Bo Diddley, one of the founding fathers of rock and roll, died from heart failure on 2 June, 2008, at the age of 79 following months of ill-health.

He had a heart attack in August 2007, three months after suffering a stroke. He had returned to Florida to continue his rehabilitation and died at his home there.

He rose to fame in 1955 when he topped the R&B charts with his first single called Bo Diddley. His lyrics were often witty and humorous adaptations of folk music themes. The song Bo Diddley was based on the lullaby Hush Little Baby.

His other hits include Say Man, Who Do You Love, Before You Accuse Me, You Can't Judge a Book by the Cover and Mona. As well as the many songs identified with him, he wrote the pioneering pop song Love Is Strange for Mickey and Sylvia under a pseudonym.

The legendary singer and performer was known for his homemade square guitar, dark glasses and black hat.

His so-called "Bo Diddley beat" influenced rockers from Buddy Holly , to Bruce Springsteen and U2.

It was Cleveland disc jockey Alan Freed who is credited with inventing the term "rock 'n' roll." Diddley said Freed was talking about him, when he introduced him, saying: "Here is a man with an original sound, who is going to rock and roll you right out of your seat."

He was born Ellas Otha Bates on 30 December, 1928, in McComb, Mississippi. Diddley was later adopted by his mother's cousin Gussie McDaniel and took on the name Ellis McDaniel.

At the age of five his new family moved to Chicago, where he learned the violin at the Ebenezer Baptist Church. He learned guitar at 10 and started playing for passers-by on street corners. In his early teens, Diddley also trained as a boxer.

At school he acquired the nickname Bo Diddley. A "Diddley Bow" is an instrument that was used in the south by black musicians. Another source claims it as a southern black slang phrase meaning "nothing at all," as in "he ain't bo diddley." Another claim is that it was his nickname as a teenage boxer.

In a 1999 interview, he said: "I don't know where the kids got it, but the kids in grammar school gave me that name," adding that he liked it so it became his stage name.

Diddley achieved the distinction of being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, having a star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame, and receiving a lifetime achievement award in 1999 at the American Grammys.

Diddley's influence was felt on both sides of the Atlantic. Buddy Holly borrowed a classic Bo Diddley rhythm for his song Not Fade Away.

The Rolling Stones' bluesy remake of that Holly song also gave them their first chart single in America in 1964. The following year the Yardbirds, had a Top 20 hit in the U.S. with their version of I'm a Man.

Diddley was also one of the pioneers of the electric guitar.

Despite his success Diddley, like other artists of his generations, was paid a flat fee for his recordings and said he received no royalty payments on record sales. He also said he was never paid for many of his performances. Partly as a result, he continued to tour and record music until his stroke.

By supporting punk band The Clash in 1979, he introduced his sound to a new generation.

He made cameo appearances in George Thorogood's video Bad to the Bone, and played a pawnbroker in the Eddie Murphy film Trading Places. In 1998 he appeared in Blues Brothers 2000.