Alarza Lee "Kip" Collins Jr. (April 26, 1969 – August 31, 2006) was an American record producer and composer who had collaborated with a number of music artists in the 1990s and early 2000s.
Collins, the only son of Alarza Collins and Betty Scott Collins,[1] was born in Queens, New York City.[1] Demonstrating an early interest in music and motorcycles,[1] he attended The Harlem School of the Arts in Manhattan and Maria Regina High School in Hartsdale and graduated from Hempstead High School where he played saxophone in the marching band.[1] Collins later gratued from Morgan State University with a dregree in communications and television broadcasting.[1]
In the early 1990s, Collins started his path of professional musical collaborations by taking on Keith and Hank Shockley of the Bomb Squad as one of his first clients.[1] In 1993, he collaborated with R&B singer Aaron Hall on the album The Truth. In 1995, he collaborated with singer Monifah on her song "I Miss You". Collins went on to work with artists such as Heavy D and contribute songs to the Living Single soundtrack. He was the music director for the Warner Brothers sitcom Built to Last in 1997.[2] In 2000, Collins wrote, produced, and played instruments for Faith Evans and Jennifer Lopez. The same year, he was hired to create the musical score and produce numerous songs for MTV's Carmen: A Hip Hopera, a musical romantic drama television film, directed by Robert Townsend and starring Beyoncé Knowles.[3] Later on in 2002, Collins became the musical director and composer for the UPN TV series Half & Half.[1]
Collins died on August 31, 2006, at the age of 37, from injuries sustained in a motorcycle crash.[1] He had been riding his 2000 Yamaha motorcycle when his bike collided with a car backing out of a driveway near Uniondale, New York.[4] Collins was pronounced dead after being taken to Nassau University Medical Center.[4] He was buried on September 11, 2006 at Sunset Cemetery in Asheville, North Carolina.[1]