THE COLLINS KIDS

            

When Larry and Lorrie Collins of the Collins Kids stepped onstage at Hemsby-On-Thames in May 1993 before some three thousand raving British rockabilly fans, the brother-sister duo were returning to rock and roll for the first time since they were quite literally children. But the legend of the Collins Kids only grew in their absence. Their '50's recordings were reissued with a startling regularity, culminated by a 1991 Bear Family boxed set from Germany, "Hop Skip & Jump." Bootleg tapes of their TV appearances circulated hotly on the video underground.

As teenagers, the two siblings appeared regularly on "Town Hall Party," a weekly Los Angeles television show hosted by country star Tex Ritter, where the beautiful brunette Lorrie belted out the rock and roll with the authority and audacity of someone twice her age and her exposed nerve younger brother twanged and trilled the double-neck Mosrite guitar with a ferocity equally belying his own age.

Born and raised in Pretty Water, Oklahoma, their father and mother sold the farm and the cows to move to California so the two talented children could pursue their show business destinies. Within a year, the two joined the cast of the weekly country music showcase on Los Angeles television in 1954. It was on "Town Hall Party" that teen idol and TV star Ricky Nelson first saw Lorrie Collins. Before long, she became his first steady girlfriend.

The Collins Kids appeared on national TV shows like Ed Sullivan and Steve Allen and toured with country music stars of the day like Johnny Cash and Carl Perkins before Lorrie's teenage marriage interceded. By 1962, the duo even stopped recording, while Lorrie concentrated on motherhood and Larry turned his skills to songwriting.

Larry Collins experienced considerable success as the author of "Delta Dawn" and "You're the Reason God Made Oklahoma," both nominated for Grammy awards, and he recorded his sister singing duets with longtime friends and associates like Merle Haggard and Willie Nelson (who teamed with Lorrie Collins on the unreleased sequel to Larry's hit, "Daughter Of Delta Dawn"). Larry even recorded his own material in the headquarters of Southern soul, Muscle Shoals, before he remarried and settled in Reno, Nevada, where his sister was also living.

By: RAB HAL LOF FAME 

              



               



               

The Collins Kids are an American rockabilly duo featuring Lawrencine "Lorrie" Collins (born May 7, 1942) and her younger brother Lawrence "Larry" Collins (born October 4, 1944). Their hits in the 1950s as youngsters, such as "Hop, Skip and Jump", "Beetle Bug Bop" and "Hoy Hoy", were geared towards children, but their infectious singing and playing crossed over generations. Larry, a lightning-fingered guitar whiz at age 10, was known for playing a double-neck Mosrite guitar like his mentor, Joe Maphis.

They became regular performers on Town Hall Party in 1954 and on the syndicated for television version of the show, Tex Ritter's Ranch Party, which ran from 1957 to 1959. It was on Town Hall Party that Ricky Nelson first saw Lorrie Collins, soon after making her the first steady girlfriend of that 1950s teen heartthrob. In a 1958 episode[3] of The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, Lorrie played both Ricky's girlfriend - and that girlfriend's identical twin.

The Collins continued to perform together in the mid-1960s, appearing as regulars on the Canadian music program Star Route and making a guest appearance on the September 8, 1965 edition of Shindig!.

Larrywrote a number of well-known songs including "Delta Dawn", "You're the Reason God Made Oklahoma", "Tulsa Turnaround"; some in partnership with songwriter Alexander Harvey (not to be confused with Scottish rocker Alex Harvey).

The duo reunited for a rockabilly revival concert in England in 1993 and continue to perform. They appeared at Deke Dickerson's Guitar Geek Festival in Anaheim, California on January 19, 2008, with a new addition to the band: their nephew, Dakota Collins, playing upright bass.