Bo Diddley Dead

The bacchanalian rush remains. This footage of Bo Diddley performing in 1966 on The Big TNT Show movie, fantastic and iconic guitar hero, with the marvellous Norma-Jean Wofford, aka "The Duchess", on the second square guitar, the amazing Bo-ettes, Lilly "Bee Bee" Jamieson and Gloria Morgan. Singing "Bo Diddley" and "Who Do You Love".

The swamp stomping driving rhythm of the guitars is still of great influence. On May 17, 2007, Bo Diddley was admitted to intensive care in Creighton University Medical Center in Omaha, Nebraska, following a stroke during a concert at Council Bluffs, Iowa on May 13. He had a history of hypertension and diabetes, and the stroke affected the left side of his brain, causing receptive and expressive dysphasia. The hospital reported him in "guarded" condition at the time.

While recovering from the massive stroke and heart attack, he came back to his home town of McComb for the unveiling of a plaque, on the National Blues Trail devoted to him. The plaque stated 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 Bo Diddley wanted to perform and handed him a microphone. That was the first time Bo Diddley performed publicly since his stroke and heart attack.

On June 2, 2008, Bo Diddley died at the age of 79 of heart failure at his home in Archer, Florida Garry Mitchell, a grandson of Diddley and one of more than 35 family members at the musician's home when he died at about 1:45 a.m. EDT (0545 GMT), said his death was not unexpected. "There was a gospel song that was sung and he said 'wow' with a thumbs up," Mitchell told Reuters, when asked to describe the scene at Diddley's deathbed. "The song was 'Walk Around Heaven' and in his last words he stated that he was going to heaven."