I am indebted to the many writers who have previously explored in print the life and music of Bo Diddley. The following are among those whose insights are incorporated into this book: Mandy Aftel, author of Death of a Rolling Stone; Adam Barbasso, in a New York Newsday interview with Ron Wood; Stanley Booth in a Playboy interview with Keith Richards; Bill Braunstein of The Detroit News; James Burton of Guitar Player; Roy Carr, author of The Rolling Stones: An Illustrated Record; Brian Case of The New Musical Express; Lou Cohan, of Thunder Road; Bruce Cook, author of Listen to the Blues; Bill Dwyer of Blues Unlimited; Ted Fox, author of Showtime at the Apollo; Peter Guralnick, author of Feel Like Going Home: Portraits in Blues and Rock ën' Roll; John Goldrosen and John Beecher, authors of Remembering Buddy: The Definitive Biography of Buddy Holly; Norbert Hess, of Living Blues; David Hinckley in a Daily News (NY) interview with Ron Wood; Mike Jahn of The New York Times; ìJoex,î of Variety; the late Brian Jones, in The New Musical Express; Phyllis Karpp, author of Ike's Boys: The Story of the Everly Brothers; Charles Kiel, author of Urban Blues; Edward Kiersh, author of Where Are You Now, Bo Diddley?; Jon Landau, author of It's Too Late to Stop Now: A Rock and Roll Journal; Michael Lydon, author of Boogie Lightning; Andy McKaie, of Crawdaddy; Griel Marcus, author of Mystery Train: Images of America in Rock and Roll Music; Josh Mills, of The Village Voice; Richard Meltzer of Crawdaddy; Bill Millar, of The Melody Maker; Arnold Passman, author of The Deejays; David Ritz, author of Divided Soul: The Life of Marvin Gaye; Arnold Shaw, author of The Rockin' 50's and Honkers and Shouters; Fred Sokolow, author of Bo Diddley Guitar Solos; Dave Thomas of The Chicago Daily Defender; Jon Tiven, of Rolling Stone; the late Lori Twersky, founder of Bitch Magazine; George R. White, author of The Complete Bo Diddley Sessions; Timothy White, in an interview with Eric Clapton in his Rock Lives: Profiles and Interviews; and Paul Williams, founder of Crawdaddy.
Grateful acknowledgement is made to ARC Music Corporation for quotations from the following songs composed and recorded by Bo Diddley: ìRide On Josephine,î ìMr. Kruskchev,î ìYou All Green,î and ìOoh Baby.î
I am also grateful to the following individuals for their invaluable assistance: Ira Bloomgarden, Marvellous Brooks; Tom Chiosano and Howard Stern of Infinity Broadcasting, New York; John de Witt, Harold Fawkner, the late Robert Grappone; Richard Harrington of The Washington Post; the late Wolfman Jack, Raymond Kennedy, Andy McKaie of MCA Records; Staff of the New York Public Library, Lincoln Center Special Collections; Linda Pervier of the Maine Arts Festival; Timothy Stevens, Davis Szatmary, and Ron Terry.
Special thanks go to my wife, Carol Lane, for her encouragement and advice; to my daughter, Greer Lane, for her unlimited enthusiasm; as well as to Margo Lewis, Debby Hastings, Faith Fusillo, and Grace Millan of the TCI family; Gerald Pollinger of Laurence Pollinger Limited; and First Lieutenant Anthony Williams, of the 101st Airborne Division of the United States Army, and proud member of the former John Jay College ROTC.
Finally, I wish to record that this book owes much to the encouragement and generosity of the late Martin Otelsberg.