Donny|Marie|theOsmonds

Well, there's Donny and Marie ... oh! and little Jimmy. Who were the older Osmonds? How many Osmonds are there, anyway? And what have they been doing all these years? Read on to discover the careers after the careers, and how Donny and Marie and the rest of the Osmonds have reinvented themselves over the years!

... LOTS of Babies!

In November 2007, over 100 Osmond children and grandchildren appeared on Oprah. See Donny and Marie standing on either side of her in the middle?

Alan married Suzanne Pinegar in 1974; they have eight sons and thirteen grandchildren.

Wayne married former "Miss Utah" Kathlyn White in 1974; they have five children and nine grandchildren.

Merrill married Mary Carlson in 1973; they have six children and six grandchildren.

Jay married Kandilyn Harris in 1987; they have three sons.

Donny married Debra Glenn in 1978; they have five sons and two grandchildren.

Marie has one son with her first husband Stephen Craig (married 1982), and two biological and five adopted children from her second marriage to Brian Blosil (married 1986). She is divorced from both husbands.

Jimmy married Michele Larson in 1992; they have four children.

Virl and Tom have thirteen children between them.

The PopCulture Addict has an excellent page with short but thorough bios on each of the Osmonds.

In 1958, Alan, Wayne, Merrill, and Jay (ages 9, 7, 5, and 3) began singing barbershop quartet around their hometown of Ogden, Utah, to raise money for the hearing aids needed by their older brothers Virl and Tom. Within three years their father took them to audition for Lawrence Welk. Welk turned them down, but during a visit to Disneyland on that same trip, an impromptu session with an adult barbershop quartet performing in Disneyland resulted in a permanent gig that lasted several years. In this video, the boys are 12, 10, 8, and 6.

Andy Williams' father spotted the Osmond Brothers at Disneyland and told his son to book them. From 1962 to 1969 they were regulars on the show, soon joined by Donny and later by Marie and eventually Jimmy. By 1969 they were also regulars on the Jerry Lewis Show, and continuing to tour with Andy Williams.

By 1971, The Osmond Brothers had become The Osmonds, and had a record deal with MGM. They hit #1 on the Billboard charts with "One Bad Apple." (Yes, the song was originally written for The Jackson 5.) Notice that Merrill is singing lead; Merrill was always the lead singer for The Osmonds, though Donny quickly began doing more lead singing and even his own solo albums.

Don't you just love those Elvisesque costumes? And I can't believe none of them trip on the microphone wires, they way they're jumping around up there!

The Osmonds began writing their own music and moved away from the bubblegum sound into real rock. On "Crazy Horses" they played all the instruments on the entire album. Merrill was still singing lead vocals and playing bass; Jay on drums and Donny on keyboard assisted with lead and backup singing; Alan on rhythm guitar and Wayne on lead guitar also sang backup.

They had a short-lived Saturday morning cartoon in 1972-1973, and in 1973 had 13 singles on the UK charts.

* 1971 *

One Bad Apple #1

Double Lovin' #14

Yo-Yo #3

* 1972 *

Down by the Lazy River #4 (#40 UK)

Hold Her Tight #14

Crazy Horses #14 (#2 UK)

* 1973 *

Goin' Home #36 (#4 UK)

Let Me In #36 (#2 UK)

* 1974 *

I Can't Stop (#12 UK)

Love Me for a Reason #10 (#1 UK)

* 1975 *

Having a Party (#28 UK)

The Proud One #22 (#5 UK)

I'm Still Gonna Need You (#32 UK)

* 1976 *

I Can't Live a Dream (#37 UK)

Here's a fun video comparison and competition between the two wildly popular family bands of the 1970s: The Osmonds and The Jackson 5ive.

This is not a comparison between Donny Osmond and Michael Jackson's solo careers, but between the family bands The Osmonds and The Jackson Five. Do you agree with the video's conclusion?

Donny was soon pushed out in front by the record company, in response to the teen fangirls who demanded more Donny. Merrill remained the lead singer for The Osmonds, but Donny began to have his own hit singles from his own records. He had three top ten singles in 1971: first #7 with "Sweet and Innocent," then #1 with "Go Away Little Girl," and #9 with "Hey Little Girl."

13 Top 40 Singles in the US & UK

* 1971 *

Sweet and Innocent #7

Go Away Little Girl #1

Hey Little Girl #9

* 1972 *

Puppy Love #3 (#1 UK)

Too Young #13 (#5 UK)

Why #13 (#3 UK)

* 1973 *

The Twelfth of Never #8 (#1 UK)

Young Love #25 (#1 UK)

A Million to One #23

When I Fall in Love (#4 UK)

Are You Lonesome Tonight #14

* 1974 *

Where Did All the Good Times Go (#18 UK)

* 1976 *

C'mon Marianne #38

Marie had not toured much with her brothers, but in the early 70s she entered the studio and began recording solo songs and also duets with Donny, whose voice was beginning to change and needed a bit of help on the high notes. Marie was more country than her brothers from the beginning, and had her first #1 in 1973 at age 13 with "Paper Roses."

Marie had two other top 40 singles in the 70s: "In My Little Corner of the World" in 1974, and "Who's Sorry Now" in 1975.

Marie showed up one day on The Donny and Marie Variety Hour with dramatically shorn locks! Her waist-length hair had disappeared into a pixie cut that became known as "the Marie."

Even Jimmy had a solo hit that went to #1 in the UK, "Long-Haired Lover from Liverpool." He was nine years old at the time and remains the youngest artist to have had a #1 hit in the UK.

Jay began drumming at age eight. In the 1970s, Jay Osmond was voted one of the top ten drummers in the country, and is considered to be one of the best-kept secrets in the industry.

The older Osmonds were getting married and having babies, touring was slowing down, and Donny and Marie were offered their own variety show by Fred Silverman. The rest of the Osmonds were not forgotten, however!

Alan moved into television production, and besides being executive producer for Donny & Marie, he also produced several other television variety shows, including Donna Fargo and Roy Clark. Wayne helped with production and shared his mellow bass voice for announcments and voiceovers. Merrill became Alan's righthand man and co-produced his siblings' show, as well as writing nearly 100 television scripts and teleplays. Ronald Reagan and George Bush Sr.'s televised inaugural balls were produced by Merrill. Jay was musical director and dance choreographer for Donny & Marie. Jimmy was in charge of all Osmond marketing by age 15, and started his own agency representing Coca-Cola and Yamaha.

The Donny & Marie Variety Hour was a huge success and included lots of singing, dancing, comedy sketches, and sibling rivalry and ribbing. The signature song of the show was the duet "Little Bit Country, Little Bit Rock and Roll."

The Osmond family built a huge recording studio in Utah to produce The Donny & Marie show. All the family was involved in the show and other careers were put on hold to get the show done. Donny began to experience stage anxiety and Marie, after being told she looked too heavy by a network executive, began to have trouble with an eating disorder.

When word leaked out that Donny was seriously dating Debra Glenn, and then that he had married her, the viewing audience began to drop away. The show was cancelled in 1979 and the family was left with the crushing debt from building a top-of-the-line television studio in Utah. They pulled together and paid off their debts rather than declare bankruptcy, however.

Alan, Wayne, Merrill, Jay, Jimmy

In the 1980s, Alan reformed The Osmonds into a country band, consisting of Alan, Wayne, Merrill, and Jay. The Osmonds had two Top-40 country hits in the early 80s, "I Think About Your Lovin'" (#17) and "It's Like Fallin' in Love (Over and Over)" (#28).

Alan also formed his own eight sons into 2ndG: Osmond Brothers 2nd Generation, and managed them. "Alan Osmond's Stadium of Fire" fireworks company was responsible for the fireworks at both the Ronald Reagan and George Bush Sr. presidential inaugurations, which additionally were produced for television by Merrill.

Jimmy became the family businessman, taking over his father's real estate business and, in the early 90s, purchasing a theater in Branson, Missouri, primarily for The Osmonds to perform, as they did very little touring. The Osmond Brothers' Family Theater is a huge hit in Branson, and for a number of years the reformed Osmond Brothers performed six shows a day. Jimmy also purchased another Branson theater, dubbed The American Jukebox Show. He continues to run most of the Osmond family marketing, including their online store. He also branched into the children's book and toy business with Hummy Bears.

Merrill continued in television production and also released albums as part of his solo project The Black Bear Band. Jay also has helped run his father's real estate business and continues to drum, releasing a drum solo album. Wayne performs as well as touring the country as a motivational speaker on surviving cancer.

In 2007-2008 all of the Osmonds went on tour to celebrate their 50th anniversary in show business, and released an album of the tour.

Donny had the hardest time reinventing himself. He was THE Osmond, the one out front, the most recognizable and most adored. Coming out of the Donny & Marie Variety Show and into the 80s, he found himself a has-been, and his former popularity fodder for jokes. For almost a decade he languished in a no-man's land of pop obscurity, playing humiliating venues like high school gymnasiums with Marie in order to contribute to repaying family debt.

His two albums, Donny Osmond in 1989 and Eyes Don't Lie in 1990, achieved modest success and even three Top 40 songs. His first single "Soldier of Love," produced by Peter Gabriel, was released anonymously in an attempt to get the public hooked before they realized "Oh, it's only Donny." It achieved #2 on the pop charts in 1988, more than a decade since his last Top 40 song, but his rock-and-roll career never took off. It was, however, the beginning of new things for Donny Osmond.

In 1991, Donny was invited to drive in the Toyota Pro/Celebrity Grand Prix ... and to the surprise of everyone involved, he won easily. That same year, he won again at the Denver Colorado Texaco/Havalon Grand Prix. He began seriously considering a career in race car driving; in fact he had his pit crew selected and Chevrolet had tested him and invited him to join their professional racing team. Then he got a call from Broadway.

Despite closing on opening night in his first Broadway venture in 1982, Little Johnny Jones, Donny was willing to give musical theater another shot. He achieved a success beyond anyone's dreams as Joseph in Andrew Lloyd Webber's Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Donny played Joseph in over 2,000 performances from 1993 to 1997, and also played Joseph in the film version released in 1999.

In addition to his Broadway success, Donny did a fair amount of television guest appearances during the 80s and 90s, mostly as himself on shows such as Friends, Diagnosis Murder, and Hannah Montana. In 1998 Donny and Marie launched a new talk show which was a great success and nominated as best talk show; however, it was cancelled after only two seasons, at least partly due to Marie's severe postpartum depression when she had a child born during the show's run.

Donny also performed the singing voice of Shang in Disney's 1998 Mulan (though not the speaking voice).

Donny did quite a bit of hosting in the early 2000s. He was host of the popular game show Pyramid from 2002-2004, and the British version Challenge in 2007. He hosted several other shows as well, and was a special commentator for Entertainment Tonight covering Dancing with the Stars when Marie took third place as a contestant in 2007. In 2009, Donny and his dance partner Kym Johnson won first place in the popular dancing competition.

A huge part of reinventing himself, as Donny himself has confessed, was ceasing his efforts to break away from his past and embracing it instead. So now, instead of dreading questions about purple socks and how much milk he drinks, he cheerfully brings them up himself. While he plays new music, he also plays old favorites, realizing that to a whole generation he will always be the boy who sang "Puppy Love."

And when Weird Al Yankovic called up Donny, and asked him as THE quintessential white male to dance on his "White and Nerdy" video, Donny accepted immediately.

RETROCRUSH: What was it like working with Donny Osmond in that video?

WEIRD AL: It was amazing, I have to tell you. I didn't know exactly what to expect. Donny was the first call, because if you have to have a white and nerdy icon in your video, like who else do you go for? I didn't really know what he'd bring to the table, frankly. As soon as he showed up on the set, he blew everybody away. I didn't give him a whole lot of direction, I said, "You're gonna be behind me, just kind of like dancing and moving. Just let the cameras roll and we'll do coverage of the entire song, we'll do one take, I dunno do something, and we'll take a look at it and see what's good and what's bad." So we turn the camera on and we got on the set and Donny just went nuts. And it was the most hilarious thing I've ever seen. We watched the tape, and the two of us were just cracking up, we were like two little kids.

This is not the final cut of the official video, but the first take of Donny dancing behind Al as Al sings the song.

Keep up with the latest news about Donny Osmond at DONNY.COM: events and appearances, his new radio show, his latest song releases, and of course his blog and twitter feeds!

November 2009 heard this brand new song release from Donny.

Marie had an easier time than Donny, for whatever reason. As a female, being cute and clean-cut was less of a liability; also seeking a future in country music made her squeaky-clean image more acceptable than it would have been in rock-and-roll. Marie had six Top-40 country singles in the 80s. She also had a recurring role on Ripley's Believe It or Not, and co-founded The Children's Miracle Network with actor John Schneider, expanding on her mother's original Osmond Foundation.

Her biggest hit was her #1 duet with Dan Seals, "Meet Me in Montana."

Marie Osmond in the 90s

In 1991, Marie launched her own line of Marie Osmond dolls, sold primarily through QVC but more recently available online and in retail stores. Her line has been nominated for "Trendsetter of the Year" and Dolls magazine's "Awards of Excellence."

She starred in the TV movie I Married Wyatt Earp, and performed on Broadway to rave reviews as Anna in The King and I and as Maria in The Sound of Music in the mid-1990s. She had a short-lived ABC sitcom Maybe This Time. She also performed in Branson in the family theater with her brothers.

In 1998, Marie and Donny launched a new talk show which was a great success and nominated as best talk show. The show was cancelled after only two seasons, however, probably in large part due to the severe postpartum depression Marie experienced after the birth of a child during the show's run.

In 2008, Marie became a spokewoman for Nutrisystem and publicly lost 45 pounds. She also launched an embroidery machine line, a sewing machine line, and embroidery designs through Bernina.

Of course the big news about Marie in the 2000s was her stint on Dancing with the Stars and her on-camera faint. Here is the samba she danced before fainting, all the way to the faint. She came in third place that season.

Donny & Marie, Together Again!

Donny and Marie Osmond are together again in Las Vegas! In 2008 they began a long-term run as headliners at the Flamingo.

from an interview with Larry King:

LARRY: You have the dancers, a big band ...

DONNY: A huge orchestra. That's one of the things that we wanted to do is go in there like traditional Las Vegas. I mean, we grew up with Sinatra, Sammy Davis, Jr. and Frank - you know, all these kinds of people. And that's the kind of show that they put on - Elvis Presley, a huge orchestra. That's what we grew up with and that's what we wanted to do.

MARIE: Well, it's not like this orchestra, either. I mean it's very -- there's a young element of it. The show has a lot of dancing and fun. And most of the dancers are like twenty years old. And I'm like, what are we doing?

DONNY: We're trying to keep up with them.

The eight sons of Alan Osmond - Michael, Nathan, Douglas, David, Scott, Jon, Alex, and Tyler - comprise The Osmonds Second Generation.

Donny, Marie, and The Osmonds

The Osmonds

1971 - The Osmonds

1971 - Homemade

1972 - The Osmonds Live

1972 - Crazy Horses

1973 - The Plan

1974 - Collector's Edition

1974 - Love Me for a Reason

1975 - I'm Still Gonna Need You

1975 - The Proud One

1975 - Around the World, Live in Concert

1976 - Brainstorm

1976 - The Osmonds' Christmas Album

1977 - The Osmonds' Greatest Hits

1984 - America Fest

1976 - The Osmond Christmas Album

1977 - Greatest Hits

1984 - America Fest

1991 - The Osmond Family Christmas Album

1992 - Greatest Hits

1993 - Back Home

1995 - Live in Concert

1999 - Gospel Favorites

1999 - Christmas Memories

2000 - The All-Time Greatest Hits of the Osmond Family

2001 - Back on the Road Again

2007 - Live by Request

2008 - Live in Vegas

2008 - 50 Years 50 Hits

Donny Osmond solo

1971 - The Donny Osmond Album

1971 - To You with Love, Donny

1972 - Portrait of Donny

1972 - Too Young

1972 - My Best to You

1973 - Alone Together

1973 - Perfect

1973 - A Time for Us

1973 - Superstar

1974 - Donny

1975 - Just for You

1976 - Disco Train

1989 - Donny Osmond

1990 - Eyes Don't Lie

1992 - Greatest Hits

1994 - Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat

1994 - Best of Donny Osmond

1995 - 25 Hits

1997 - Christmas at Home

1997 - Four

1998 - Mulan

2001 - This is the Moment

2002 - The Singles

2002 - Somewhere in Time

2004 - What I Meant to Say

2007 - Love Songs of the 70s

2008 - From Donny ... with Love

Marie Osmond solo

1973 - Paper Roses

1974 - In My Little Corner of the World

1975 - Who's Sorry Now

1977 - This Is the Way That I Feel

1985 - There's No Stopping Your Heart

1986 - I Only Wanted You

1988 - All in Love

1989 - Steppin' Stone

1990 - The Best of Marie Osmond

1995 - 25 Hits

2007 - The Magic of Christmas

Donny and Marie

1973 - I'm Leaving It All Up to You

1975 - Make the World Go Away

1976 - Donny & Marie-Featuring Songs from Their Television Show

1976 - Donny & Marie-New Season

1978 - Goin' Coconuts

2002 - The Best of Donny & Marie

Besides the hearing impairment that runs in their family, most of the family members have had health issues to deal with. Alan was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and had to stop performing. One of his sons also has MS. However, Alan does tour as a spokesman for MS, and also manages the family website. Wayne had a brain tumor successfully removed. Donny suffered severe stage anxiety, a social phobia, not only during The Donny & Marie Variety Hour, but much worse during his successful run in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat; it became so debilitating he nearly had to step down, but fortunately found a therapist who coached him through it and he was able to continue. Marie suffered terrible postpartum depression which was a major contributor to the shutdown of the successful Donny & Marie talk show of the 90s. She broke her silence on the subject to support Brooke Shields' public admission of postpartum depression, and later wrote a book on the subject.

Deafness is a part of life in this musical family.

The two oldest Osmond brothers, Virl and Tom, were born deaf. Their mother Olive taught them to speak and function at a time when there were very few services for deaf children. She began The Osmond Foundation to help her own children, which later grew into the Children's Miracle Network under the aegis of Marie and actor John Schneider, and today serves millions of children with serious handicaps and disease.

Tom says of his mother, "She practiced with me every day and taught me to talk. She was my self-esteem when I was little. She kept me going."

Justin Osmond, son of Merrill, is the only second-generation Osmond to inherit the family's hearing impairment. Justin is a spokesman for The Starkey Hearing Foundation and continues his grandmother's work with the Olive Osmond Perpetual Hearing Foundation charity and his own Osmond Hearing Centers. Read Justin's story now.

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