Bo Diddley, a rhythm-and-blues pioneer who was one of the major architects of rock 'n' roll, died Monday from heart failure at his home in Archer, Fla., where he had lived for the past 20 years. He was 79.
Under a nickname he always claimed childhood pals gave him, Ellas Bates became an instant legend with his 1955 debut recording, "Bo Diddley," a song he performed on TV's "Ed Sullivan Show" - a year before Elvis Presley brought rock 'n' roll to American living rooms on the same program.
Mr. Diddley's music was a cornerstone of the rock 'n' roll revolution. Everybody who followed - from Buddy Holly to the Rolling Stones, from the Grateful Dead to the Clash - knew his music, covered his songs and incorporated his trademark beat into their own records.
He never lost a feeling of resentment that his signature rhythm couldn't be copyrighted and that record royalties went unpaid. "I am owed, and I never got paid," he told Associated Press in 1999. "A dude with a pencil is worse than a cat with a machine gun."
He was inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987 and given a Lifetime Achievement Grammy in 1998. He performed at the second Clinton inauguration, "but it didn't put no figures in my checkbook," he told AP. "If you ain't got no money, nobody calls you honey."
Mr. Diddley was more than the syncopated beat, funky fur-covered or rectangular guitars, Coke-bottle glasses and sleek pompadour. His music evoked a secret world, a realm equally populated by sinister forces and comic consequences. The sound clearly evoked black culture at a time when segregation kept it hidden from widespread view. He was a frankly unapologetic black artist, proud and defiant, who brought an earthy sensuality and often raunchy humor into the pop world.
Born in 1928 as Ellas Bates in McComb, Miss., he was later adopted by his mother's cousin and changed his name to Ellis McDaniel, a name he used throughout his career as songwriter. He started performing at age 11 on the streets of Chicago. His first songwriting hit was "Love Is Strange" for Mickey and Sylvia in 1957. His own "Say Man," where he and maracas player Jerome Green trade insults, made No. 20 on the pop charts in 1959. He cut 11 albums for Chicago's Chess Records between 1958 and 1963.
Mr. Diddley never stopped recording. His last album, "A Man Amongst Men," was a 1997 all-star affair that featured performances by Keith Richards and Ron Wood of the Rolling Stones, among others. The Stones, a band whose own music owes a great debt to Diddley's, first met the man when he toured England in 1963 with the Everly Brothers and the nascent British R&B group was opening the shows.
"Watching Bo Diddley was university for me," Keith Richards told Rolling Stone magazine recently.
He was a popular attraction at '60s San Francisco psychedelic ballrooms, the Avalon or the Fillmore, where his bluesy sound and guitar improvisations fit right into the scene. He can be heard playing for more than half an hour with the Grateful Dead at New York's Academy of Music in 1972 on the Dead's CD series, "Dick's Picks."
His music never went away. Not only did it continue to turn up on movie soundtracks such as "Dirty Dancing," "Color of Money," "Boys Don't Cry" and others, his songs have been recorded by a vast number of other artists. A particular favorite of the British Invasion era bands, Mr. Diddley saw his songs recorded by the Rolling Stones, the Kinks, the Yardbirds, Jimi Hendrix, the Who, and others. His songs also live on in the repertoires of the Band, the Doors, Patti Smith, Creedence Clearwater, Eric Clapton, Bob Seger, Iggy Pop and the Stooges, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Steve Miller, George Thorogood, among others.
He became a recognizable brand and starred with football/baseball player Bo Jackson in popular Nike television commercials in 1989. He recently joined with Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top to create the Billy-Bo-Jupiter Thunderbird guitar for Gretsch, a model based on the instantly recognizable cigar-box shape of Bo Diddley's classic instrument that will be featured in the impending video game, "Rock Band 2."
He only stopped performing after suffering a stroke in Council Bluffs, Iowa in May 2007. He had a heart attack last August and returned home in Florida to continue rehabilitation after the stroke affected his ability to speak.
He is survived by his children: Ellas A. McDaniel of Gainesville, and Evelyn Kelly, Tammi D. McDaniel and Terri Lynn McDaniel of Archer, all in Florida. He is also survived by 15 grandchildren, 15 great-grandchildren, and three great-great-grandchildren.
A public funeral will be held next Saturday in Gainesville.