{{short description|American country singer-songwriter (1942–2018)}}
{{More citations needed|date=August 2018}} {{Infobox musical artist | name = Lorrie Collins | image = Lorrie Collins.jpg | image_upright = | image_size = | alt = Lorrie Collins sings and performs with a guitar | caption = Collins performing in August 2006 | background = solo_singer | birth_name = Lawrencine May Collins | birth_date = {{Birth date|1942|5|7}} | birth_place = Near Sapulpa, Oklahoma, U.S. | death_date = {{Death date and age|2018|8|4|1942|5|7}} | death_place = Reno, Nevada, U.S. | genre = {{flatlist| *Country *rockabilly *rock }} | instrument = Guitar | years_active = 1952–2018 | past_member_of = The Collins Kids }} '''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 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'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.<ref name="Harrington 2007">{{cite news |last=Harrington |first=Richard |title=Rockabilly's Collins Kids: Still Young at Heart |newspaper=Washington Post |date=2007-01-26 |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/25/AR2007012500695.html |access-date=2018-08-06}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.rockabillyhall.com/CollinsKids1.html|title=RAB Hall of Fame - Collins Kids|website=Rockabillyhall.com|accessdate=6 August 2018}}</ref>
She and her brother performed together again in 1992 and 1993, mostly at music festivals.<ref name="Harrington 2007"/><ref name="latimes 1993">{{cite web |last=Appleford |first=Steve |title=Rockabilly Redux : The Collins Kids helped establish the sound in the '50s and will resurrect it Saturday at the Palomino. |website=Los Angeles Times |date=1993-12-03 |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1993-12-03-va-63428-story.html |access-date=2018-08-06}}</ref>
==Death== Collins died on August 4, 2018, in Reno, Nevada, from complications of a fall at the age of 76.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://bestclassicbands.com/lorrie-collins-obituary-8-5-188/|title=Lorrie Collins, Rockabilly Singer (Collins Kids), Dies at 76 |date=13 June 2015|website=Bestclassicbands.com|accessdate=5 August 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/08/obituaries/lorrie-collins-dynamic-rockabilly-singer-is-dead-at-76.html?smtyp=cur&smid=tw-nytobits|title=Lorrie Collins, Dynamic Rockabilly Singer, Dies at 76|work=The New York Times|date=8 August 2018 |accessdate=August 9, 2018 |last1=Friskics-Warren |first1=Bill }}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * {{Discogs artist|901425-Lorrie-Collins}} * {{IMDb name|1651356}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Collins, Lorrie}} Category:1942 births Category:2018 deaths Category:American rockabilly musicians Category:American women country singers Category:American country singer-songwriters Category:American country rock singers Category:American television actresses Category:People from Creek County, Oklahoma Category:Country musicians from Oklahoma Category:21st-century American women Category:Singer-songwriters from Oklahoma