Early life and career
He was born Elias Bates in McComb, Mississippi and later took the name Elias B. McDaniel, after his adoptive mother, Gussie McDaniel. He adopted the stage name Bo Diddley, which is probably a southern black slang phrase meaning "nothing at all", as in "he ain't bo diddley". Another source says it was his nickname as a Golden Gloves boxer. The nickname is also linked to the diddley bow, a one-stringed instrument used in the south by mainly black musicians in the fields.

Elias was given a guitar by his sister as a youth, but also took violin lessons. He was inspired to become a musician by seeing John Lee Hooker.

Bo Diddley's rhythms
Bo Diddley is best known for the "Bo Diddley beat", a rhumba-like beat (see clave) similar to "hambone", a style used by street performers who play out the beat by slapping and patting their arms, legs, chest, and cheeks while chanting rhymes. Diddley came across the beat while trying to play Gene Autry's "(I've Got Spurs That) Jingle, Jangle, Jingle".

In its simplest form, the Bo Diddley beat can be counted out as a two-bar phrase:

One and two and three and four and one and two and three and four and The bolded counts are the clave rhythm.

The beat has been used by many other artists, notably Elvis Presley ("His Latest Flame"); U2 ("Desire"); The Smiths ("How Soon Is Now?"); Johnnie Otis ("Willie and the Hand Jive"); George Michael ("Faith"); The Strangeloves ("I Want Candy"); Guns N' Roses ("Mr. Brownstone"); David Bowie ("Panic in Detroit") and The Stooges ("1969"). The early The Rolling Stones sound was strongly associated with their versions of "Not Fade Away" and "I Need You Baby (Mona)".

In his own recordings, Bo Diddley used a variety of rhythms, however, from straight back beat to pop ballad style, frequently with maracas by Jerome Green. He was also an influential guitar player, with many special effects and other innovations in tone and attack. He also plays the violin, which is featured on his mournful instrumental "The Clock Strikes Twelve", a 12-bar blues.

Rhythm is so important in Bo Diddley's music that harmony is often reduced to a bare simplicity. His songs (for example, "Hey Bo Diddley" and "Who Do You Love?") often have no chord changes; that is, the musicians play the same chord throughout the piece, so that excitement is created by the rhythm, rather than by harmonic tension and release.

On November 20, 1955, he was the first African-American to appear on The Ed Sullivan Show, only to infuriate him ("I did two songs and he got mad." Bo Diddley later recalls, "Ed Sullivan said that I was one of the first colored boys to ever double-cross him. Said that I wouldn't last six months."). Bo Diddley was asked to sing Tennessee Ernie Ford's hit "Sixteen Tons". But when he appeared on stage, he sang his #1 R&B hit "Bo Diddley." He was banned from further appearances. The Doors and comedian Jackie Mason would later join Bo Diddley on the list of performers banned from the Ed Sullivan Show.

Although Bo Diddley was a breakthrough crossover artist with white audiences, appearing on the Alan Freed concerts, for instance, he rarely tailored his compositions to teenage concerns. The most notable exception is probably his album Surfin' With Bo Diddley, which featured "Surfer's Love Call", and while Bo Diddley may never have hung ten in his baggies to catch the big wave, he was definitely an influence on surf guitar players.

His lyrics are often witty and humorous adaptations of folk music themes. His first hit, "Bo Diddley" was based on the lullaby "Hush Little Baby". (Three years before Bo's "Bo Diddley," a song that closely resembles it, "Hambone," was cut by Red Saunders' Orchestra with The Hambone Kids.) Likewise, "Hey Bo Diddley" is based on the folk song, "Old Macdonald". The rap-style boasting of "Who Do You Love", a wordplay on hoodoo, used many striking lyrics from the African-American tradition of toasts and boasts. His "Say Man" and "Say Man, Back Again" have been connected with rap, but the records actually feature the insults known as the dozens, for example "You got the nerve to call somebody ugly, why you so ugly the stork that brought you into the world ought to be arrested".

In addition to the many songs identified with him, he wrote the pioneering pop tune "Love Is Strange" for Mickey and Sylvia under a pseudonym.

Over the decades, his performances have ranged from sweaty Chicago clubs to rock and roll oldies tours and even as an opening act for The Clash and a guest for the Rolling Stones. On March 28, 1972, he played with The Grateful Dead at the Academy of Music in New York City. This concert was released for the Dead's Dick's Picks live album series as Volume 30.

Bo Diddley was one of the first musicians to have women in his band; Peggy Jones (aka Lady Bo), Norma-Jean Wofford (aka Duchess) and Cornelia Redmond (aka Cookie).

Bo's signature guitar
His trademark instrument is the rectangular-bodied Gretsch nicknamed "The Twang Machine" (although he has had other similar-shaped guitars made for him by other manufacturers), a guitar that he developed and wielded in thousands of concerts over the years. In a 2005 interview on JJJ radio in Australia, Bo implied that the design was born from embarrassment. In an early gig, while jumping around on stage with a Gibson L5 guitar, he landed awkwardly hurting his groin. He then went about designing a smaller, less restrictive guitar so he could keep jumping around.

The later years
Bo Diddley in Wolfsburg/Germany 2004In recent years, Bo Diddley has received numerous accolades in recognition of his role as one of the founding fathers of rock and roll. In 1986, he was inducted into the Washington Area Music Association's Hall of Fame. The following year saw his induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. His pioneering contribution to the genre has been recognized by the Rockabilly Hall of Fame. In 1996, he was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Rhythm and Blues Foundation. The following years saw his 1955 recording of his song "Bo Diddley" inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame as a recording of lasting qualitative or historical significance and he received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1998.

The start of the new millennium saw Bo Diddley inducted into the Mississippi Musicians Hall of Fame and into the North Florida Music Association's Hall of Fame. In 2002, he received a Pioneer in Entertainment Award from the National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters and a Broadcast Music Incorporated (BMI) Icon Award in recognition of his many contributions to contemporary music.

In 2003, tribute was paid to Bo Diddley in the United States House of Representatives by Hon. John Conyers, Jr. of Michigan, who described him as "one of the true pioneers of rock and roll, who has influenced generations".

n 2004, Mickey and Sylvia's 1956 recording of his song "Love Is Strange" was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame as a recording of qualitative or historical significance and he was inducted into the Blues Foundation's Blues Hall of Fame. In 2004, Rolling Stone Magazine ranked him #20 on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.

In 2005, Bo Diddley celebrated his 50th anniversary in music with successful tours of Australia and Europe and with coast to coast shows across North America. He performed his song "Bo Diddley" with Eric Clapton and Robbie Robertson at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 20th annual induction ceremony and in the UK, Uncut magazine included his 1958 debut album "Bo Diddley" in its listing of the '100 Music, Movie & TV Moments That Have Changed The World'.

In 2006, Bo Diddley participated as the headliner of a grass-roots organized fundraiser concert, to benefit the town of Ocean Springs, Mississippi, which was devastated by the Hurricane Katrina. The 'Florida Keys for Katrina Relief' was originally set for 23 October 2005, but Hurricane Wilma barreled through the Florida Keys on October 24 causing flooding and economic mayhem. In January 2006 the Florida Keys had recovered enough to host the fundraising concert to benefit the more hard hit community of Ocean Springs. When asked about the fundraiser Bo Diddley stated, "This is the United States of America. We believe in helping one another."

He spent many years in New Mexico, not only as a musician, but as a law officer. He lived in Los Lunas from 1971 to 1978 while continuing his distinguished musical career. Bo Diddley served for two and a half years as Deputy Sheriff in the Valencia County Citizens' Patrol; during that time he personally purchased and donated three highway patrol pursuit cars.

He currently resides in Archer, Florida, a small farming town near Gainesville, Florida where he attends a born again Christian church with some of his children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. He continues to tour around the world, and as of the summer of 2006 was planning to record some faith-based songs, at least some of which would be utilizing his own original music.

Bo Diddley performed a number of show around the country in 2005 and 2006, with the Johnnie Johnson Band featuring the great Johnnie Johnson on keys, Richard Hunt on drums and Gus Thornton on bass.