A Sad Day!

[slowfinger]

Thank you Wally. I'm adjusting to the 'new reality' fairly well now. I'm happy enough with my own company but miss my wife very much.

 

We can't change the past no matter how much we might wish otherwise, so we just have to make the best of what we have now - the 'new reality'.

 

My thoughts are with you.

[wraub]

My sympathies and condolences to you as well slowfinger.

 

I can only imagine...

 

You be well too. Take care of yourself.

 

 

[BenLoy]

So sorry for your loss, Wally. Peggy was a legend.

[picker]

My prayers & condolences go out to you and yours, Wally.

 

[Basshappi]

I've been away for awhile.

 

My belated condolences to you Wally and to you as well Slowfinger.

[Groove Mama]

Peggy was a legend.

 

Omigosh, I'm not sure we had an accurate idea of just how great a legend she was!

 

Wally, pls post the obit I saw on Facebook. What an incredibly talented lady she was!

[Wally Malone]

This is the Official Obituary for Lady Bo and I thank George White from Music Mentor Books for his help with this:

 

OBITUARY LADY BO !

Rocks first female guitarist, Peggy Malone a.k.a. Lady Bo has died at age 75.

Born Peggy Tiese Jones in Eden, Maryland on July 19, 1940 and raised in uptown

Manhattan, she was a child prodigy who at the tender age of three already exhibited an

innate feel for rhythm and movement, as well as musical pitch and timing. Encouraged by

her musical parents (her mother was a singer and dancer, and her father played trumpet

and sax), Peggy became a professional tap-dancer at the age of 6, appearing at Carnegie

Hall and on TV shows, and also studied ballet, toe and modern dance. Gifted with a

stunning 4-octave singing voice, she received formal operatic training at age 9. At age 12,

she learned to play her first instrument the ukulele and started writing her own songs.

Peggy was educated at Stitt Junior High and the High School of Performing Arts, where she

majored in dance, studied drama and music theory, and learned to play several more

instruments including keyboards, bass and drums. After graduating in 1956, she found work

as a big band vocalist and part-time model, and was planning to go to the prestigious

Juilliard School to study classical music theory, but a chance encounter changed the course

of her life forever.

With rock n roll taking the country by storm, Peggy had recently bought herself an

electric guitar. One day, she was walking down 125th Street carrying her instrument and

was approached by a large black man in a head rag and sunglasses who asked her if she

could play it. She replied truthfully: Not yet.

Well, let me know when you can, came the reply. Im Bo Diddley.

Incredulous at first that one of the top R&B stars in the country would make her such

an offer, Peggy worked on her guitar technique and picked up tips from Diddley whenever

he was in town. In between, she also worked as a nightclub singer and recorded with The

Continentals, The Bop-Chords and Gregory Carroll (as Greg & Peg). She began sitting in

on Bo Diddleys sessions from early 1957 and went out on the road with him as a fully

fledged band member in 1958.

Peggys impact was immediate not just on stage, where audiences were

astonished to see a female lead guitar player, but also musically. Her influence is

immediately apparent on hits like Say Man and Road Runner and the album tracks they

recorded together: not just the inventive guitar accompaniments (she could play in play in

Diddleys unusual open-tuning style, as well as in regular tuning), but also the backing

vocals, arrangements and an overall broadening-out of repertoire. It was no accident that

the next four years were arguably Diddleys most successful, from an artistic as well as

commercial standpoint.

In 1961, Peggy had to take temporary leave of absence to care for her sick mother

and younger sisters back in New York City. She never returned. Her place in the band and

in history was taken by another girl guitarist, Norma-Jean Wofford a.k.a. Duchess.

Constrained by family responsibilities and unable to travel, Peggy did her best to earn a

living performing in local clubs and playing on a handful of recording sessions (most notably

the memorable guitar lead on Les Coopers 1962 instrumental hit, Wiggle Wobble). In the

mid-60s, she formed her own group, The Jewels, who quickly established a reputation as

one of the hottest outfits on the East Coast. In 1966, they scored a regional hit with their

revamp of the standard, Im Forever Blowing Bubbles, but by this time relationships within

the band were becoming strained and Peggy quit shortly after to join The Kings Paupers as

Little Jewel. She also did more session work, assisting recording pioneer Gary Kellgren

with percussion and sound effects on the Animals Winds Of Change album, and sitting in

with Curtis Knight & The Squires whenever their regular guitarist, Jimi Hendrix, couldnt

make it. Overall, however, the 60s proved to be a period of frustration and disappointment

period for Peggy, who felt with some justification that events had conspired to prevent

her from achieving her full potential.

Happily, life took a significant turn for the better after she met bass player Wally

Malone. They married in 1968 and both joined American Soul Train (a.k.a. the legendary

Boogie Kings), based out of Lake Charles, Louisiana. After touring the South with them for

six months, the Malones relocated to California in 1969, initially to San Jose, then to

Boulder Creek, up in the Santa Cruz Mountains. There, they formed a trio called The Family

Jewel and from then on worked mainly on the West Coast, as well as quite a few

engagements on the East Coast, many of them in Boston.

In July 1970, Peggy spotted that Bo Diddley was due to appear at the Fillmore West

auditorium in San Francisco and decided to pay him a surprise visit. After an emotional

reunion, Bo invited her to join him onstage and by all accounts played one of the best shows

of his career. Even though ten years had elapsed, the old magic was still there. The crowd

were so excited to see them back together that they started chanting Lady Bo, Lady Bo,

and Diddley duly rechristened her on the spot.

Peggy and Bo stayed in touch, and she and her band would regularly back him

during the 70s and 80s whenever he played on the West Coast. They also cut some new,

funk-styled material together in 1978, and some of the material was later included

uncredited on Diddleys 1984 comeback album, Aint It Good To Be Free.

When not working with Bo, Peggy played various clubs and festivals with different

permutations of her group Lady Bo & The Family Jewel, the Lady Bo Trio, and Lady Bo &

The BC Horns as the occasion demanded. She also made a fleeting appearance in the

1987 movie, The Lost Boys, playing in the boardwalk band.

Peggys dedication as a musician and guitarist was second to none. Influenced by

George Benson, Kenny Burrell, Grant Green, Jimi Hendrix, Wes Montgomery, Charlie

Parker, Django Reinhardt and, of course, Bo Diddley, she was constantly exploring new

techniques, effects and sounds. She was equally willing to embrace new technologies such

as the Roland guitar synthesizer, and explore the possibilities they offered.

She received a Lifetime Achievement Award in 1993 at the South Bay Blues Awards,

and a US Congressional Lifetime Achievement Award in 2003. That same year, she was

acknowledged as a Music Legend at the California Music Awards, and was also inducted

into the West Coast Blues Hall Of Fame. In 2012, Peggy and Wally were both inducted into

the Louisiana Hall of Fame, along with all the other Boogie Kings.

Peggy had been in poor health for several years and was recently diagnosed with

cancer. She passed away peacefully at her home in Boulder Creek, California on

Wednesday, September 16. She leaves behind husband Wally, sisters Patricia and Patrina

Jones, and nieces Alexandria, Vanessa and Amber Stewart and Yyana Jones.