Bo Diddley And His Women

Bo Diddley, Long Beach Blues Festival (1997). Photo: Masahiro Sumori.

The world of rock ‘n’ roll was full of Little Sixteens, Suzie Qs, Pretty Things, Donnas, Bette Jeans, Little Queenies, Peggy Sues or Lucillas. Rock ‘n’ Roll was mainly a male business and you could find women only in song titles and in the audience – but not on stage. Well, maybe as background singers, but certainly not on guitar.

Rock ‘n’ roll innovator Bo Diddley (1928-2008) was the exception to the rule. Throughout his long career he worked together with female instrumentalists. Let’s have a closer look at them.

Guitarist and singer Lady Bo (Peggy Jones).

In 1957 Peggy Jones aka Lady Bo replaced Bo Diddley’s guitarist Jody Williams, who had been drafted for military service. Jones played with Diddley until 1961 in the recording studios and on stage. Her contribution to Bo Diddleys music was essential.

She played electric guitar on classic songs like “Hey, Bo Diddley”, “Mona”, “Say Man”, “Crackin’ Up”, “The Story of Bo Diddley”, “Say Man, Back Again”, “Road Runner” and “Bo Diddley’s A Gunslinger”. She not only played electric guitar, but sometimes she also sang or played piano. Besides working with Bo Diddley, she performed and recorded with many different groups and singers. From 1962 on Lady Bo concentrated on her own career, but she still played with Bo from time to time until 1993. (Sources: Lady Bo… Rock & Roll’s First Lady of Guitar and Allexperts, both by David Blakey).

The Duchess (Norma-Jean Wofford).

Guitarist Norma-Jean Wofford (1942? – 2005) took  over  Lady Bo’s position. Soon she was named “The Duchess” by Bo Diddley.  There’s not much information available about Norma-Jean Wofford. According to Spectropop and Wikipedia she accompanied Bo Diddley on his first England tour in 1962 and played on following Bo Diddley albums: “Bo Diddley & Company”, “Bo Diddley’s Beach Party”, “Hey! Good Lookin’”, “500% More Man” and “The Originator”. Norma-Jean Wofford left the band in 1966 when she got married. See also her biography on allmusic.

Bo Diddley and Debby Hastings at Central Park Summerstage (1990). Photo: Andi Deily.

Another important collaborator of Bo Diddley was Debby Hastings. She stayed much longer with him than the Duchess and Lady Bo. The electric bass player joined him around 1984 and worked with him until his death in 2008. From 1994 on she was also his music director. She played with him live and in the studio. You can hear her on Bo Diddley’s Grammy nominated album “A Man Amongst Men”.

Debby Hastings started her career in Wisconsin and then moved to Memphis, TN where she opened for Muddy Waters and recorded at Stax Records under Isaac Hayes. She later settled in New York before joining Bo Diddley. Besides Bo Diddley, Debby Hastings played with many soul, rock ‘n’ roll, blues and rock legends like Sam Moore (of Sam and Dave), Willie Dixon, Edgar Winter,  Dr. John, Chuck Berry, Little Richard, and Jerry Lee Lewis. She toured with Ron Wood and Bo Diddley playing for both of them on the Gunslinger Tour and the subsequent DVD and live album called “Live At the Ritz”. In 2005 she played with Eric Clapton and  Robbie Robertson at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

Debby Hastings was with Bo Diddley in May 2007 when he had the stroke that ended his performing career. At the memorial for Bo Diddley she said: “He was the rock that the roll is built on.” (Sources: Beat lives On at a Memorial for Bo Diddley, Debby Hastings – The lady still rocks with the blues and Bo Diddley, email from Debby Hastings).

More about Bo Diddley:

• Who Do You Love?
• New York Times multimedia gallery
• Bo Diddley – The Originator

TV-Documentary About Electric Bass Legend Carol Kaye

In 2004 Pekka Rautionmaa produced the 52 minutes music-documentary “First Lady Of Bass” about electric bass innovator Carol Kaye for the Finnish broadcaster YLE. There’s a long extract of it on YouTube.

Carol Kaye started her career as jazz guitarist in the late nineteen-forties. In the late nineteen-fifties she started working in the music studios of Los Angeles, playing guitar for legends like Sam Cooke and Ritchie Valens. In the early sixties she picked up the electric bass. Thanks to her talent of creating catchy bass lines, her music reading ability and her versatility in all kinds of styles, she soon became the number one electric bass player in Los Angeles.

Carol Kaye recorded among others for Elvis, Ray Charles, The Beach Boys, Simon and Garfunkel, The Byrds, The Monkees, The Doors, Frank and Nancy Sinatra, Count Basie, Hampton Hawes, Mel Tormé and Barbara Streisand. Her TV and movie credits include Mission Impossible, Hawaii 5-O, M*A*S*H, Streets of San Francisco, In The Heat Of The Night, Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid, Bullitt and Sugarland Express.

In the documentary Carol Kaye demonstrates her electric bass and electric guitar playing and plays together with Brian Wilson. There’s a lot of interesting first hand information about the studio musicians of Los Angeles who played on many great pop, rock, easy listening and soundtrack recordings.

The extract on YouTube contains quotes by Perry Botkin (composer/arranger), Don Peake (guitar player/composer) and sound engineer David Gold, co-owner of Hollywood music studio “Gold Star” where among others Ritchie Valens, Eddie Cochran, Herb Alpert and Phil Spector recorded.

To my knowledge the documentary is not available on DVD.

‘Wrecking Crew’ Live Reunion in Los Angeles

IMPORTANT UPDATE (June 23rd, 2008) According to a statement on her forum, Carol Kaye won’t perform on June 28th.

Legendary studio musicians Carol Kaye (electric bass), Hal Blaine (drums), Don Randi (piano) and Chuck Berghofer (upright bass) will perform live in Los Angeles on June 28th.

This exclusive reunion takes place after the Los Angeles premiere of Denny Tedesco’s documentary movie The Wrecking Crew as part of the Grand Performances Program in downtown Los Angeles. According to Carol Kaye’s forum Glen Campbell and Nancy Sinatra will probably perform, too. Though this has yet to be confirmed.

In the nineteen-sixties Carol Kaye, Hal Blaine, Don Randi and Chuck Berghofer were part of a big group of Los Angeles studio musicians – many of them jazz musicians – who worked day and night in the music studios. Together they left an indelible sonic mark upon thousands of pop songs, movie soundtracks and commercials. They actually were not a group. Studio musicians were all hired individually, usually by contractors. But because they performed together on famous records, music lovers and journalists often wrongly think that the studio musicians were a kind of a rock band.

Here’s just a small example of artists Carol Kaye, Hal Blaine, Don Randi and Chuck Berghofer played for together or individually: Beach Boys, Nancy Sinatra, Simon and Garfunkel, Elvis Presley, Henry Mancin, The Mamas & Papas, Connie Francis, Herb Alpert, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, James Brown, Sonny and Cher, Quincy Jones, Bobby Darin, The Monkees, Barbara Streisand, Diana Ross, Neil Diamond, Phil Spector and Motown productions and … OK, I think you get the picture. The list would go on and on.

You ask for more? Fine, here are some movie and TV soundtracks they played on: Mission Impossible, Planet Of The Apes, The Bill Cosby Show, Streets Of San Francisco, Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid, In The Heat Of The Night and, The Pawnbroker, Airport and, and, and…

Related links

• Electric Bass Legend Carol Kaye: L.A. Studio Musicians Were Never Called ‘Wrecking Crew’
• Chuck Berghofer And His Most Famous Bass Slide
• The Invisible Musicians Who Played On All The Sixties Hits
• ‘Variety’ Gives Music Docu ‘The Wrecking Crew’ Thumbs Up
• The ‘Wrecking Crew’ Movie – Documentary About L.A. Studio Musicians Of The Sixties

Carol Kaye Gives Away Guitar And Electric Bass Secrets In Radio Interview

In a great NPR interview Carol Kaye not only tells about how she started playing jazz guitar and became an innovative electric bass player, but she also plays live on guitar and electric bass. Actually it’s more a music lesson about how pop music was played in the sixties than just an interview.

If you love the music of the sixties make sure to listen to it. You get first hand information from the woman who recorded with Ray Charles, Sam Cook, The Doors, Ritchie Valens, Joe Cocker, Barbara Streisand, the Beach Boys and many others.

Who Played On ‘La Bamba’? Part 3

On my post Who Played On ‘La Bamba’? I wrote, that I wasn’t sure whether the bass player named Buddy Clark, who played on Ritchie Valens’ “La Bamba”, was the same Buddy Clark who was involved in the Supersax band in the nineteen-seventies.

I’m happy to announce that it’s indeed the same Buddy Clark. His daughter Lisa Clark confirmed it to me. Like her father Lisa Clark works in the music business. She’s a singer and mainly performs in the Austin, TX area. Check out her homepage.

Related posts:

• Who Played On ‘La Bamba’?
• Who Played On ‘La Bamba’? Part 2