Legendary music figure Bo Diddley died Monday of heart failure at his home in Archer,
FL at age 79. Diddley, often considered one of the founders of rock 'n' roll, had
often bitterly complained that other musicians -- most notably, The Rolling Stones
-- had become rich covering his music, while he was relegated to small nightclub venues
and was shunned by television producers. He suggested that television networks showed
undisguised favoritism to white performers. But the Stones' Keith Richards shot back
that Diddley's problem was that he and his music had failed to evolve and that he
had continued to live on past laurels. On Monday, however, the Stones' frontman,
Mick Jagger, issued a statement saying that Diddley "was an enormous force in music
and was a big influence on The Rolling Stones. ... We learned a lot from him."
03/06/2008
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