Rock, R&B pioneer Bo Diddley dies at 79

Rock-and-roll pioneer Bo Diddley [ tickets ], whose distinctive guitar style informed generations of performers who followed in his footsteps, died early Monday. He was 79.Diddley, who for months had suffered from poor health, died of heart failure in his Archer, FL, home, according to his spokesperson, Susan Clary. The Rock and Roll Hall of Famer had suffered a heart attack last August, three months after suffering a stroke while on tour in Iowa that affected his ability to speak. Born Ellas Otha Bates in McComb, MS, Diddley adopted his stage name early on, and supplied differing accounts of its origin throughout his life, once telling an interviewer "the kids in grammar school gave me that name."After working a variety of jobs as a young adult, Diddley joined with harmonica player Billy Boy Arnold, drummer Clifton James and bassist Roosevelt Jackson in 1954 to record demos of the songs that would become the signature tunes of his career: "I'm a Man" and the self-referential, shuffling "Bo Diddley." The group re-recorded the songs at the legendary Chess Studios in Chicago. When the record was released in 1955, the A-side, "Bo Diddley," rose to the top of the R&B charts.Although Diddley enjoyed several other hits in the '50s and '60s--including "Pretty Thing" (1956), "Say Man" (1959) and "You Can't Judge a Book By the Cover" (1962)--his greatest success came as an innovator and influential figure on the future history of rock music.His records and tour appearances in the UK, for instance, inspired a generation of British followers that included The Rolling Stones, who scored their first US hit with their cover of Buddy Holly's Diddley-inspired "Not Fade Away," and The Yardbirds, who covered "I'm a Man" with great success.Diddley, who built many of his own unique, square-shaped guitars, pioneered the use of the instrument in a rhythmic role in rock music, creating the "Bo Diddley beat," a syncopated 5/4 pattern that reminds many listeners of the traditional "shave and a haicut, two bits" ditty. The beat was possibly derived from West African sources, including the so-called "hambone" rhythm, although Diddley himself credited various sources ranging from Gene Autry to the music he heard in church during his youth. Diddley continued to tour extensively long after he stopped making hit records, content to bask in the admiration and respect given him by the contemporary hit makers he had influenced, among them Bruce Springsteen and Elvis Costello. Diddley, who was inducted into the Rock Hall of Fame in 1987, steadfastly refused to consider retirement even as he approached his final decade."Seventy ain't nothing but a damn number," he told The Associated Press in 1999. "I'm writing and creating new stuff and putting together new different things. Trying to stay out there and roll with the punches. I ain't quit yet."In 2005, Diddley celebrated his 50th anniversary in music with tours of both Australia and Europe, and performed "Bo Diddley" with Eric Clapton and Robbie Robertson at that year's 20th annual Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony.Diddley is survived by four children--Evelyn Kelly, Ellas A. McDaniel, Tammi D. McDaniel and Terri Lynn McDaniel--15 grandchildren, 15 great-grandchildren and three great-great-grandchildren.