Remembering Bo Diddley

One of the lesser-known aspects of Bo Diddley’s career was his support for female musicians, even in the early years of rock’n’roll, says Margot Lewis, who along with Faith Fusillo guided Diddley’s career through their company, Talent Source. Lewis suggests the person who could attest to that best was Diddley’s longtime bassist/bandleader, Debby Hastings.

“Bo was brought up by women all around him, and he was comfortable with women,” Hastings recalls. “He was also the kind of guy who liked to give people a chance. “So even back in the ’50s, when he came upon a female musician who was good he had her in the band."

In the wake of his passing, Lewis and Fusillo now want to ensure Diddley’s legacy transitions into an active and potent future. “We want to perpetuate his legacy and make sure he gets his due in the world of popular music and popular culture,” Fusillo says. They are working with strategic partners—primarily the New York-based publishing and marketing firm Primary Wave Music and also Universal Music Enterprises (UMe), which owns much of Diddley’s recorded catalog—on an array of projects, including exposure for some 200 reels of unreleased and largely unheard Diddley recordings.

Available now is a Diddley Collector’s Pack on iTunes featuring the artist’s hits and an exclusive unreleased track—a frenetic jam recorded in the ’70s and featuring “Bo going crazy on the guitar for about 10 minutes. It’s unbelievable, vintage Bo. When we first heard it, we almost started to cry,” Fusillo says. UMe, meanwhile, is preparing for the June 9 release of “Ride On/The Chess Masters 1960-1961,” the Hip-O Select label’s third volume of Diddley’s Chess Records recordings. The limited-edition set (5,000 copies) includes 16 unreleased tracks and rarities, including recordings Diddley made at his home studio, then in Washington, D.C., and with two more years of his Chess tenure left.

Looking further down the line, Primary Wave, TCI and the Diddley estate hope to stage a tribute concert, most likely for the second anniversary of his death in 2010, which will probably yield a companion album and DVD.

“We just want to spread the word and make people aware of who Bo Diddley was in the history of music," says Lewis. "He was such an important figure and made so many important contributions that we still hear today. We have to make sure that people know who Bob Diddley was...forever.”

One year after Diddley's death, he’s remembered by other musicians who knew him, admired his accomplishments or both.

Billy Gibbons (ZZ Top): “He hit the scene with that infectious beat he brought to the forefront, but it goes back to when he landed in Chicago and was part of the Maxwell Street scene playing at the flea market on the corner. It was Bo Diddley, Clifton James on drums and Jerome Green on maracas—and that was it. Who ever heard of a guitar player and two percussionists? And you listen to those early records now, with the knowledge there was no bass guitar, no rhythm guitar, no piano, no nothing except those three guys, but you turn it up and you say, ‘Well, I don’t miss anything. It sounds like a full orchestra to me.’ ”