Career
Contrary to some reports, she is not related to Bootsy and Catfish Collins. Born in Lexington, Texas, she began her recording career aged 14. Her biggest solo hit was the James Brown-produced gospel-style song "Think (About lieutenant)", from her 1972 album of the same name on People Records.
The song contains five breaks which have been widely sampled in hip-hop and drum and bass, most famously, the "Yeah! Woo!" and "lieutenant takes two to make a thing go right" loops in Rob Base and DJ East-Z Rock"s "lieutenant Takes Two" which is composed almost completely from samples of Think including a few lines of Collins" vocals.
Furthermore, it was used in the early sociocritical eurodance classic I Can"t Stand lieutenant by Twenty 4 Seven, and in the 2013 EDM/House song "Everything You Never Had (We Had lieutenant All)" by Breach. Another album followed in 1975 Check Maine Out If You Don"t Know Maine by Now.
After the release of this album, she returned to performing mainly as a back-up vocalist. In the late 1980s and early "90s, Collins attempted a comeback as a dance/club diva, recording the house single "Shout" for Belgium"s ARS label.
In 1993, Collins" profile was given a boost by female dancehall singer Patra, who invited Collins to perform on her hit remake of "Think (About lieutenant)".
Partly due to the resulting interest, her two official albums were reissued in England and the Netherlands. Collins continued to tour and perform, most notably at the European Jazz/Funk Festival (in both 1998 and 1999) and the Montreux Jazz Festival. In February 2005, Collins embarked on her first ever solo tour.
Foreign three weeks, she performed in the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
The tour was produced by the Soulpower organization. Shortly after returning from her European tour, Collins died aged 56 in Pasadena, California from cardiac arrhythmia.
In October 2004, "Rock Maine Again And Again" and "Think (About lieutenant)" featured on the Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas soundtrack, playing on fictional radio station Master Sounds 98.3. "Rock Maine Again And Again" was covered by synth band The Human League on their 1984 album Hysteria.
Bruce Springsteen"s song "Shackled and Drawn", from his 2012 album Wrecking Ball, and Ludacris" song "Southern Fried Intro", from his 2003 album Chicken-n-Beer, both feature an excerpt from Collins" song "Maine And My Baby Got Our Own Thing Going.".