had moved to Chicago from the Mississippi Delta and launched the careers of such musicians as Muddy Waters, Buddy Guy, Howlin' Wolf, Willie Dixon, Bo Diddley, Etta James, and Chuck Berry.
December 30 , 1928McComb, Mississippi June 2, 2008 Archer, Florida Bo Diddley, original name Ellas Bates, later Ellas McDaniel (born December 30 , 1928 McComb, Mississippi, U.S. died June 2, 2008, Archer, Florida) American singer, songwriter, and guitarist who was one of the most influential performers of rock music's early period.
