Lawrencine May "Lorrie" Collins (May 7, 1942 – August 4, 2018) was an American

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, while ...

rockabilly Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music. It dates back to the early 1950s in the United States, especially the South. As a genre it blends the sound of Western musical styles such as country with that of rhythm and blu ...

and rock and roll singer. Beginning in the mid-1950s, she and her brother, Larry Collins, performed as

the Collins Kids The Collins Kids were an American rockabilly duo featuring Lawrencine "Lorrie" Collins (May 7, 1942 – August 4, 2018) and her younger brother Lawrence "Larry" Collins (born October 4, 1944). Their hits in the 1950s as youngsters, such as "Hop ...

Early life

Born in

Creek County, Oklahoma Creek County is a county located in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. As of the 2010 census, the population was 69,967. Its county seat is Sapulpa. Creek County is part of the Tulsa, OK Metropolitan Statistical Area. History European explorers tra ...

, 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 Eric Hilliard Nelson (May 8, 1940 – December 31, 1985) was an American musician, songwriter and actor. From age eight he starred alongside his family in the radio and television series ''The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet''. In 1957, he bega ...

on both the Nelson family's top-rated show ''

The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet ''The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet'' is an American television sitcom that aired on ABC from October 3, 1952, to April 23, 1966, and starred the real-life Nelson family. After a long run on radio, the show was brought to television, where it ...

'' 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. 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 ''The Jackie Gleason Show'' is the name of a series of American network television shows that starred Jackie Gleason, which ran from 1952 to 1970, in various forms. ''Cavalcade of Stars'' Gleason's first variety series, which aired on the DuMon ...

'' and ''

The Hollywood Palace ''The Hollywood Palace'' was an hour-long American television variety show that was broadcast weekly Saturday nights (except September 1967 to January 1968, when it was seen Monday nights) on ABC from January 4, 1964, to February 7, 1970. Titl ...

'' as late as 1967. Many of their performances on ''Town Hall Party'' were released on DVD by

Bear Family Records Bear Family Records is a Germany-based independent record label, that specializes in reissues of archival material, ranging from country music to 1950s rock and roll to old German movie soundtracks. History The label has been in existence since ...

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 The Rockabilly Hall of Fame is an organization and website launched on March 21, 1997, to present early rock and roll history and information relating to the artists and personalities involved in rockabilly. Headquartered in Nashville, Tennesse ...

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

Death

Collins died on August 4, 2018 in

Reno, Nevada Reno ( ) is a city in the northwest section of the U.S. state of Nevada, along the Nevada-California border, about north from Lake Tahoe, known as "The Biggest Little City in the World". Known for its casino and tourism industry, Reno is the ...

from complications of a fall at the age of 76.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Collins, Lorrie 1942 births 2018 deaths American rockabilly musicians American women country singers American country singer-songwriters American country rock singers American television actresses People from Creek County, Oklahoma Country musicians from Oklahoma 21st-century American women Singer-songwriters from Oklahoma