Donny Osmond
Biography
Donny Osmond needs no introduction. For more than 41 years, the world has watched him develop from a cherubic little boy singing on TV with his older brothers to a seasoned performer who always has the power to amaze.
Donny spent the next several years honing his talents as performer and producer, working with the likes of Jeff Beck, Boy George and Chicago. In 1987, Peter Gabriel invited him to record at his studio in Bath, England. The resulting demos recharged Donny's recording career, catching fire with the release in 1989 of "Soldier of Love," which hit the Top 30 in the U.K. and – some 13 years after his previous Top 40 chart-maker – No. 2 in the U.S.
Generating new heat in his singing career, Donny took another important creative step. "I checked myself into acting classes, and studied for quite some time at the Beverly Hills," he said, "not knowing what I was going to do – just to be prepared."
Without realizing it, he was preparing for one of the greatest successes of his entire career, a Canadian and U.S. tour in the title role of Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber and Sir Tim Rice's musical Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Though he had been tempted to pursue an offer to race cars full-time on the professional circuit – he had taken first place at the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach Pro-Am – Donny turned down a racing contract in 1991 to sign a six-month contract to do Joseph. Although he would have to put everything else on hold, the calculated risk turned into a rewarding, triumphant six-year association. To date, the Joseph original cast recording is quadruple platinum in Canada and recently went gold in the U.S. Last year, the film version of the musical, starring Donny, premiered to stellar ratings on PBS's Great Performances series.
The creative relationship between Donny and Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber has proven to be a strong and enduring one. Not only was Donny invited to perform two songs at London's Royal Albert Hall to celebrate the composer's 50th birthday (a concert that was broadcast on TV and released on home video) but also Sir Andrew gave him the previously unrecorded "Our Kind of Love" from his new musical The Beautiful Game for This Is the Moment.
By the time he was a teenager he had become one of the most popular and successful stars in the history of pop music. In 1971, between his own and the Osmond Brothers recordings, he was awarded six gold records; the following year, he took home eight, and another four in 1973. With his brothers, he enjoyed a No. 1 hit with "One Bad Apple" and such blockbusters as "Yo-Yo" and "Down By the Lazy River." On his own, Donny hit No. 1 with "Go Away Little Girl," and made the top 10 with "Hey Girl" and memorable covers of Paul Anka's "Puppy Love," Roy Orbison's "Sweet and Innocent" and Johnny Mathis' "The Twelfth of Never." With his sister Marie, Donny had a third wave of hit records and enjoyed yet another kind of success co-hosting a weekly variety TV series.
Donny returned to TV in 1998 with Marie, co-hosting the daytime talk show Donny and Marie that enjoyed solid ratings for two seasons.
Donny has been married to his wife Debbie for 27 years, and is also the father of five boys, ranging from 25-year-old Don Jr. to 7-year-old Joshua.
