Early life Anna Margaret was born in Alexandria, Louisiana and was raised in Lecompte, Louisiana. Her family consists of her mother Amy Collins, her father, her eleven-year-old sister Ellie, and her nine-year-old brother Grant.[1] Ever since she was six years old, she has performed at talent shows and taken vocal lessons. Her family drove on weekends to New Orleans for auditions and acting classes, hoping she would land a part that would include singing. On one of those auditions she was scouted and asked to move to Los Angeles, where she currently lives.[2] Margaret was in the McDonald’s commercial, “An Excellent Source of Happiness,” when she was younger. She is a spokesperson for American Girl and is also involved with an American Girl Fashion Show, to support the Children’s Hospital Los Angeles.[3] She spends her weekends volunteering for the Los Angeles Down Syndrome program for sports. She has done multiple print modeling jobs.[4] Margaret had to give up competitive team gymnastics as a child, so that she could continue pursuing her musical career. She also transferred from attending private school to being home-schooled. Besides performing, her interests include surfing, basketball, and horseback riding. Musical debut and acting Margaret sang “Something About the Sunshine,” which was featured on the Starstruck soundtrack. She also starred in the official music video for the song, which features clips from the film.[5] The songs “Something About the Sunshine”, “New Boyfriend” and “Girl Thing” were frequently played on Radio Disney.[6] She also sang the song “Let it Snow” for the Hollywood Records EP, All Wrapped Up Vol. 2 in 2009. In 2010, she became the youngest recording artist to be signed directly with the Hollywood Records label.[7] Margaret has met many people in the music industry. Her current manager is Dalevertis Hurd. One of her producers is Grammy Award winning producer and SESAC songwriter of the year, Gregory Curtis (Yolanda Adams and Keisha Cole producer), plus many other agents, vocal coaches, and producers. Some of these professionals compare her to other artists such as Christina Aguilera, but Margaret herself said in an interview that one of her role models is Britney Spears because they were both raised in Louisiana.[8] She has also announced plans to act in Disney Channel films and television series.| |
