Clifton James, Bo Diddley’s drummer, dies at 69
Clifton James, drummer: born Chicago 2 October 1936; married (one son, five daughters); died Chicago 16 February 2006.
One of the stars of early rock’n'roll, Bo Diddley recorded several of the genre’s defining songs and influenced everyone from Buddy Holly to the White Stripes via the Rolling Stones and Eric Clapton. The drummer Clifton James provided the primal beat and criss-cross rhythms on nearly all of the singles and album tracks Diddley recorded for the Chess label between 1955 and 1970.
Not content with backing Diddley on sides such as “I’m a Man”, “Diddley Daddy”, “Road Runner”, “Who Do You Love”, “Cops & Robbers” and “Mona”, and, alternating with Frank Kirkland, on tour, James was a mainstay with Chess Records. In that capacity, he toured and recorded with Willie Dixon, the Flamingos, Buddy Guy, Koko Taylor, Muddy Waters, Sonny Boy Williamson and Howlin’ Wolf.
Born in Chicago in 1936, Clifton James drove his mother and 13 siblings crazy with his drumming. “I first started learning to play drums on chair bottoms, tin cans, and anything you know, I could find to beat on - even a few heads,” he told Mick Vernon on a UK visit to appear with Bo Diddley on Ready Steady Go in 1965. As a teenager, he played with Memphis Slim and Elmore James. He met Diddley in 1953.
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