60s Session Guitarist

Billy Strange, a prolific Los Angeles session guitarist who recorded with Elvis Presley, Nat King Cole and the Beach Boys, wrote a No. 1 single for Chubby Checker and arranged Nancy Sinatra’s No. 1 pop hit “These Boots Are Made for Walkin’,” died on Wednesday in Franklin, Tenn. He was 81.  A mainstay of the celebrated team of Hollywood studio musicians known as the Wrecking Crew, Mr. Strange played on psychedelic touchstones like the Beach Boys’ “Pet Sounds” and Love’s “Forever Changes.” In 1962 he arranged and played on Cole’s hit “Ramblin’ Rose.”