North Florida Music Hall of Fame

Bo Diddley was born Ellas McDaniel in McComb, Miss., Diddley joined the exodus to Chicago in the 1950s, where he recorded several novelty-type R&B hits for Chess Records. Although by the late 1960s, he had been relegated to the nostalgia circuit in the U.S., he retained monumental status in England, where he had become a huge influence on such R&B-inspired acts as The Rolling Stones (who covered two of his songs), The Animals and The Yardbirds (who included Eric Clapton). In the 1970s, McDaniel bought a spread in Hawthorne, just outside Gainesville, lived in Archer, and passed away in June, 2008.