The Osmonds were an American pop band composed of members of the Osmond family. The group had its best-known configurations as a quartet (billed the Osmond Brothers) and a quintet (the Osmonds). The group consisted of siblings, all members of a family of musicians from Ogden, Utah.
The Osmond Brothers began as a barbershop quartet consisting of brothers Alan, Wayne, Merrill and Jay. They were later joined by younger siblings Donny and Jimmy, both of whom enjoyed success as solo artists. With the addition of Donny, the group became known as the Osmonds; performing both as teen idols and as a rock band. Their only sister Marie, who rarely sang with her brothers at that time, launched a successful career in 1973, both as a solo artist and as Donny's duet partner. By 1976, the band was no longer producing hit singles; that year, they transitioned into television with Donny & Marie, a popular variety show that ran until 1979.
A revival of the original Osmond Brothers lineup in the 1980s achieved moderate success in country music, and both Donny and Marie separately made comebacks in their respective fields in the late 1980s. The Osmonds have sold over 77 million records worldwide.
The quartet continued to perform through their 50th anniversary in 2007, at which point Alan and, later, Wayne retired due to health issues; Jimmy was recruited after Alan's retirement, with the group performing as a trio until Jimmy suffered a stroke and retired in 2018. On 14 October 2019, the original Osmond Brothers quartet reunited for CBS' The Talk for their sister Marie's 60th birthday, which would be the last appearance for the lineup before Wayne's death in 2025. The brothers performed "The Last Chapter", written as a farewell song and introduced in 2018. Merrill and Jay professionally split from each other and began performing separately in late 2019; both now perform on reduced schedules, while Donny continues a full performance schedule.
History 1959–1970: Early years George Virl Osmond Sr. and Olive Osmond, members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, resided on a farm in Ogden, Utah, with their family. George was a postal worker with a military background; both he and Olive were musicians within their church. They had nine children: Virl (George Virl Jr.), Tom, Alan, Wayne, Merrill, Jay, Donny, Marie, and Jimmy. Virl and Tom were both born with severe hearing impairments.Biography: The Osmonds, Pure and Simple (documentary) After Virl and Tom's births, doctors had warned the couple that further children would likely also have hearing impairment, but "sensing a divine message" not to stop having children, they continued having children anyway; all seven of the later children would be born with full hearing.
The eldest of the Osmond brothers who were members of the band, Alan was recognized as leader of The Osmonds, with his brothers referring to him as "No. 1."
The Osmond Brothers' career began in 1959 when Alan, Wayne, Merrill, and Jay began singing barbershop music for local audiences in and around Ogden, as well as during their weekly church services. In their made-for-TV movie Inside the Osmonds, they explain that they originally performed to earn money to help buy hearing aids for Virl and Tom and to finance their future church missions."Inside the Osmonds" (DVD) In February 1959, Val Hicks began coaching the Osmonds brothers to sing barbershop harmony after their mother heard one of his quartets performing at a church fundraising event. Despite their young ages (ranging from nine to three years old), within a few years the boys' talent and stage presence were strong enough that their father took them to compete in an amateur barbershop singing competition in California. On the same trip they visited Disneyland, where Tommy Walker, Disneyland's Director of Entertainment and Customer Relations from 1955 to 1966, found the Osmond Brothers singing with the Dapper Dans on Main Street.The Unofficial Disneyland 1955 Companion: The Anecdotal Story of the Birth of The Happiest Place on Earth, Jim Korkis, 2016 Walker hired the Osmonds to perform in the park during the following summer and to perform minor roles in the television series The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters, starring actor Kurt Russell. The family also appeared on a segment of Disneyland After Dark, which first aired in April 1962.The Wonderful World of Disney Television: A Complete History, Bill Cotter, 1997 The group also visited The Lennon Sisters, hoping to get their feedback given their reputation as a family harmony group; this led to a long-running friendship between the two families and (some time after a missed connection had prevented the Osmonds from auditioning for Lawrence Welk) the occasional guest appearance on The Lawrence Welk Show in the mid-1960s.
While the Osmond Brothers were working on Disneyland After Dark, Andy Williams's father Jay saw them and was so impressed he told his son to book them on his television show, The Andy Williams Show. Andy did, and the Osmond Brothers became regulars on the show from 1962 to 1967, where they earned the nickname "one-take Osmonds" among staff due to their professionalism and tireless rehearsing.Life is Just What You Make It: My Story So Far by Donny Osmond and Patricia Romanowski Donny soon joined them on the show, making the Osmond Brothers a five-member group. Marie and Jimmy were also introduced on the show a few years later. During this time the Osmonds also toured Europe, performing with Sweden's most popular singer, Lars Lönndahl, and even releasing a single where they sang a Swedish version of "Two Dirty Little Hands" ("Fem smutsiga små fingrar").
The Andy Williams Show ended its first run in 1967, after which the Osmond Brothers were signed to The Jerry Lewis Show, staying with that show until it was canceled in 1969, after which they rejoined The Andy Williams Show, which had just returned for its second run. They soon decided they wanted to perform popular music and become a rock and roll band, prompting them to shed their variety-show image. This change was difficult for their father, who was suspicious of rock and roll, but he was persuaded and the boys began performing as a pop band. George Osmond used his military training to keep his sons strictly regimented.
In 1967, the Osmonds had the single "Flower Music" "I Can't Stop" released by UNI Records.Osmondmania (official Osmond website) captured 10/20/2012 The song failed to become a hit. In 1968, the group signed with Barnaby Records which was founded by Andy Williams. They released multiple singles including "Candy Dew". The group saw several other singles released over the next four years, failing to score a hit until the 1971 chart debut of "One Bad Apple".
Pop and rock era 1970–1972: Bubblegum, Osmonds and Homemade Record producer Mike Curb saw the Osmonds perform as a band and recognized that they combined a rare mix of polished performing style, instrumental skill, and vocal talent. Curb, at the time, was in the midst of a crusade against rock musicians who promoted drug use, and the Osmond Brothers represented a wholesome and drug-free alternative to the psychedelic rock of the late 1960s. He signed the Osmonds to MGM Records and arranged for them to record at Muscle Shoals with R&B producer Rick Hall. Under Hall's guidance, the Osmonds hit the top spot on the pop chart with "One Bad Apple" in 1971. The song, "One Bad Apple", written by George Jackson, was composed in the style of the Jackson 5 (Jackson denied that he had ever offered it to the Jackson 5, though the Osmonds would later state that the Jackson 5 considered recording it). The Osmond and Jackson families would eventually meet in 1972 and become friends,Jay pays tribute to Michael Jackson (June 26, 2009). Retrieved from the Internet Archive June 20, 2021. with Donny and Michael Jackson becoming particularly close and Donny being deeply affected when Michael died in 2009. "One Bad Apple" debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 on 2 January 1971, first hitting No. 1 in February, where it stayed for five weeks.
The Osmonds soon had hits with other light, R&B-style pop numbers like "Double Lovin'" (No. 14, which was essentially a "One Bad Apple" sound-alike record) and "Yo-Yo" (No. 3). In each of these hits, the formula was the same; Merrill sang lead, and Donny was "co-lead" in essence, singing the "hook" or "chorus" of the song. At this time the Osmonds also recorded several songs that were billed to Donny, the lead soloist on the songs: "Sweet and Innocent" (No. 7), "Go Away Little Girl" (No. 1), "Hey Girl" (No. 9) and "Puppy Love" (No. 3). Uni Records also re-released their 1967 single "Flower Music", this time with "I Can't Stop" as the A-side, where it reached No. 96. Their transition to pop stars required more elaborate choreography than their original work had required, so older brother Virl Osmond—whose limited hearing was enough to follow a musical beat—taught the quintet how to dance. Olive Osmond initially taught the quintet how to sing harmony; the harmony arrangements eventually fell upon Wayne, who was found to have perfect pitch.
Transition to rock: Phase III and Crazy Horses The Osmonds began writing and performing their own music, and their sound moved towards rock music beginning with their album Phase III. Part of the transition to self-written music was, according to Wayne in 2004, the fact that the family was becoming dissatisfied with some of the material being offered to them not fitting their moral standards, so they started writing their own. Wayne was a major influence on the family's decision to move into rock, which was a source of tension as some of the brothers would rather have remained a pop band. In addition to "Yo-Yo", Phase III produced the major hit "Down by the Lazy River" (No. 4). Their next Crazy Horses album was the band's first personal statementthe brothers have been quoted as saying that the title song refers to air pollution from cars, and its instrumentation featured an even harder rock sound bordering on early heavy metal. They wrote all the songs and played all the instruments with Alan on rhythm guitar, Wayne on lead guitar, Merrill on lead vocals and bass, Jay on drums, and Donny on keyboards; all of the brothers sang backing vocals and an occasional lead on album cuts. The quintet also received a wardrobe makeover; upon the recommendation of Elvis Presley, they donned similar sequined jumpsuits designed by Bill Belew, which became their trademark look until the outfits were stolen from a van while the group was touring in Tennessee. (Merrill recalled in 2025 that the suits were instead designed by Bob Mackie.) There are no extant pictures of Presley with the Osmonds, because Colonel Tom Parker prohibited any from being taken. Donny largely switched to instrumental contributions for much of 1972 to accommodate his changing voice; by 1973, Donny had settled from his former boy soprano range into a smooth baritenor voice.
Donny's voice change was a major upset to the group's original formula for success, largely eliminating Merrill's young-sounding co-lead's voice and forcing Merrill's mature tenor voice to strain to cover most of the higher notes, with audible difficulty, through the next few years. The success of Crazy Horses singles "Hold Her Tight" (No. 14) and title track "Crazy Horses" (on which Donny did not sing, but did contribute with a prominent keyboard riff) kept the group very popular through 1973. As the group toured, Donny continued to sing his solo hits, with the band progressively lowering the key until his voice change was complete.