Norma Jean Wofford
guitar alongside Bo Diddley.
Norma Jean Wofford aka The Duchess was the second guitarist in Bo Diddley’s band between 1962 and 1966. With her Gretsch Jupiter Thunderbird, she performed back up vocals, danced, and played rhythm guitar alongside Bo Diddley. The Duchess cut an amazing figure on stage with the band, as preserved permanently in the movie The Big T.N.T. Show (1966) -working alongside singers Gloria Morgan and Lily “Bee Bee” Jamieson, i.e. the “Bo-ettes,” she sang on the choruses, but her main function was providing the lead fills on various songs or doubling with Bo Diddley’s own rhythm guitar; on stage, they made a combination more overpowering than Brian Jones and Keith Richards.