Donny Osmond: Born to Sing
The show must go on for Harrah's headliner after tragedy strikes his famous family
Donny Osmond did not experience the best start to the new year. After he spent Christmas in Edinburg, Scotland playing Pharaoh in a U.K. revival of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, his clan experienced the loss of fourth-oldest brother Wayne, who passed away Jan. 1 at 73 after suffering a stroke. Donny, the seventh oldest, memorialized Wayne on social media the next day, then braced himself to return to the Las Vegas stage for his long-running headlining show.
Wayne gets his due at Donny Osmond, the residency, when Donny harmonizes with his brothers via video enhancement in one of the show’s many highlights. Osmond dances with representations of his siblings, allows the audience to pick an album from his catalog for him and his live band to perform, demonstrates his rapping ability, and makes room for dancing dynamo Miki Catherine to kick up her heels.
Although Osmond may still perform with a heavy heart, his show is a joyous occasion that includes songs and stories about his brothers and sister Marie. Wayne performed in a barbershop quartet that included Merrill, Alan and Jay. The group became a quintet when Osmond, practically born to sing, joined the group.
By the early ’70s the brothers had switched to pop and had their first big hit with “One Bad Apple.” That song written by George Jackson, who penned Bob Seger’s hit “Old Time Rock & Roll,” went to No. 1 in 1971 and made The Osmonds superstars. Donny, who sang the high part of the dual lead, covers the song in concert with his adult voice comfortably rendering the parts Merrill sings on the single.
The song became the opening theme to a Saturday-morning animated series. The Osmonds played concerts in arenas and were pictured in posters hanging on bedroom walls of teen female fans across the country. More hits came such as “Yo-Yo” and rocking “Down by the Lazy River” from 1971 album Phase III before Osmond began scoring solo singles such as “Puppy Love” and “Go Away Little Girl.”
As Osmond’s voice changed, so did the fortunes of The Osmonds, which would become a successful country act in the ’80s. Chart success for Osmond segued into prime-time television success as he teamed with his younger sister for ABC variety series Donny & Marie. The show was a hit, but variety shows would soon reach a saturation point and disappear from the airwaves.
The siblings’ chemistry was revived when they opened a long-running residency at Flamingo in 2008. They quickly became a top draw on the Strip, with their faces adorning the property’s streetside exterior. Donny came back solo after that show’s final curtain, but he’s no nostalgia act. His show is a blast, featuring all The Osmonds’ hits plus his own comeback single, “Soldier of Love.” It’s as if he was born to be a Las Vegas headliner.