Introduction:
He was not just an Osmond but one of The Osmonds. A teen idol and hearthrob who will always be seen as one of the family collective.
But he also managed to, if not quite escape his Osmond status, also absolutely establish himself as a star away from his brothers.
As a duo with his sister Marie and a true solo icon, it’s fair to argue that Donny was THE breakout star from the family.
Below we take a closer look at the life and work of Donny Osmond.
When was Donny Osmond born and where did he grow up?
Donald Clark Osmond (aka Donny) was on December 9, 1957 in Ogden, Utah, which is where he grew up.
He was the seventh child of Olive May and George Virl Osmond (they would eventually have nine children). He is the brother of Virl, Tom, Alan, Wayne, Merrill, Jay, Marie and Jimmy Osmond.
Donny was born with a rare condition called situs inversus, with his heart and some other organs being located on the “wrong” side of the body.
How did Donny Osmond get into music?
George Osmond loved to sings, and taught his sons barbershop harmony. While Virl and Tom Osmond were born with a degenerative condition which left them nearly deaf, George assembled Alan, Wayne, Merrill and Jay into a quartet.
They would play local events and church get-togethers, winning a booking at Disneyland after a meeting with the Lennon Sisters.
A man named Jay Williams saw The Osmonds on telly, and urged his son – Andy Williams – to audition them for his own variety show on ABC.
Within five years and by 1963 Donny joined his brothers (Little Jimmy would sign up too in 1967). They released their first album The Wonderful World of The Osmond Brothers in 1968.
When did Donny Osmond form his musical partnership with is sister Marie?
Donny and Marie decided to join musical forces in 1974 and their first release was the single ‘I’m Leaving It Up to You’.
It was an instant hit, going to number four on the Billboard Hot 100, while its parent album of the same name got to number 34.
It sparked a long-running musical relationship that spanned a half dozen albums over quarter of a century.
What’s more, the two had their own TV show Donny & Marie, which ran on ABC from January 1976 to May 1979. The duo’s third album was Featuring Songs from Their Television Show, which went Gold.
Another of their on-screen collaborations was the 1978 musical comedy Goin’ Coconuts. Their soundtrack for the movie also went Gold.
The duo went their separate ways by the end of the decade, but reunited in the 2000s for live shows and the 2009 Donny & Marie comeback album.
When did Donny Osmond strike out as a solo star?
Donny Osmond actually was running a parallel solo life from right at the beginning of his career.
While still very much part of The Osmonds, Donny released ‘Sweet and Innocent’ as a solo single (billed as “Donny Osmond of The Osmonds”) in 1971.
He followed it up with the chart-topping ‘Go Away Little Girl’ and top-tens ‘Hey Girl’ and ‘Puppy Love’.
Donny released two solo albums a year between 1972 and 1974 (while simultaneously releasing hit albums with The Osmonds).
Donny released his last solo studio album Start Again in 2021, his first since 2014’s The Soundtrack of My Life.
Away from his music career he has impressed on reality TV in recent years, winning Dancing With The Stars in 2009 and being runner up on The Masked Singer in 2019.
On the stage, he was in the lead role of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat on the stage in Toronto and Chicago, and went on to star in the 1999 movie.
He later played Gaston in Beauty and the Beast in 2006, and returned to Joseph, this time as Pharaoh, in 2024 and 2025.
What are Donny Osmonds biggest songs?
Donny Osmond’s biggest solo singles are:
- Sweet and Innocent
- Go Away Little Girl
- Hey Girl
- Puppy Love
- Too Young
- Why
- The Twelfth of Never
- Young Love
- A Million to One
- When I Fall in Love
- Are You Lonesome Tonight
- C’mon Marianne
- Soldier of Love
- Sacred Emotion
- My Love is a Fire
What religion is Donny Osmond?
Like all of The Osmonds, Donny was raised in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) in Utah – also known as the Mormon Church.
“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 to be in the public eye, by living an exemplary life and sharing my beliefs in every way that I could,” Donny has said.
He has frequently and openly discussed his Mormon faith, and engaged with work projects that crossed over with his religion.
Indeed he followed up a massively successful run in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat in 1997 with the 60th annual Hill Cumorah Pageant held in an outdoor theatre at Palmyra, New York.
Previously, he was part of The Osmonds when they released their Mormon-inspired 1973 concept album The Plan.
When did Donny Osmond get married and how many children does he have?
Donny Osmond married Debra ‘Debbie’ Glenn at the Salt Lake Temple on May 8, 1978.
They have five sons (Don, Jeremy, Brandon, Chris and Josh) and now have 16 grandkids.