Donny Osmond
Donald Clark Osmond (born December 9, 1957) is an American singer, dancer, actor, television host and former teen idol. He first gained fame performing with four of his elder brothers as the Osmonds, earning several top ten hits and gold albums. Then, in the early 1970s, Osmond began a solo career, earning several additional top ten songs.
Donny Osmond
- Singer
- songwriter
- actor
- television host
- dancer
1963–present
5
- Vocals
- piano
He further gained fame due to the success of the 1976–1979 variety series Donny & Marie, which Osmond hosted with his sister Marie Osmond. The Donny & Marie duo also released a series of top ten hits and gold albums, and hosted a syndicated and Daytime Emmy Award–nominated 1998–2000 talk show. Donny & Marie retired from headlining an 11-year Las Vegas residency at the Flamingo Las Vegas in 2019.[1][2]
He also successfully competed on two reality TV shows, winning season 9 of Dancing with the Stars and being named runner-up for season 1 of The Masked Singer. He also hosted the game show Pyramid from 2002 to 2004.
Early life[edit]
Osmond was born on December 9, 1957, in Ogden, Utah, as the seventh child of Olive May (née Davis; 1925–2004) and George Virl Osmond (1917–2007). He is the brother of Alan, Jay, Jimmy, Merrill, Wayne, Marie, Tom, and Virl Osmond. Alan, Jay, Merrill, Wayne, and Donny were members of the popular singing group the Osmonds (known as the Osmond Brothers before Donny joined them in 1963). Osmond was raised as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Utah along with his siblings. In his youth, Osmond held a ham radio license, listed as KA7EVD.[3]
Other ventures[edit]
Author[edit]
Life is Just What You Make It: My Story So Far, his autobiography co-written with Patricia Romanowski, is a "tell-all", Donny Osmond style. The book, released in 1999, includes stories from behind-the-scenes as a teen star, to his thought of tarnishing his "goody-two-shoes" image as he started his solo career, to him describing the full-on panic attacks he suffered on stage.[38][39][40]