Donny Osmond - Rotten Tomatoes Celebrity Profile

Biography

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Donald Clark 'Donny' Osmond (born December 9 1957) is an American entertainer. He is a singer, musician, actor and former teen idol. He has also been a talk show and game show host, record producer, race car driver and author. He is known for being half of the brother-sister singing act Donny & Marie.

Biography

Early life

Osmond was born in Ogden, Utah, to Olive May Davis and George Virl Osmond. 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 (also known as The Osmond Brothers). His family nicknamed him 'Corky', as a boy, because he was a show-stopper. Osmond never took piano lessons; he learned by ear and from watching his brother Alan play.

Career

Osmond became a teen idol in the early 1970s as a solo singer, in addition to performing with his older brothers. As a teen heartthrob, Donny's signature color was purple, and he always wore purple socks on the television show Donny & Marie. In the mid '70s, he teamed up with his younger sister, Marie. The duo recorded several albums together, before and during they starred in their own television variety series, Donny & Marie, which aired on ABC between 1976 and 1979.

When Donny & Marie came to an end, Osmond worked to reinvent himself as a solo artist. He spent several years as a performer, before collaborating with Peter Gabriel and returning to the US charts in 1989 with the song "Soldier Of Love" and its follow- up "Sacred Emotion". The campaign to market "Soldier Of Love" received a lot of airplay with the singer being presented as a 'mystery artist', before his identity was later revealed. Although his first foray into Broadway musical theatre, playing the title role in Little Johnny Jones in a Broadway revival, ended in dismal failure with the production opening and closing on the same night in March 1982, Osmond found success on the musical theater stage through much of the 1990s when he starred in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat for over 2,000 performances. During this period, he suffered from Social Anxiety Disorder. Donny was the co-host of a talk show with his sister, in 1998, also called Donny And Marie. The show ran for two seasons, and marked the first time the brother and sister had professionally been together in twenty years. He went on to host Pyramid, a syndicated television game show that ran from 2002 until its cancellation in 2004. Osmond has also been tapped by CBS to host a revival of Name That Tune in 2007.

Within the past few years, he has released a Christmas album, an album of his favorite Broadway songs, and a compilation of popular love songs; his voice can also be heard in the Disney animated film Mulan, in which he sings "I'll Make A Man Out Of You".In 2004, Donny returned to the UK Top 10 for the first time as a solo artist since 1973, with the George Benson-sampling "Breeze On By," co-written with former teen idol Gary Barlow, from the 1990s UK boy band Take That. In the animated television series Johnny Bravo, Osmond voiced himself as a recurring character.

Donny can be seen dancing in the music video of "Weird Al" Yankovic's song "White & Nerdy". The song is a parody of Chamillionaire's "Ridin'", and is on Yankovic's 2006 album Straight Outta Lynwood. He returned to Broadway on September 19, 2006, in the role of Gaston in Disney's Beauty And The Beast. He is scheduled to perform for nine weeks.

Donny and Marie were part of a Pepsi Twist commercial with the Osbournes (Ozzy Osbourne and family).

rehearsals.com is showing several video performances of Donny Osmond, "Broken Man", "Young Love", and "Sacred Emotion" Donny Osmond Performances at rehearsals.com.

Personal life

Donny married Debra Glenn on May 8 1978. Together, they have five sons, the eldest being 27-year-old Don Jr., and the youngest being 8-year-old Joshua.

Osmond, like the rest of his family, is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He received some criticism from members for not serving a mission as his religion encourages, but most of the furor over this lack of service has died down. In retrospect, he states, 'It would have been nice to be able to have served a regular full time mission, but when I was of that age, my career was such that everyone, including my parents and the leaders of the church, thought that I could do a lot of good in the world by continuing being in the public eye, by living an exemplary life and sharing my beliefs in every way that I could.' [1] He continues sharing his beliefs in an extensive letters-and-comments portion of his website.[2]

Discography (solo, unless otherwise stated)

What I Meant To Say (2004)
Love Songs (Donny & Marie Osmond, 2004)
Osmondmania! The Osmond Family's Greatest Hits (2003)
Ultimate Collection (Osmonds) (2003)
Somewhere In Time (2002)
The Singles (Osmonds, 2002)
The Singles (2002)
The Best Of Donny Osmond: The Millennium Collection (2002)
The Best Of The Osmonds: The Millennium Collection (2002)
The Best Of Donny And Marie: The Millennium Collection (2002)
This Is The Moment (2001)
The All-Time Greatest Hits of the Osmond family (2000)
Four (1997)
Christmas At Home (Donny Osmond, 1997)
The Best Of Donny Osmond" (1996)
The Very Best Of The Osmonds (1996)
25 Hits (Donny Osmond, 1995)
21 Hits (Osmonds, 1995)
Best Of Donny Osmond (1994)
Greatest Hits (1992)
Eyes Don't Lie (1990)
Donny Osmond (1989)
America Fest (Osmonds, 1984)
Goin' Coconuts (Donny & Marie Osmond, 1978)
Greatest Hits (Osmonds, 1977)
A Winning Combination (Donny & Marie Osmond, 1977)
New Season (Donny & Marie Osmond, 1977)
Donald Clark Osmond (1977)
The Osmond Christmas Album (1976)
Disco Train (1976)

Brainstorm (Osmonds, 1976)
Just For You (1975)
Around The World, Live In Concert (Osmonds, 1975)
I'm Still Gonna Need You (Osmonds, 1975)
Make The World Go Away (Donny & Marie Osmond, 1975)
Donny & Marie - Featuring Songs From Their Television Show (Donny & Marie Osmond, 1975)
Donny (1974)
Mexico (1974)
Japan (1974)
Love Me For A Reason (Osmonds, 1974)
I'm Leaving It All Up To You (Donny & Marie Osmond, 1974)
Collector's Edition (Osmonds, 1974)
Superstar (1973)
A Time For Us (1973)
Perfect (1973)
Alone Together (1973)
The Plan (Osmonds, 1973)
My Best To You (1972)
Live (Osmonds, 1972)
Too Young (1972)
Crazy Horses (Osmonds, 1972)
Portrait Of Donny (1972)
Phase III (Osmonds, 1971)
Homemade (Osmonds, 1971)
To You With Love (1971)
The Donny Osmond Album (1971)
Osmonds (Osmonds, 1971)

Various Artists

Mulan (1998)
Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (musical soundtrack, 1994)

External links

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