Lorrie Collins
A woman sings and performs with a guitar
Collins performing in August 2006
Background information
Birth nameLawrencine May Collins
Born(1942-05-07)May 7, 1942
Near Sapulpa, Oklahoma, U.S.
DiedAugust 4, 2018(2018-08-04) (aged 76)
Reno, Nevada, U.S.
Genres
Instrument(s)Guitar
Years active1952–2018

Lawrencine May "Lorrie" Collins (May 7, 1942 – August 4, 2018) was an American country, rockabilly and rock and roll singer. Beginning in the mid-1950s, she and her brother, Larry Collins, performed as the Collins Kids.

Early life

Born in Creek County, Oklahoma, near Sapulpa, Collins and her brother Larry were individually musically talented as young children. Their parents relocated them to Southern California to develop their music. They soon became paired as a musical duo.

Career

In the late 1950s, Collins was the girlfriend of television star and teen idol Ricky Nelson on both the Nelson family's top-rated show The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet and in private life. She made her debut on January 22, 1958, in an episode titled "The Picture in Rick's Notebook" in which she played the dual role of twin sisters (one being David Nelson's girlfriend and the other Ricky's potential paramour). In this first episode, Nelson and Lorrie performed a duet of "Just Because", which had been one of the Collins Kids' signature songs (Lorrie played her own guitar and covered the name Collins on the neck with her left hand). A month later, her brother made a guest appearance on the show in an episode titled "Who Is Betty?", which aired on February 19, 1958.

In 1959, when Collins was 17, she married Stu Carnall, who was Johnny Cash's manager and twice her age. She continued acting and singing with Nelson on television and recording and touring with her brother until 1961 when she gave birth to her first child.[1] The Collins duo continued to perform into the 1960s, appearing as regulars in the 1963 Canadian music series Star Route, and later made appearances on The Jackie Gleason Show and The Hollywood Palace as late as 1967. Many of their performances on Town Hall Party were released on DVD by Bear Family Records of Germany; a CD of their work on the show Rockin' on T.V. was released in 1993 on the Krazy Kat label in Europe.

With her brother, Collins is a member of the Rockabilly Hall of Fame.[2]

She and her brother performed together again in 1992 and 1993, mostly at music festivals.[1][3]

Death

Collins died on August 4, 2018, in Reno, Nevada, from complications of a fall at the age of 76.[4][5]

References

  1. 1 2 Harrington, Richard (2007-01-26). "Rockabilly's Collins Kids: Still Young at Heart". Washington Post. Retrieved 2018-08-06.
  2. ↑ "RAB Hall of Fame - Collins Kids". Rockabillyhall.com. Retrieved 6 August 2018.
  3. ↑ Appleford, Steve (1993-12-03). "Rockabilly Redux : The Collins Kids helped establish the sound in the '50s and will resurrect it Saturday at the Palomino". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2018-08-06.
  4. ↑ "Lorrie Collins, Rockabilly Singer (Collins Kids), Dies at 76". Bestclassicbands.com. 13 June 2015. Retrieved 5 August 2018.
  5. ↑ Friskics-Warren, Bill (8 August 2018). "Lorrie Collins, Dynamic Rockabilly Singer, Dies at 76". The New York Times. Retrieved August 9, 2018.
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