3/11 2-4p EST: Tribute to Wrecking Crew Guitarist/Composer BILLY STRANGE (1930-2012)

Prolific composer, session guitarist, arranger, vocalist and actor Billy Strange (born William Everett Strange in Long Beach, CA) died on Wednesday, February 22, 2012 in Franklin, Tennessee. He was 81. Strange recorded with Elvis Presley (including many of his late 1960's film soundtracks), the Beach Boys, Phil Spector, Frank and Nancy Sinatra, Wanda Jackson, Dean Martin, Willie Nelson and the Partridge Family; wrote No. 1 single "Limbo Rock" for Chubby Checker and 1962 instrumental hit "Tequila" recorded by the Champs; arranged and played on Nat King Cole’s hit “Ramblin’ Rose;” and arranged for all Nancy Sinatra’s albums in the 1960's including the No. 1 hits "These Boots Were Made For Walkin'," "Somethin' Stupid" (her duet with her father), and "Some Velvet Morning" (her duet with Lee Hazlewood).



A long term member of the celebrated cadre of young Hollywood studio musicians known as The Wrecking Crew (because they took work away from the veteran session musicians of the time), Strange played on psychedelic touchstones like the Beach Boys’ “Pet Sounds” and Love’s “Forever Changes.” Rock and roll, all the surf records, big orchestras, country albums, the crooners, he played it all. He made numerous recordings under his own name, including instrumental guitar albums with versions of James Bond and other spy themes and Morricone Westerns and eventually scored his own soundtracks for psychedelic "De Sade" and "Bunny O'Hare" films.



An occasional actor, Mr. Strange played the steel guitarist Speedy West in “Coal Miner’s Daughter,” the 1980 film about Loretta Lynn, appeared in the TV series “Rawhide,” and ghost sang the vocals for Steve McQueen in "Baby, The Rain Must Fall" in 1965. After more than two decades in Hollywood, Strange relocated to Nashville in the early 1970s to manage a music publishing firm of Frank and Nancy Sinatra. He was inducted into the Nashville Musicians Hall of Fame.

Here is a very incomplete discography:
http://www.janderrer.ch/music/billy-strange/billy-strange-credit-list.html



Tune into your source for all things soundtrack, Morricone Youth, this Sunday, March 11th from 2-4 p.m. ET, for host Devon E. Levins dedicates the entire two hours to the genius of Billy Strange.