Editing Bo Diddley (section)

===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>