Bo Diddley

Rock Musician / Guitarist

Bo Diddley was born in Mississippi and raised in Chicago, where he was exposed to music and the blues. After studying violin and trombone, he took up the electric guitar. Diddley's flamboyance, square guitars and distinctive backbeat (sometimes described as "shave-and-a-hair-cut") earned him a record contract with Chess Records, and in 1955 he had his first hit with the two-sided "Bo Diddley/I'm A Man." Although he had numerous hits in the late 1950s and early 1960s, and appeared on TV with Dick Clark and Ed Sullivan, Diddley's aggressive beat, suggestive lyrics and raw performances ended up making him more influential than rich and famous.

The "Bo Diddley Beat" is part of our loop on other famous phrases, Who's What.