“O” is for the Osmonds*

I have decided to give you (and myself  ) a musical break, and talk about a group that has actually been “in the business” since 1958; my first brush with them was in the late ‘60s, watching them on the Andy Williams Show while babysitting for some family friends. I thought they were simply a group of Jackson 5 wannabes at the time, especially when Donny joined the group. In fact, I held them in such disdain that I didn’t even realize they were LDS until after I joined the Church in 1973.

They have had a long and varied career that started out with Alan, Wayne, Merrill and Jay forming a barber shop quartet, singing at Disneyland after an audition for Lawrence Welk failed. At the time the four boys were very young, with the youngest just barely out of diapers. Andy Williams’ father saw them on a Disney special and told his son to book them for his show, where they became regulars. Further on in their career, their sister Marie  and then later the youngest boy, Jimmy, were also introduced.

The group produced an interesting, unprecedented album in 1973 entitled “The Plan”. It is a rock interpretation of God’s Plan of Salvation.

Donny and Marie both took off on solo careers at the end of the ‘70s, when their variety show, Donny and Marie, was cancelled in 1979, with Marie specializing in Country music and performing in Broadway Musicals. Donny has been very popular around the world; he starred as Joseph in the touring version of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and as Gaston in Beauty and the Beast on Broadway.

The Osmonds continue performing; they celebrated the 50th anniversary of their musical career in 2008.

 

*Information was obtained from Wikipedia. If there are any errors, please let me know so that I can correct them . Thank you