Editing Bo Diddley (section)

==Career==
Inspired by a [[John Lee Hooker]] performance,<ref name='Rock Hall'/> Diddley supplemented his income as a carpenter and mechanic by [[busking|playing on street corners]] with friends,<ref name="Crispin2008">{{cite book |last1=Crispin |first1=Nick |title=Bo Didley: 1928–2008 Memorial Songbook (PVG) |year=2008 |publisher=Wise Publications |isbn=978-1-78759-097-7 |page=4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Wn9cDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT4 |language=en}}</ref> including [[Jerome Green]], in the Hipsters band, later renamed the Langley Avenue Jive Cats.<ref name="Pruter1996" /> Green became a near-constant member of McDaniel's backing band, the two often trading joking insults with each other during live shows.<ref name="SoundsShow">{{cite news |title= The R&B Show |first= Martin |last= Hayman |newspaper=[[Sounds (magazine)|Sounds]] |publisher= Spotlight Publications |date= August 28, 1971|page= 13}}</ref><ref name="Unterberger2012">{{cite book |last1=Unterberger |first1=Richie |title=Say Man |publisher= Rolling Stone |year=2012 |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/say-man-51012/}}</ref> In the summers of 1943 and 1944, he played at the [[Maxwell Street]] market in a band with [[Earl Hooker]].<ref name="Danchin2010">{{cite book |last1=Danchin |first1=Sebastian |title=Earl Hooker, Blues Master |date=2010 |publisher=Univ. Press of Mississippi |isbn=978-1-62846-841-0 |pages=10–11 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2vqzDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA10 |language=en}}</ref> By 1951 he was playing on the street with backing from Roosevelt Jackson on [[washtub bass]] and [[Jody Williams (blues musician)|Jody Williams]], who had played harmonica as a boy but took up guitar in his teens after he met Diddley at a talent show,<ref name="KomaraLee2004">{{cite book |last1=Komara |first1=Edward |last2=Lee |first2=Peter |title=The Blues Encyclopedia |date=2004 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-135-95832-9 |pages=1081–1082 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XQU3AgAAQBAJ&pg=PA1081 |language=en}}</ref> with Diddley teaching him some aspects of playing the instrument,<ref name="Dahl, Bill 2002">Dahl, Bill (2002). CD liner notes. "Jody Williams, ''Return of a Legend''".</ref> including how to play the bass line.<ref name="Obrecht2000">{{cite book |last1=Obrecht |first1=Jas |title=Rollin' and Tumblin': The Postwar Blues Guitarists |year=2000 |publisher=Hal Leonard Corporation |isbn=978-0-87930-613-7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qBIaN63ZJEMC&pg=PA205 |language=en |page=205}}</ref> Williams later played lead guitar on "[[Who Do You Love? (Bo Diddley song)|Who Do You Love?]]" (1956).<ref name="Dahl, Bill 2002"/><ref name="Sullivan2013" />

In 1951, he landed a regular spot at the 708 Club, on Chicago's South Side,<ref name="Sewell1984">{{cite book |last1=Sewell |first1=George Alexander |last2=Dwight |first2=Margaret L. |title=Mississippi Black History Makers |date=1984 |publisher=Univ. Press of Mississippi |isbn=978-1-61703-428-2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=z74vTOrw5mYC&pg=PA31 |page=31 |language=en}}</ref> with a repertoire influenced by [[Louis Jordan]], John Lee Hooker, and [[Muddy Waters]].<ref name="Crispin2008" /> In late 1954, he teamed up with harmonica player [[Billy Boy Arnold]], drummer Clifton James and [[Bassist|bass player]] Roosevelt Jackson and recorded [[Demo (music)|demos]] of "[[I'm a Man (Bo Diddley song)|I'm a Man]]" and "[[Bo Diddley (Bo Diddley song)|Bo Diddley]]". They re-recorded the songs at [[Universal Recording Corp.]] for [[Chess Records]], with a backing [[musical ensemble|ensemble]] comprising [[Otis Spann]] (piano), [[Lester Davenport]] (harmonica), Frank Kirkland (drums), and Jerome Green (maracas). The record was released in March 1955, and the [[A-side and B-side|A-side]], "Bo Diddley", became a number one R&B hit.<ref name="Edmondson2013">{{cite book |last1=Edmondson |first1=Jacqueline |title=Music in American Life: An Encyclopedia of the Songs, Styles, Stars, and Stories that Shaped our Culture [4 volumes]: An Encyclopedia of the Songs, Styles, Stars, and Stories That Shaped Our Culture |year=2013 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-0-313-39348-8 |page=346 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TQPXAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA346 |language=en}}</ref>

===Origins of stage name===
The origin of the stage name Bo Diddley is unclear. McDaniel said his peers gave him the name, which he suspected was an insult.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc19748/m1/ |title=Show 3 – The Tribal Drum: The Rise of Rhythm and Blues. [Part 1&#93; : UNT Digital Library |access-date=April 28, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190402115233/https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc19748/m1/ |archive-date=April 2, 2019 |url-status=live }}</ref> ''Diddly'' is a truncation of ''diddly squat'', which means "absolutely nothing".<ref>{{cite book |last = Spears |first = Richard A. |title = McGraw-Hill's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions |publisher = McGraw-Hill |edition = 4th |year = 2005 |page = 425 |isbn = 978-0-07-146107-8 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1 = Lighter |first1 = J. E. |last2 = O'Connor |first2 = J. |last3 = Ball |first3 = J. |title = Random House Historical Dictionary of American Slang |publisher = Random House |volume = 1 (A–G) |year = 1994 |isbn = 978-0-394-54427-4 |url = https://archive.org/details/randomhousehisto01ligh }}</ref> Diddley 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.<ref name="ArnoldField2021">{{cite book |last1=Arnold |first1=Billy Boy |last2=Field |first2=Kim |title=The Blues Dream of Billy Boy Arnold |date=2021 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=978-0-226-80920-5 |pages=121–123 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vqs_EAAAQBAJ&pg=PA121 |language=en}}</ref> McDaniel also stated that his school classmates in Chicago gave him the nickname, which he started using when sparring and boxing in the neighborhood with The Little Neighborhood Golden Gloves Bunch.<ref>{{cite interview |subject=Bo Diddley |interviewer=Arlene R. Weiss |title=Bo Diddley interview: "I'm the son-of-a-bitch that did it" |url=http://guitarinternational.com/2011/08/29/bo-diddley-interview-i’m-the-son-of-a-bitch-that-did-it/ |date=May 2001 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110916174706/http://guitarinternational.com/2011/08/29/bo-diddley-interview-i%E2%80%99m-the-son-of-a-bitch-that-did-it/ |archive-date=September 16, 2011 |access-date=October 19, 2019 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.celebrityrockstarguitars.com/rock/diddley_bo.htm |title=Ed Roman on Bo' Diddley RIP |author=Ed Roman |year=2005 |work=Celebrity Rock Star Guitars |access-date=May 2, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120504040119/http://celebrityrockstarguitars.com/rock/diddley_bo.htm |archive-date=May 4, 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

In the 1921 story "Black Death", by [[Zora Neale Hurston]], Beau Diddely was a womanizer who impregnates a young woman, disavows responsibility, and meets his undoing by the powers of the local [[hoodoo (spirituality)|hoodoo]] man. Hurston submitted it in a contest run by the academic journal ''[[Opportunity: A Journal of Negro Life|Opportunity]]'' in 1925, where it won an honorable mention, but it was never published during her lifetime.<ref name="Storm2016">{{cite web |author1=Anna Storm |title=Alice Dunbar-Nelson, Zora Neale Hurston, and the Creation of "Authentic Voices" in the Black Women's Literary Tradition |url=https://dc.uwm.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2424&context=etd |access-date=August 11, 2020 |date=2016 |archive-date=November 7, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191107020332/https://dc.uwm.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2424&context=etd |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Hurston020">{{cite news |author1=Zora Neal Hurston |title=Black Death |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/14/books/review/hitting-a-straight-lick-with-a-crooked-stick-by-zora-neale-hurston-an-excerpt.html |access-date=August 11, 2020 |work=The New York Times |date=January 14, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200114101052/https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/14/books/review/hitting-a-straight-lick-with-a-crooked-stick-by-zora-neale-hurston-an-excerpt.html |archive-date=January 14, 2020}}</ref>

A [[diddley bow]] is a homemade single-string instrument that survived in the American [[Deep South]],<ref name="Kubic2009">{{cite book |last1=Kubik |first1=Gerhard |title=Africa and the Blues |year=2009 |publisher=Univ. Press of Mississippi |isbn=978-1-60473-728-8 |page=16 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YfCzP-SB8d4C&pg=PA16 |language=en}}</ref> especially in Mississippi. Played mainly by children,<ref name="Evans1970">{{cite journal |last1=Evans |first1=David |title=Afro-American One-Stringed Instruments |journal=Western Folklore |date=1970 |volume=29 |issue=4 |doi=10.2307/1499045 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1499045 |issn=0043-373X |pages=242–243 |jstor=1499045 |quote=The drum patterns, then, have been transferred to the guitar with  the one-stringed instrument as the medium of exchange. Thus the one-stringed instrument functions  virtually the same way in Liberia and Mississippi. It is mainly a children's instrument on which rhythms and patterns (signals) are learned for later use on the adult instruments, the drum and guitar... The reason the blues of  Mississippi guitarists should be so especially percussive doubtless  lies in the fact that drums and their functional equivalent, the  "diddley bow," are still played in that state.}}</ref> the diddley bow in its simplest form was made by nailing a length of broom wire to the side of a house, using a rock placed under the string as a movable bridge, and played in the style of a bottleneck guitar, with various objects used as a slider.<ref name="Palmer2011">{{cite book |last1=Palmer |first1=Robert |title=Blues & Chaos: The Music Writing of Robert Palmer |year=2011 |publisher=Simon and Schuster |isbn=978-1-4165-9975-3 |pages=114–115 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hx0ZdtoJzc8C&pg=PA114 |language=en}}</ref> The apparent consensus among scholars is that the diddley bow is derived from the monochord zithers of central Africa.<ref name="Komara2006">{{cite book |last1=Komara |first1=Edward M. |title=Encyclopedia of the Blues |year=2006 |publisher=Psychology Press |isbn=978-0-415-92699-7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-w-uGwm_LhcC&pg=PA268 |pages=267–268 |language=en}}</ref>

===Success in the 1950s and 1960s===
On November 20, 1955, Diddley appeared on the popular television program ''[[The Ed Sullivan Show]]''. According to legend, when someone on the show's staff overheard him casually singing "[[Sixteen Tons]]" in the dressing room, he was asked to perform the song on the show. One of Diddley's later versions of the story was that upon seeing "Bo Diddley" on the cue card, he thought he was to perform both [[Bo Diddley (Bo Diddley song)|his self-titled hit single]] and "Sixteen Tons".<ref name="Austen2005">{{cite book |last1=Austen |first1=Jake |title=TV-a-Go-Go: Rock on TV from American Bandstand to American Idol |date=2005 |publisher=Chicago Review Press |isbn=978-1-56976-241-7 |pages=14–15 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GYa5olqdl4UC&pg=PA14 |language=en}}</ref> Sullivan was furious and banned Diddley from his show, reputedly saying that he would not last six months. Chess Records included Diddley's cover of "Sixteen Tons" on the 1963 album ''[[Bo Diddley Is a Gunslinger]]''.<ref name="Dahl2001">{{cite book |last1=Dahi |first1=Bill |editor1-last=Bogdanov |editor1-first=Vladimir |editor2-last=Woodstra |editor2-first=Chris |editor3-last=Erlewine |editor3-first=Stephen Thomas |title=All Music Guide: The Definitive Guide to Popular Music |year=2001 |publisher=Hal Leonard Corporation |isbn=978-0-87930-627-4 |page=116 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xR7MdpuSlAEC&pg=PA116 |language=en}}</ref>

Diddley's hit singles continued in the 1950s and 1960s: "[[Pretty Thing]]" (1956), "[[Say Man]]" (1959), and "[[You Can't Judge a Book by the Cover]]" (1962). He also released numerous albums, including ''Bo Diddley Is a Gunslinger'' and ''Have Guitar, Will Travel''. These bolstered his self-invented legend.<ref name="SoundsShow"/> Between 1958 and 1963, [[Checker Records]] released eleven full-length Bo Diddley albums. In the 1960s, he broke through as a crossover artist with white audiences (appearing at the [[Alan Freed]] concerts, for example),<ref name="SoundsShow"/> but he rarely aimed his compositions at teenagers. Diddley was among those musicians who capitalized on the mid-1960s surfing and beach party craze in the United States, and released the albums ''[[Surfin' with Bo Diddley]]'' and '' Bo Diddley's Beach Party''.<ref name="Komara2006" /> These featured heavy, distorted blues, played on his [[Gretsch]] guitar with bended notes and minor key riffs, unlike the clean, undistorted sounds of the Fender guitars used by the California surf bands. The cover of ''Surfin' with Bo Diddley'' had a photograph of two surfers riding a big wave.<ref name="KennedyGadpaille2016">{{cite book |last1=Kennedy |first1=Victor |last2=Gadpaille |first2=Michelle |title=Symphony and Song: The Intersection of Words and Music |date=2016 |publisher=Cambridge Scholars Publishing |isbn=978-1-4438-5733-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Fe62DQAAQBAJ&pg=PA234 |language=en}}</ref>

In 1963, Diddley starred in a UK concert tour with the [[Everly Brothers]] and [[Little Richard]] along with the Rolling Stones (a little-known band at that time).<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Fe62DQAAQBAJ&q=Bo+diddley+1963&pg=PA234|title=Symphony and Song: The Intersection of Words and Music|last1=Kennedy|first1=Victor|last2=Gadpaille|first2=Michelle|date=December 14, 2016|publisher=Cambridge Scholars Publishing|isbn=9781443857338|language=en|access-date=October 16, 2020|archive-date=December 3, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201203161727/https://books.google.com/books?id=Fe62DQAAQBAJ&q=Bo+diddley+1963&pg=PA234|url-status=live}}</ref>

Diddley wrote many songs for himself and also for others.<ref name=":0">{{cite magazine|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/artists/bo-diddley/biography|title=Bo Diddley Biography|magazine=[[Rolling Stone]]|access-date=September 19, 2017|archive-date=September 12, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170912120339/http://www.rollingstone.com/music/artists/bo-diddley/biography|url-status=live}}</ref> In 1956, he and guitarist Jody Williams co-wrote the pop song "[[Love Is Strange]]", a hit for [[Mickey & Sylvia]] in 1957, reaching number 11 on the chart.<ref name="Bogdanov2003">{{cite book |last1=Bogdanov |first1=Vladimir |title=All Music Guide to Soul: The Definitive Guide to R&B and Soul |date=2003 |publisher=Hal Leonard Corporation |isbn=978-0-87930-744-8 |page=470 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=o552g5xRRiwC&pg=PA470 |language=en}}</ref>  Mickey Baker claimed that he (Baker) and Bo Diddley's wife, Ethel Smith, wrote the song.<ref name="Gregory1995">{{cite book |last1=Gregory |first1=Hugh |title=Soul Music A-Z |year=1995 |publisher=Da Capo Press |isbn=978-0-306-80643-8 |page=14 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ibMzAQAAIAAJ&q=%22Love%20Is%20Strange%22 |language=en}}</ref> Diddley also wrote "Mama (Can I Go Out)", which was a minor hit for the pioneering rockabilly singer [[Jo Ann Campbell]], who performed the song in the 1959 rock and roll film ''[[Go Johnny Go]]''.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Jo Ann Campbell {{!}} Biography & History|url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/jo-ann-campbell-mn0000111523/biography|access-date=June 19, 2020|website=AllMusic|language=en-us|archive-date=June 20, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200620045616/https://www.allmusic.com/artist/jo-ann-campbell-mn0000111523/biography|url-status=live}}</ref>

After moving from Chicago to Washington, D.C., Diddley built his first [[home recording]] studio in the basement of his home at 2614 Rhode Island Avenue NE. Frequented by several of Washington, D.C.'s musical luminaries, the studio was the site where he recorded the Checker LP (Checker LP-2977) ''Bo Diddley Is a Gunslinger''.<ref name="Harrington2006">{{cite news |last1=Harrington |first1=Richard |title=For Bo Diddley, the Beat Goes On and On |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/02/AR2006110200568.html |date=November 3, 2006 |access-date=November 23, 2021 |newspaper=The Washington Post}}</ref> Diddley also produced and recorded several up-and-coming groups from the Washington, D.C. area. One of the first groups he recorded was local doo-wop group the Marquees, featuring [[Marvin Gaye]] and baritone-bass Chester Simmons, who moonlighted as Diddley's chauffeur.<ref name="2011McArdle">{{cite news |last1=McArdle |first1=Terence |title=Reese Palmer, lead singer of Washington doo-wop group the Marquees, dies at 73 |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/reese-palmer-lead-singer-of-washington-doo-wop-group-the-marquees-dies-at-73/2011/10/31/gIQASOcRjM_story.html |access-date=November 27, 2021 |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=November 3, 2011}}</ref>

The Marquees appeared in talent shows at the [[Lincoln Theatre (Washington, D.C.)|Lincoln Theatre]], and Diddley, impressed by their smooth vocal delivery, let them rehearse in his studio. Diddley got the Marquees signed to [[Columbia Records|Columbia]] subsidiary label [[OKeh Records]] after unsuccessfully attempting to get them a contract with his own label, [[Chess Records|Chess]].<ref name="2011McArdle" /> The OKeh label rivaled Chess in the promotion of rhythm and blues. On September 25, 1957, Diddley drove the group to [[New York City]] to record "Wyatt Earp", a novelty song written by Reese Palmer, lead singer of the Marquees. Diddley produced the session, with the group backed by his own band. They cut their first record, a single with "Wyatt Earp" on the A-side and "Hey Little School Girl" on the B-side,<ref name="Gaye2003">{{cite book |last1=Gaye |first1=Frankie |title=Marvin Gaye, My Brother |year=2003 |publisher=Backbeat Books |isbn=978-1-61713-248-3 |page=19 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jVRMAgAAQBAJ&pg=PT19 |language=en}}</ref> but it failed to become a hit.<ref name="Dyson2008">{{cite book |last1=Dyson |first1=Michael Eric |title=Mercy, Mercy Me: The Art, Loves and Demons of Marvin Gaye |date=2008 |publisher=Basic Books |isbn=978-0-7867-2247-1 |page=15 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=83s6mwmjXBcC&pg=PT15 |language=en}}</ref> Diddley persuaded [[Moonglows]] founder and backing vocalist [[Harvey Fuqua]] to hire Gaye. Gaye joined the Moonglows as first tenor;<ref name="GatesWest2oo2">{{cite book |last1=Gates |first1=Henry Louis |last2=West |first2=Cornel |title=The African-American Century: How Black Americans Have Shaped Our Country |year=2002 |publisher=Simon and Schuster |isbn=978-0-684-86415-0 |pages=288–289 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ih5ePspKSeAC&pg=PA288 |language=en |quote=In 1957, he formed his own group, the Marquees, and recorded "Wyatt Earp" on the Okeh label with Bo Diddley. But it was his 1958 meeting with Harvey Fuqua, which led to a spot singing first tenor in Fuqua's smooth-harmony rhythm and blues group the Moonglows, that launched Gaye's musical career.}}</ref> the group then moved to Detroit with the hope of signing with [[Motown Records]]<ref name='Rock Hall'/> founder [[Berry Gordy Jr.]]

Diddley included women in his band: [[Norma-Jean Wofford]], also known as The Duchess; Gloria Jolivet; [[Peggy Jones (musician)|Peggy Jones]], also known as Lady Bo, a lead guitarist (rare for a woman at that time); and Cornelia Redmond, also known as Cookie V.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Porter|first=Dick|title=Journey to the Centre of the Cramps|publisher=Omnibus Press|year=2015|isbn=978-1783053735|chapter=Ch. 1}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Ratliff|first=Ben|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/03/arts/music/03diddley.html|title=Bo Diddley, Who Gave Rock His Beat, Dies at 79|date=June 3, 2008|work=The New York Times|access-date=April 14, 2020|archive-date=March 20, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170320201006/http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/03/arts/music/03diddley.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Later years===
{{more citations needed section|date=March 2017}}

In early 1971, writer-musician Michael Lydon, a founding editor of ''[[Rolling Stone]]'', conducted a lengthy, rambling interview of Diddley, at his then home in the San Fernando Valley, California. Lydon described him as a "protean genius" whose songs were "hymns to himself", and led the published piece with a Diddley quote: "Everything I know I taught myself."<ref name="Lydon1971">{{cite news |last1=Lydon |first1=Michael |title=The Second Coming Of Bo Diddley |url=https://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/the-second-coming-of-bo-diddley |access-date=December 1, 2021 |work=Ramparts |issue=May |date=May 1, 1971 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210506010820/https://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/the-second-coming-of-bo-diddley |archive-date=May 6, 2021 |page=22}}</ref>

[[File:Bo-Diddley.jpg|thumb|Diddley on tour in Japan with the Japanese band Bo Gumbos]]
Over the decades, Diddley's performing venues ranged from intimate clubs to stadiums. On March 25, 1972, he played with the [[Grateful Dead]] at the [[Academy of Music (New York City)|Academy of Music]] in New York City.<ref name="Trager1997">{{cite book |last1=Trager |first1=Oliver |title=The American Book of the Dead |year=1997 |publisher=Simon and Schuster |isbn=978-0-684-81402-5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TbRsHp57CqwC&pg=PA96 |language=en}}</ref> The Grateful Dead released part of this concert as [[Dick's Picks Volume 30|Volume 30]] of the band's concert album series, ''[[Dick's Picks]]''. Also in the early 1970s, the soundtrack of the ground-breaking animated film ''[[Fritz the Cat (film)|Fritz the Cat]]'' contained his song "Bo Diddley", in which a crow dances<ref name="Davies2015">{{cite book |last1=Davies |first1=Clive |title=Spinegrinder: The Movies Most Critics Won't Write About |page=487 |year=2015 |publisher=SCB Distributors |isbn=978-1-909394-06-3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Co5XDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT487 |language=en}}</ref> and [[Fingerstyle guitar|finger-pops]] to the track.<ref name="WaltersMansfield1998">{{cite book |last1=Walters |first1=Neal |last2=Mansfield |first2=Brian |title=MusicHound Folk: The Essential Album Guide |date=1998 |publisher=Visible Ink |isbn=978-1-57859-037-7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qznaAAAAMAAJ&q=%22finger-popped%20to%20the%20tune%22 |language=en}}</ref>

Diddley spent some years in [[New Mexico]], living in [[Los Lunas, New Mexico|Los Lunas]] from 1971 to 1978, while continuing his musical career. He served for two and a half years as a deputy sheriff in the [[Valencia County, New Mexico|Valencia County]] Citizens' Patrol; during that time he purchased and donated three highway-patrol pursuit cars.<ref name="NMMC2008">{{Cite web|author= Staff, Associated Press | url=http://www.newmexicomusic.org/noteable.php?select=5|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080815163720/http://www.newmexicomusic.org/noteable.php?select=5|url-status=dead|title=Bo Diddley|archive-date=August 15, 2008 |publisher=New Mexico Music Commission}}</ref> In the late 1970s, he left Los Lunas and moved to [[Hawthorne, Florida|Hawthorne]], [[Florida]], where he lived on a large estate in a custom-made log cabin, which he helped to build. For the remainder of his life he divided his time between [[Albuquerque, New Mexico|Albuquerque]] and Florida, living the last 13 years of his life in [[Archer, Florida]],<ref name="WillistonPioneer2012">{{cite news |author1=Staff |title=Son wants to tell Bo Diddley's story |url=https://www.willistonpioneer.com/content/son-wants-tell-bo-diddley%E2%80%99s-story |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211122030105/https://www.willistonpioneer.com/content/son-wants-tell-bo-diddley%E2%80%99s-story |archive-date=November 22, 2021 |access-date=November 22, 2021 |work=Williston Pioneer Sun News |date=March 8, 2012}}</ref> a small farming town near [[Gainesville, Florida|Gainesville]].

In 1979, he appeared as an opening act for [[the Clash]] on their US tour.<ref name="Gruen2015">{{cite book |last1=Gruen |first1=Bob |title=The Clash: Photographs by Bob Gruen |date=2015 |publisher=Omnibus Press |isbn=978-1-78323-489-9 |page=147 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T20bCAAAQBAJ&pg=PT147 |language=en}}</ref>

In 1983, he made a cameo appearance as a Philadelphia pawn shop owner in the comedy film ''[[Trading Places]]''.<ref name="Larkin2013">{{cite book |last1=Larkin |first1=Colin |title=The Virgin Encyclopedia of The Blues |year=2013 |publisher=Random House |isbn=978-1-4481-3274-4 |page=cxix |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7QeaHodj5fwC&pg=PR119 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="Tong2020">{{cite magazine |last1=Tong |first1=Alfred |title=Dan Aykroyd's Trading Places watch is worth much more than $50 |journal=British GQ |date=June 12, 2020 |url=https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/fashion/article/trading-places-rochefoucauld-world-complication |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210718084906/https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/fashion/article/trading-places-rochefoucauld-world-complication |archive-date=July 18, 2021 |access-date=November 22, 2021 |publisher=Condé Nast}}</ref> He also appeared in [[George Thorogood|George Thorogood's]] music video for the song "Bad to the Bone," portraying a guitar-slinging pool shark.<ref name="Lovitt1984">{{cite book |last1=Lovitt |first1=Chip |title=Video Rock Superstars |date=1984 |publisher=Penguin Publishing Group |isbn=978-0-917657-03-0 |page=70 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=r_S4MRzgRSIC&q=%22rock%20pioneer%20Bo%20Diddley%22 |language=en}}</ref>

In 1985, he appeared on [[George Thorogood|George Thorogood's]] set, alongside fellow blues legend [[Albert Collins]], on the [[Live Aid]] American stage to perform Thorogood's popular cover of Diddley's song [[Who Do You Love? (Bo Diddley song)|Who Do You Love?]]".<ref>{{Cite web|date=June 30, 2015|title=Looking Back On Live Aid|url=https://outandaboutnow.com/2015/06/30/looking-back-on-live-aid/|access-date=July 29, 2021|website=Out & About Magazine|language=en-US}}</ref>

In 1989, Diddley and his management company, Talent Source,<ref>{{Cite web |title=TALENT SOURCE MANAGEMENT {{!}} Exclusive representatives of The Estate of Bo Diddley |url=http://www.talentsourcemanagement.com/ |access-date=January 25, 2023 |website=www.talentsourcemanagement.com}}</ref> entered into a licensing  with the sportswear brand, Nike. The Wieden & Kennedy-produced commercial in the "[[Bo Knows]]" campaign teamed Diddley with dual sportsman [[Bo Jackson]].<ref name="CohenGraybow2008">{{cite news |last1=Cohen |first1=Jonathan |last2=Graybow |first2=Steve |title=Billboard |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DhMEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA9 |publisher=Nielsen Business Media, Inc. |date=June 14, 2008 |page=9 |language=en}}</ref> The agreement ended in 1991,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://richlabonte.net/exonews/xtra4/diddley_sues.htm |title=Diddley Sues Nike For Using His Image |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150614163231/http://richlabonte.net/exonews/xtra4/diddley_sues.htm |archive-date=June 14, 2015 }}</ref> but in 1999, a T-shirt of Diddley's image and "You don't know diddley" slogan was purchased in a Gainesville, Florida, sports apparel store. Diddley felt that Nike should not continue to use the slogan or his likeness and fought Nike over the copyright infringement. Despite the fact that lawyers for both parties could not come to a renewed legal arrangement, Nike allegedly continued marketing the apparel and ignored cease-and-desist orders,<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,617695,00.html|title=Bo Diddley Sues Nike|newspaper=[[People (magazine)|People]]|access-date=June 13, 2015|archive-date=June 14, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150614155946/http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,617695,00.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> and a lawsuit was filed on Diddley's behalf, in Manhattan Federal Court.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.nydailynews.com/archives/news/bo-sues-nike-diddly-article-1.873023|title=Bo Sues Nike, Says He Got Diddly|newspaper=New York Daily News|location=New York|access-date=June 13, 2015|archive-date=June 14, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150614184307/http://www.nydailynews.com/archives/news/bo-sues-nike-diddly-article-1.873023|url-status=live}}</ref>

Diddley played a blues and rock musician named Axman in the 1990 comedy film ''[[Rockula]]'', directed by [[Luca Bercovici]] and starring [[Dean Cameron]].

In ''Legends of Guitar'' (filmed live in Spain in 1991), Diddley performed with Steve Cropper, [[B.B. King]], [[Les Paul]], [[Albert Collins]], and [[George Benson]], among others. He joined the Rolling Stones on their 1994 concert broadcast of ''[[Voodoo Lounge]]'', performing "[[Who Do You Love? (Bo Diddley song)|Who Do You Love?]]" at Joe Robbie Stadium, in Miami.
[[File:BoDiddley1997.jpg|thumb|left| Bo Diddley at the Long Beach Jazz Festival, 1997 with drummer Dave Johnson]] In 1996, he released ''A Man Amongst Men'', his first major-label album (and his final studio album) with guest artists like Keith Richards, Ron Wood and [[The Shirelles]]. The album earned a Grammy Award nomination in 1997 for the Best Contemporary Blues Album category.<ref name=":0" />

[[File:Bo Diddley.jpg|thumb|upright|Bo Diddley in 2002]]

Diddley performed a number of shows around the country in 2005 and 2006, with fellow Rock and Roll Hall of Famer [[Johnnie Johnson (musician)|Johnnie Johnson]] and his band, consisting of Johnson on keyboards, Richard Hunt on drums and Gus Thornton on bass. In 2006, he participated as the headliner of a [[grassroots]]-organized fundraiser concert to benefit the town of [[Ocean Springs, Mississippi]], which had been devastated by [[Hurricane Katrina]]. The "Florida Keys for Katrina Relief" had originally been set for October 23, 2005, when [[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, Diddley stated, "This is the United States of America. We believe in helping one another". The all-star band included members of the Soul Providers, and famed artists Clarence Clemons of the E Street Band, Joey Covington of Jefferson Airplane, Alfonso Carey of The Village People, and Carl Spagnuolo of Jay & The Techniques.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.floridakeysforkatrinarelief.com/KatrinaRelief/organizers_and_volunteers.htm|title=Organizers and Volunteers|website=Floridakeysforkatrinarelief.com|access-date=March 2, 2019|archive-date=October 12, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161012051507/http://www.floridakeysforkatrinarelief.com/KatrinaRelief/organizers_and_volunteers.htm|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.floridakeysforkatrinarelief.com/musical_performers.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929222848/http://www.floridakeysforkatrinarelief.com/musical_performers.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=September 29, 2007 |title=Musical Performers |publisher=Floridakeysforkatrinarelief.com |date=January 8, 2006 |access-date=February 20, 2011 }}</ref> In an interview with Holger Petersen, on ''[[Saturday Night Blues]]'' on [[CBC Radio]] in the fall of 2006,<ref>[http://www.cbc.ca/snb/latestshow.html]. {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090928074108/http://www.cbc.ca/snb/latestshow.html|date=September 28, 2009}}</ref> he commented on racism in the music industry establishment during his early career. Diddley sold the rights to his songs early on, and until 1989 he received no [[royalties]] from the most successful part of his career.<ref>{{Cite web|date=June 2, 2008|title=Bo Diddley|url=http://www.theguardian.com/music/2008/jun/02/popandrock2|access-date=May 16, 2021|website=the Guardian|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Harrington |first1=Richard |title=For Bo Diddley, the Beat Goes On and On |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/2006/11/03/for-bo-diddley-the-beat-goes-on-and-on/cbd36241-4bcd-40ea-a9cc-9494559cdb4a/ |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |date=November 3, 2006}}</ref>

His final guitar performance on a studio album was with the [[New York Dolls]] on their 2006 album ''[[One Day It Will Please Us to Remember Even This]]''. He contributed guitar work to the song "Seventeen", which was included as a bonus track on the limited-edition version of the disc.

In May 2007, Diddley suffered a stroke after a concert the previous day in [[Council Bluffs, Iowa]].<ref name=":4">{{Cite web|url=https://www.eonline.com/news|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120521074739/http://www.eonline.com/news/article/index.jsp?uuid=60a08a4d-9f34-45ac-b395-c284d9a5ef50&entry=index|url-status=dead|title=Breaking Celeb News, Entertainment News, and Celebrity Gossip|archive-date=May 21, 2012|website=E! News}}</ref> Nonetheless, he delivered an energetic performance to an enthusiastic crowd. A few months later he had a heart attack.<ref name=":5">{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/03/arts/music/03diddley.html|title=Bo Diddley, Who Gave Rock His Beat, Dies at 79|last=Ratliff|first=Ben|date=June 3, 2008|work=The New York Times|issn=0362-4331|access-date=February 21, 2017|archive-date=March 20, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170320201006/http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/03/arts/music/03diddley.html|url-status=live}}</ref> While recovering, Diddley came back to his hometown of McComb, Mississippi, in early November 2007, for the unveiling of a plaque devoted to him on the [[Mississippi Blues Trail]]. This marked his achievements and noted that he was "acclaimed as a founder of rock-and-roll." He was not supposed to perform, but as he listened to the music of local musician Jesse Robinson, who sang a song written for this occasion, Robinson sensed that Diddley wanted to perform and handed him a microphone, the only time that he performed publicly after his stroke.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.wlbt.com/Global/story.asp?S=7305146&nav=menu119_3 |title=Bo Diddley Honored in Hometown |publisher=Wlbt.com |date=January 1, 2010 |access-date=February 20, 2011 |archive-date=February 12, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110212024318/http://www.wlbt.com/Global/story.asp?S=7305146&nav=menu119_3 |url-status=live }}</ref>