Mr. Bo Diddley's Originator

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Mr. Bo Diddley was born December 28, 1928 in McComb, Mississippi under the name Ellas Otha Bates but changed as a child to Ellas McDaniel. He was known as an R&B and Chicago Blues singer and guitarist. He was nicknamed The Originator because of his key role in the transition from the blues to rock and roll, and rock, and influenced a host of acts. On November 20, 1955, Bo Diddley appeared on the popular Ed Sullivan TV show. The show asked him to sing "Sixteen Tons", but instead he sang "Bo Diddley". Ed Sullivan was upset and banned Bo Diddley from his show. He also said that Bo Diddley wouldn 't last six months. The request came about because the show 's staff heard Bo Diddley casually singing "Sixteen Tons" in the dressing room. Bo Diddley was a great …show more content…

He said that when he saw "Bo Diddley" on the cue-card, he thought he was to perform two songs: "Bo Diddley" and "Sixteen Tons". Bo Diddley wrote many songs for himself, but he also wrote for several songs for others. In 1956 he and guitarist Jody Williams co-wrote the pioneering pop song "Love Is Strange", a hit for Mickey & Sylvia in 1957.He also wrote "Mama (Can I Go Out)" which would become a minor hit for pioneering Rockabilly singer Jo Ann Campbell who performed the song in the 1959 Rock & Roll film Go Johnny Go. On May 13, 2007, Diddley was admitted to intensive care in Creighton University Medical Center in Omaha, Nebraska, following a stroke after a concert the previous day in Council Bluffs, Iowa. Starting the show, he had complained that he did not feel well. He referred to smoke from the wildfires that were