Christa Larson Collins (born July 4, 1979) is a
Swedish American
Swedish Americans ( sv, svenskamerikaner) are Americans of Swedes, Swedish ancestry. They include the 1.2 million Swedish immigrants during 1865–1915, who formed tight-knit communities, as well as their descendants and more recent immigrants.
...
singer, dancer, model, and songwriter. She was the first artist signed to Disney Records as a child. She is a designer for limited edition hair accessories and feather fascinators and participated in Season 1 of ''The X Factor'', making it to the judges houses before being eliminated.
Born in
Iowa
Iowa () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wiscon ...
, she expressed an interest in becoming a
Marine biologist
Marine biology is the scientific study of the biology of marine life, organisms in the sea. Given that in biology many phyla, families and genera have some species that live in the sea and others that live on land, marine biology classifies sp ...
as a child. Christa is shy when she's not performing. Christa Larson is the youngest daughter of Michael Larson and the late Denise DeCero Larson. As a small child Christa lived in St. Louis, but after turning down the opportunity to be on Broadway she, her parents, and her older sister moved to California. Christa began modeling when she was 6.
Career
In Disney
As Disney's first child recording artist and a prototype for a multimillion-dollar marketing campaign, launched by a newly formed Disney Records, Christa Larson released ''Minnie 'n Me: Songs Just For Girls'' in 1990. She performed in a guest appearance on Michael Jackson's "Heal the World" in 1991.
On May 9, 1991 while Christa was on tour in Australia promoting her new CD she got sick and when they passed by a hospital Denise Larson wanted to go inside to see if they could make an appointment for her daughter. While her mother was crossing the street she was accidentally run over by a male hit and run driver. Denise died from her injuries. The driver was never found. Christa was eventually dropped from Disney Records and her second album was shelved. Her father is now remarried to his third wife. After losing her mother who was also her manager Larson effectively left show business in 1992. After Denise died Christa dropped out of high school. Christa later married Rik Collins.
In Woolly Bandits
After staying away from performances for a long time, Collins returned to the stage as the front woman of the rock and roll band Woolly Bandits. The band released "Woman of Mass Destruction" in 2009 to positive reviews and became KROQ radio DJ
Rodney Bingenheimer
Rodney Bingenheimer (born December 15, 1946) is an American radio disc jockey who is best known as the host of ''Rodney on the ROQ'', a radio program that ran on the Los Angeles rock station KROQ from 1976 to 2017. In the early 1970s, he also m ...
's favorite new band and album.
Collins also sang "Can't Seem To Make You Mine" alongside
Billy Corgan
William Patrick Corgan Jr. (born March 17, 1967) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and professional wrestling promoter. He is best known as the lead singer, primary songwriter, guitarist, and only permanent member of the rock band th ...
(
Smashing Pumpkins
Smash may refer to:
People
* Smash (wrestler) (born 1959), professional wrestler
* Moondog Rex, another professional wrestler who briefly wrestled as the original Smash, before being replaced by the above.
* DJ Smash, DJ and music producer
Ar ...
) at the 2009 memorial of Sky Saxon,
The Seeds
The Seeds were an American psychedelic garage rock band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1965, best known for their highest charting single "Pushin' Too Hard". The band's classic line-up featured frontman Sky Saxon, guitarist Jan Savage (b ...
founder.
In ''The X Factor''
Collins applied for the first season of ''
The X Factor USA
''The X Factor'' is an American reality television music competition show created by Simon Cowell and produced by FremantleMedia North America and SYCOtv, a partnership between Cowell and Sony Music Entertainment, which aired on Fox. Based o ...
''. During the Top 100 stage of the competition, Collins sang "Chasing Cars" by Snow Patrol along with group members Henri Bredouw, Hannah Jackson, Emma Henry, Ryan Sims, The Brewers, and Kyle Corr. Later, she was chosen to be one of the eight acts for the "over-30s" category that would advance to the judges' houses. For one of her performances at the judges' houses stage, she sang "No Surprises" by Radiohead. However, she did not pass through to the top 17.
Discography
Albums
*1990: ''Minnie 'n Me: Songs Just For Girls'' (Disney Records)
*2009: ''Woman of Mass Destruction'' (Citation Records)
*2013 "All Caught Up In You EP" (Self release)
Compilations
*1991: Ending solo vocals on
Michael Jackson
Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. Over a ...
's "
Heal The World
"Heal the World" is a song recorded by American recording artist Michael Jackson from his eighth studio album, '' Dangerous'' (1991). It was released on November 23, 1992 as the fifth single from the album. It was written and composed by Jackson ...
" (MJJ Productions Inc.,1991)
Music videos
*1990: ''The Girls On Minnie Street'' (Disney Records)
*1990: ''The Girls On Minnie Street Sing-A-Long'' (Disney Records)
Christa's Like Any 11-Year-Old Girl, Except She's A Star
/ref>
References
External links
*
The Woolly Bandits
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Collins, Christa
1979 births
American child actresses
American child singers
American female dancers
American people of Swedish descent
Dancers from Iowa
The X Factor (American TV series) contestants
Living people
20th-century American singers
21st-century American singers
20th-century American women singers
21st-century American women singers