Biography

Billy Strange

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Billy Strange was born on September 29, 1930 in Long Beach, California, USA. He was a composer and actor, known for Next (2007), Passengers (2016) and Ocean's Eleven (2001). He was married to Jeanne Black, Betty Jo Conrad and Joan O'Brien. He died on February 22, 2012 in Franklin, Tennessee, USA.

Generally credited with inventing the "fuzz" or "feedback" guitar sound, which occurred when rehearsing his guitar solo on the rock song "Zip-a-Dee-Doo Dah" by Bobb B. Sox and the Blue Jeans in the mid-1960s. Halfway through his solo the guitar's speaker malfunctioned. He liked the distorted, faraway sound that came out of the broken speaker, and "fine-tuned" it to magnify it when he recorded the actual solo. The song was a hit, and many guitarists began copying his "fuzz" sound on their records.
Tall, good-looking Grammy nominee and Gold Record musician/guitarist who has served as a writer, arranger, conductor, producer, publisher, and performer.
He is the guitarist heard on the theme to The Munsters (1964)..
Wrote the songs "Limbo Rock," "I Think I Love You" and arranged "These Boots Are Made for Walking." for Nancy Sinatra.
Married briefly in the 1950s to singer/actress Joan O'Brien. His present wife, Jeanne Black, was also a singer. They first connected in the 1950s, but didn't reconnect until almost 40 years later. They married in 1999.

I've played every kind of music in the world. I've played rock and roll, did all the surf records, played with the big orchestras. If they needed somebody in a small group who knew what the hell they were doing in the studio it was me.
[about working with Jan Berry of Jan & Dean] It was always Jan who came to the recording studio totally prepared. He was, for the most part, very business-like in the studio. He was very aware when one of us would be getting uptight, because we couldn't do something musically that fit what Jan had envisioned as the end product. And he would invariably find something humorous to say, or do, to lighten the moment. It always seemed to work.

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