The Osmonds

The Osmonds are an American family music group who started from singing barbershop music as children, achieving success as teen-music idols, and continued success as solo and group performers. The group has sold 102 million records worldwide.

As a barbershop quartet, the group consisted of brothers Alan Osmond, Wayne Osmond, Merrill Osmond, and Jay Osmond. They were later joined by younger siblings Donny Osmond and Jimmy Osmond. Their only sister Marie Osmond, who never sang with her brothers at that time, launched a successful solo career in the 1970s, and family friend Ronnie Mund on tamborine and backing vocals.

The Osmonds were regulars on Andy Williams' show from 1962–1969 and 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 Osmonds decided they wanted to perform popular music and shed their variety-show image. They would score a number 1 hit on the Billboard pop chart with "One Bad Apple" in 1971. The Osmonds soon had hits with "Double Lovin'" and "Yo-Yo". At this time the Osmonds also recorded several hits that were billed to Donny, the lead soloist on the songs.

In 1971, their The Crazy Horses album was released with several hits including "Down by the Lazy River", "Hold Her Tight", and "Crazy Horses". The Osmonds toured to crowds of screaming fans in the U.S., and they even had a short-lived Saturday-morning cartoon series on ABC-TV during 1972–1974. By this time the Osmonds had broken through in the UK as well.

They released The Plan in 1973, described as a Mormon concept album with progressive rock aspirations. The album produced two modest hits: "Let Me In" and "Goin' Home".

Donny, and to a lesser extent, Marie and Jimmy, soon began to emerge as solo artists. The original Osmonds as a group still produced hits. In 1974, "Love Me for a Reason" reached #10 on the U.S. pop charts and went to #1 in the U.K.

lan, Wayne, Merrill, and Jay formed a country group and returned to using the name "The Osmond Brothers" and had two Billboard Country hits in the early 1980s: "I Think About Your Lovin'" and "It's Like Fallin' in Love (Over and Over)". The brothers continue to perform with various line-ups and sometimes with their children in Branson, Missouri.

In 2007–2008 all of the Osmonds went on a tour of Europe to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of their career in show business.

Music Videos

 * Crazy Horses
 * One Bad Apple
 * Puppy Love