The Osmonds | |
|---|---|
 The Osmonds in 1971 (Clockwise from lower left: Alan, Wayne, Merrill, Jay, Donny) | |
| Background information | |
| Also known as | The Osmond Brothers |
| Origin | Ogden, Utah, US |
| Genres | |
| Years active | As the Osmonds (quintet): 1970–80[3] As the Osmond Brothers (quartet): 1962–70, 1982–2007, 2018–2019[4][5] As the Osmonds (duo/trio): 2007–2023 |
| Labels | |
| Past members | |
The Osmonds were an American family music group who reached the height of their fame in the early to mid-1970s. The group had its best-known configurations as a quartet (billed as the Osmond Brothers) and a quintet (as the Osmonds). The group has consisted of siblings who are all members of a family of musicians from Ogden, Utah, and have been in the public eye since the 1960s.[4]
The Osmond Brothers began as a barbershop quartet consisting of brothers Alan, Wayne, Merrill and Jay.[4] They were later joined by younger siblings Donny and Jimmy, both of whom enjoyed success as solo artists.[5] With the addition of Donny, the group became known as the Osmonds; performing both as teen idols and as a rock band, their peak lasted from 1971 to 1975.[5] 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.[6]
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, billed as the last appearance for the lineup. The brothers performed "The Last Chapter", written as a farewell song and introduced in 2018.[7] Donny & Marie ended an 11-year Las Vegas residency on November 16, 2019. Merrill announced his retirement in 2022 to pursue a church mission, leaving Jay as the last remaining member of the original quartet still performing (Donny continues to perform as a solo artist as well). In later years, Alan's sons, particularly Nathan and David, have made appearances with their uncles.
- ^ Frauenfelder, Mark (14 June 2021). "The Osmond Brothers were once a great baroque psychedelic folk-pop band". Boing Boing. Retrieved 2023-02-19.
they also made some great easy-listening baroque psychedelic folk-pop [...] before they switched to a more lucrative bubblegum pop sound
- ^ a b Brownfield, Troy (November 13, 2020). "The Osmonds: 50 Years of Pop, Country, and Family". Saturday Evening Post. Retrieved 2023-02-19.
As the second turn on the Williams show ended, the brothers in the quintet decided that they wanted to reinvent themselves as a pop/rock group. [...] Alan, Wayne, Jay, and Merrill refocused The Osmond Brothers as a country act during that time
- ^ Steve Huey. "The Osmond Brothers". AllMusic. Retrieved 2019-11-25.
- ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference
stilltheosmondbrotherswas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ a b c Amy Argetsinger (2014-11-30). "A brief musical history of the Osmonds in 13 songs". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2019-11-02.
- ^ "An Osmond Family Tribute". Oprah.com. Retrieved March 9, 2018.
- ^ "Osmond Brothers Perform for Very Last Time on 'The Talk'". CBS. 2019-10-14. Retrieved 2019-11-02.