Billy Strange

William Everett "Billy" Strange (born September 29, 1930 in Long Beach , California - † February 22, 2012 in Franklin , Tennessee ) was an American guitarist, singer, songwriter and arranger in the field of country and pop music .

childhood

His father had his own show on the local country station KFOX (Los Angeles) in which he appeared with his parents as the cowboy entertainer "George & Billie". From 1944 he learned to play guitar on a Gibson L-7 . He went on tour for the first time in 1946, where he accompanied The Sons of the Pioneers , Roy Rogers and Tex Williams . From 1949 to 1959 he was a permanent guest musician on the TV show KXLA Hometown Jamboree . In January 1952, producer Cliffie Stone gave him a record deal with Capitol Records .

Session guitarist

Billy Strange began his career as a session guitarist in the recording session of Wesley "Speedy" West on June 18, 1951 and accompanied the pedal steel guitar virtuoso until April 5, 1962 in a total of 15 studio sessions. On July 9, 1952, Strange and West Moon Mullican accompanied the studio recordings for his songs Jambalaya / A Mighty Pretty Waltz (King # 1106), Pipeline Blues (# 1137) and Ooglie Ooglie Ooglie (# 1164).

Strange can also be heard in Stuart Hamblen's composition and original recording of This Ole House on March 29, 1954; for once he was in a New York studio, as he was almost without exception a guest in the Los Angeles recording studios. He regularly played rhythm guitar with Tennessee Ernie Ford , for example in I'm Hog-tied Over You / False Hearted Girl (July 9, 1952) or The Ballad of Davy Crockett (February 7, 1955) and from spring 1953 on a total of 21 titles. Ricky Nelson accompanied Strange from September 2, 1958 on at least 32 titles.

Strange is considered to be the inventor of the forerunner of the fuzz guitar, which he played on Ann-Margaret's I Just Don't Understand (July 1961): one of the first examples of the distorted guitar sound created by (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction from the Rolling Stones became world famous. He also played fuzz guitar for Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah by Bob B. Soxx & the Blue Jeans on August 24, 1962 - without a microphone at the request of producer Phil Spector - and is on eleven other tracks on the LP of the same name to listen.

Here the group of session musicians met for the first time who made up the instrumental core of the Wall of Sound and often acted as backing band in Bill Putnam's United / Western recording studios and was called The Wrecking Crew : John Anderson (acoustic guitar), Glen Campbell (guitar) , Jimmy Bond , (double bass), Wallick Dean (fender bass), Carol Kaye (danelectro bass), Al DeLory and Nino Tempo (piano), Steve Douglas (tenor saxophone), Jay Migliori (baritone saxophone), Hal Blaine (drums) and Frank Capp (percussion). The arranger was Jack Nitzsche , and the sound engineer was Larry Levine .

In 1962 Strange met Elvis Presley , for whom he first played guitar on August 30, 1962 on Happy Ending , Take Me to the Fair and Relax for the LP It Happened At the World's Fair . His next invitation from Presley followed to the session for Viva Las Vegas on July 10, 1963 with Glen Campbell , recorded for the most commercially successful Presley film of the same name, for which the single was released on April 28, 1964. In total, he played with eleven Presley titles.

In Surfin 'USA (LP released March 27, 1963) Strange first appeared in a recording session with the Beach Boys . It was followed by Sloop John B with a red 12-string Fender Stratocaster on July 12, 1965 on Western Recorders with Jay Migliori, Steve Douglas and Jim Horn (flutes), Frank Capp (glockenspiel), Carol Kaye (Fender bass), Lyle Ritz ( Double bass), Al Casey and Jerry Cole (guitars) and Al DeLory (piano). Brian Wilson asked Strange to dub the guitar part he had already recorded , which only happened on December 29, 1965. Since Strange arrived without a guitar, Wilson bought him an electric 12-string guitar with amplifier, which he gave Strange along with $ 500 for the session. On the LP Pet Sounds , Strange can be heard on six tracks; for this he was present between July 12, 1965 and February 11, 1966.

Wanda Jackson accompanied Strange on their first studio recordings on March 24, 1954, of which the title You Can't Have My Love , published in May 1954, rose to number eight on the country charts. On September 17, 1957, he was involved in the recording of Fuijama Mama , which was released in November 1957.

Strange played with the Everly Brothers from No One Can Make My Sunshine Smile (September 14, 1962) and a total of nine Everly songs as well as the hits of the surf duo Jan & Dean (about Surf City ; May 1963). He was involved in the hit Ramblin 'Rose recorded on June 19, 1962 by Nat King Coles and in C'mon and Swim, composed and produced by Sly Stone by Bobby Freemans (July 1964). When Doris Day was in the studio for the million-seller Move Over Darling on August 30, 1963 , Strange performed again with the famous session musicians Glen Campbell and Tommy Tedesco (guitar), Jimmy Bond (bass), Al DeLory (piano) and Steve Douglas ( Saxophone) on; produced by Terry Melcher and arranged by Jack Nitzsche. From August 28, 1962, he appeared at three recording sessions of the Sons of Pioneers. Strange conducted the orchestra for Frank Sinatra's younger Than Springtime on September 20, 1967.

His greatest success was These Boots Are Made for Walkin ' by Nancy Sinatra in December 1965 , for which he also played guitar. Arranger Strange had the idea of ​​the striking double bass run in the hit, which was sold four million times. Between 1966 and 1967 he arranged a total of 13 tracks for Nancy Sinatra, including the follow-up hit How Does That Grab You Darlin ' and her duet with father Frank Sinatra Something Stupid . Strange arranged all of the Reprise Records albums and the soundtrack for the James Bond film You only live twice by Nancy Sinatra, who gave him a Gibson 335.

Own recordings

Billy Strange & Challengers - Milord

On February 28, 1952, Strange was in Hollywood for the first time not accompanying other interpreters in a recording studio when, with Diesel Smoke Dangerous Curves, he created his first own single, which was released in March 1952. It did not reach the country top 40, nor did the following titles released by several record companies (Capitol Records until 1954, Era, Liberty or GNP Crescendo ). Many recordings were made with the 12-string guitar.

In November 1963, during his studio recordings, he met the session musicians Tommy Tedesco and Hal Blaine, who were in demand with many record labels. He appeared in almost all recording studios in Los Angeles as an interpreter (Capitol Recording Studio, World Pacific, RCA Victor, United Recorders or Gold Star Studios ). On July 24, 1964, he met Charles Chuck Berghofer in the studio , who later played the famous double bass in These Boots Are Made for Walkin ' .

At GNP Crescendo Records he recorded his debut album 12 String Guitar on August 17, 1963 with instrumental versions of great hits. From 1966 he played occasionally with the surf quintet Billy Strange & Challengers , which was also housed with this label. Strange brought out numerous other LPs and singles here by 1975, including instrumental versions of film scores such as the film series James Bond .

Composer, arranger and producer

Chubby Checker - Limbo Rock

His first big hit as a composer was the million-seller Limbo Rock in September 1962 for Chubby Checker , which he wrote together with Kal Mann (who under the pseudonym Jon Sheldon) and was able to place it right up to second place in the charts. He wrote the BMI award-winning song while drunk in five minutes.

From 1968 he worked as a composer with lyricist Mac Davis , with whom he wrote the titles A Little Less Conversation (recorded on March 7, 1968), Nothingville (June 21, 1968), Memories (BMI Award ) for Elvis Presley within two days ; June 27, 1968), Clean Up Your Own Back Yard (August 23, 1968), and Charro (October 15, 1968). They weren't big hits; only Memories and Clean Up Your Own Back Yard achieved a middle ranking with 35th place.

At BMI , 50 music tracks are copyrighted for Billy Strange, at ASCAP another 58.

In the seventies, Billy Strange reduced his artistic activities considerably. He arranged the album The Partridge Family Album , released in June 1970 by the Partridge family , which contained the top hit I Think I Love You, which was released as a single . He appeared with his guitar on three Delaney Bramlett tracks in 1971 , arranged the LP Nancy & Lee Again in 1972 , and produced the album It's Alright for Frank Sinatra junior in 1977 . Jerry Lee Lewis had Strange produce the album Killer Country in May 1980 .

In the film Nashville Lady , which had its US premiere on March 7, 1980, he played the role of the steel guitarist Speedy West, whom Strange had accompanied in his early days in the recording studio.

Discography (selection, with publication date)

Capitol Records :

• Diesel Smoke Dangerous Curves / Almanac Song (F 2032), March 1952
• Hell Train / I Love You 24 Hours a Day (F 2112), May 1952
• Crazy Quilt Rag / Kiss, Kiss, Kiss (F 2228), September 1952
• Just Bummin 'Around / New Carroll County Blues (F 2357), February 1953
• Red / Half a Photograph (F 2500), June 1953
• I'm Still a Prisoner / Let Me Be the One (F 2592), September 1953
• Catsup and Honey / A Lonesome's Lover's Lie (F 2702), January 1954
• Am I Seeing Things / The Devil in Me (F 2797), April 1954
• I Gotta Be Gittin 'Home / You're the Only Good Thing (That's Happened to Me) (F 2934), October 1954
• Let Me In There, Baby / I'll Never Change My Mind About You (F 3021), January 1955

Decca Records :

• Gambin 'Hall / Shake the Hand of a Stranger (9-29551), June 1955

Era Records :

• My Buddy's Girl / Say You're Mine, Porcupine (45-1014), April 1956
• Big Man / It Wasn't Much of a Town (45-1030), 1956

Liberty Records :

• Sadness Done Come / Where Your Arms Used to Be (F-55307), February 1961
• Crawdad Scene / How Come My Dog Don't Growl at You (F-55315), 1961 (as Sweetpea Johnson)
• Long Steel Road / Soft Chains of Love (F-55362), August 1961
• Life of Pretend / I'm Still Trying (F-55414), January 1962

Buena Vista :

• I'll Remember April / Mooncussers (F-406), 1962
• Johnny Shiloh / Day By Day (F-417), 1963

GNP Crescendo :

• Wildwood Flower / Wabash Cannonball, 1964
• Charade / Where's Baby Gone, 1964
• The James Bond Theme / 007 Theme, 1964
• Goldfinger / (Theme From) The Munsters, 1964
• Man with the Golden Arm / Raunchy, 1965
• Thunderball / Ninth Man Theme, 1965
• Love Theme from the Sandpiper / These Boots Are Made for Walking, 1966
• Milord / What If It Should Rain, 1966 (as Billy Strange & the Challengers)
• Yours Is a World I Can't Live In / Go Ahead And Cry, 1967
• A Few Dollars More / You Only Live Twice, 1967
• Hang 'Em High / Five Card Stud, 1968
• High Chaparral / Gunsmoke, 1968

Tower Records :

• De Sade - Main Title / Nocturne Permission, 1969

GNP Crescendo :

• Star Trek / Theme from Jaws, 1975

Individual evidence

1. ^ Obituary in The New York Times, February 25, 2012
2. ↑ Tages-Anzeiger of September 30, 2010: Jan Derrer, The unknown genius behind Elvis and Sinatra , Part 1
3. ↑ he took 2 tubes from the amplifier
4. ^ Joseph Murrells, Million Selling Records , 1985, p. 161
5. ↑ Tages-Anzeiger of September 30, 2010: Jan Derrer, The unknown genius behind Elvis and Sinatra , Part 2
6. ↑ BMI entry for Billy Strange  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
7. ↑ ASCAP entry for Billy Strange