He died of heart failure yesterday at his home in Florida after months of ill health.

His innovative guitar techniques - including his trademark "hambone" rhythm - made him a household name, and he once quipped: "I play the guitar like I'm playin' the drums."

Diddley trained as a boxer while at school in Chicago but would regularly play the guitar on street corners.

In 1955 he secured a record deal - his first single Bo Diddley went to number one in the R&B charts.

He enjoyed a string of hits in the 1950s and 1960s. Diddley, along with his contemporaries Chuck Berry and Little Richard, was among a pioneering group of black recording artists who crossed the racial divide and appealed to white audiences.

His distinctive beat influenced Buddy Holly, Elvis Presley, The Who, Bruce Springsteen and U2. The greatest success of a song with the Bo Diddley beat was Buddy Holly's Not Fade Away, which was a huge hit when it was covered by the Rolling Stones.

He was born Ellas Otha Bates but he acquired the nickname Bo Diddley at school.

The rocker was not sure where this moniker came from, although a "Diddley Bow" is a onestringed African guitar.