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. When referring to a specific polity, the term "country" may refer to a sovereign state, state with limited recognition, constituent country, ...

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 Southern United States, South. As a genre, it blends the sound of Western music (North America), Western musi ...

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 (October 4, 1944 – January 5, 2024). Their hits in the 1950s as youngste ...

Early life

Born in

Creek County, Oklahoma Creek County is a County (United States), county located in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 71,754. Its county seat is Sapulpa, Oklahoma, Sapulpa. Creek County is part of the Tul ...

, near

Sapulpa Sapulpa is a city in and the county seat of Creek County, extending partly into Tulsa County, in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The population was 21,929 at the time of the 2020 census, compared with 20,544 at the 2010 census. History Early hi ...

, 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 "Ricky" Nelson (May 8, 1940 – December 31, 1985) was an American musician 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 began a ...

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 sisters (the older one being David Nelson's; the younger sister, not yet even in high school, being 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 John R. Cash (born J. R. Cash; February 26, 1932 – September 12, 2003) was an American singer-songwriter. Most of his music contains themes of sorrow, moral tribulation, and redemption, especially songs from the later stages of his career. ...

'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 Star routes is a term used in connection with the United States postal service and the contracting of mail delivery services. The term is defunct as of 1970, but still is occasionally used to refer to Highway Contract Routes (HCRs), which replaced ...

'', and later made appearances on ''

The Jackie Gleason Show ''The Jackie Gleason Show'' is 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 DuMont Televisio ...

'' and ''

The Hollywood Palace ''The Hollywood Palace'' was an hourlong American television variety show broadcast Saturday nights (except September 1967 to January 1968, when it aired on Tuesday nights) on ABC from January 4, 1964, to February 7, 1970. Titled ''The Satur ...

'' 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 primarily in country music but varying in everything from 1950s rock and roll to old German movie soundtracks. History T ...

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 original Rockabilly Hall of Fame was 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 ...

. 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. It is the county seat and most populous city of Washoe County, Nevada, Washoe County. Sitting in the High Eastern Sierra foothills, ...

, 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