Anglo-American actress; born in London, England, about 1865. She began her stage career at the age of five, when she made her début as a rope-dancer. Having lost both her parents while still a child, she joined her sisters, Marie and Lizzie Collins, singing and dancing with them at various music-halls. In 1890 she became famous for the song entitled "Ta-ra-ra-boom-de-ay," which she introduced at the Tivoli Music Hall in London. This song had enormous success. It was originally a boating-chant, used by sailors on the lower Mississippi. In 1892 she was engaged by Charles Frohman to sing in America.