Bo Diddley Lifetime Achievement Awards from the Rhythm and Blues Foundation and a Grammy Award from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. He is also recognized for his technical innovations, including his distinctive rectangular guitar, with its unique booming, resonant, shimmering tones. Born in McComb, Mississippi, as Ellas Otha Bates, he was adopted and raised by his mother's cousin, Gussie McDaniel, whose surname he assumed. In 1934, the McDaniel family moved to the South Side of Chicago, where he dropped the Otha and became Ellas McDaniel. He was an active member of Chicago's Ebenezer Baptist Church, where he studied the
Otha Young Hot 100 biggest hits. Other Otha Young-penned Top-10 hits include "Sweet, Sweet Smile" (The Carpenters, 1978), "Don't You" (Forester Sisters, 1987) and "What Can I Do With My Heart?" (Juice Newton, 1986). Otha Young died on August 6, 2009 at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center from lung cancer. He was 66 years old. Otha is survived by his wife, Brenda, and their daughter, Makena. Otha Young Otha Young (a.k.a. Robert Otha Young) (May 10, 1943 – August 6, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, producer and the longtime musical partner of Grammy Award-winning country-pop artist Juice Newton. Otha was