Ellas Otha Bates was born in McComb, Mississippi on 30th December 1928, and was adopted and raised by his mother's cousin, Gussie McDaniel, whose surname he assumed. In 1934, the McDaniel family moved to the South Side of Chicago, where he dropped Otha from his name and became Ellas McDaniel. He was an active member of Chicago's Ebenezer Baptist Church, where he studied the trombone and violin, becoming so proficient on the violin that the musical director invited him to join the orchestra, although he was more interested in the pulsating, rhythmic music he heard at a local Pentecostal Church and took up the guitar instead. He supplemented his income as a carpenter and mechanic by playing on street corners with friends, and by 1951 he was playing on the street with backing from Roosevelt Jackson on washtub bass and Jody Williams. That was also the year he landed a regular spot at the 708 Club, on Chicago's South Side, and in late 1954 he teamed up with harmonica player Billy Boy Arnold, drummer Clifton James and bass player Roosevelt Jackson to record demos of his songs 'I'm a Man' and 'Bo Diddley'. By this time he'd adopted the name Bo Diddley as his stage persona, although the origin of the name is unclear. McDaniel claimed that his school classmates in Chicago gave him the nickname, which he started using when sparring and boxing in the neighborhood, even though he suspected it was an insult, but he has also said that the name first belonged to a singer his adoptive mother knew. Harmonicist Billy Boy Arnold said that it was a local comedian's name, which Leonard Chess adopted as McDaniel's stage name and the title of his first single. Whatever the truth, when the single 'Bo Diddley' was released in March 1955, it became a number one R&B hit, and a legend was born. One of the unique aspects of Diddley's career is that he often wrote songs about this adopted persona, and it occurred to me that by collecting all the songs which were written about this ubiquitous character, we would have a really interesting overview of his career, as it would include well-known hits, obscure album tracks, and some classy instrumentals. So here is the life of Bo Diddley in music, covering his professional career as a lumberjack, gunslinger and outlaw, his personal life as a lover and father ('Diddley Daddy', 'Run Diddley Daddy'), and relaxing at the Hootenanny and on vacation.
01 Bo Diddley
02 Bo Diddley's A Gunslinger
03 Bo's Guitar
04 Bo Diddley Is An Outlaw
05 Hey! Bo Diddley
06 Bo's Bounce
07 Bo Diddley's Hootenanny
08 Bo's A Lumberjack
09 Bo Diddley Is A Lover
10 Bo's Twist
11 Diddley Daddy
12 The Story Of Bo Diddley
13 Bo Meets The Monster
14 Bo's Vacation
15 Bo Diddley Is Loose
16 Run Diddley Daddy
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