Donny Osmond



Donald Clark "Donny" Osmond (born December 9, 1957) is an American singer, musician,actor and former teen idol. Osmond has also been a talk show and game show host, record producer and author. In the mid 1960s, he and his four elder brothers gained fame as theOsmond Brothers on the long running variety program, The Andy Williams Show. Donny went solo in the early 1970s covering such hits as Go Away Little Girl and Puppy Love.

From 1974, he was best known as half of the brother-sister singing duet Donny & Marie, with a four-year variety series of their own on ABC from 1976. Between a highly successful teen career in the 1970s and a rebirth in the 1990s, the singer/actor's career was to some extent stymied in the 1980s by what was sometimes perceived as his former 'boy scout' image. Osmond stated on the May 1, 2009 Larry King Live show, that Michael Jackson had suggested he change his name to overcome this. Osmond's agent even suggested that spreading false rumors about drug arrest charges might boost his career. In 1989, Osmond had two big-selling recordings, the first of which, "Soldier of Love", was initially credited to a 'mystery artist' by some radio stations.

From 1992-1997 Osmond played Joseph in the Toronto production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Creator Andrew Lloyd Webber, impressed by Osmond's talents and the show's long run, chose him for the 1999 film version.

In 2009, Osmond won the ninth season of Dancing with the Stars.

In 1998, Donny Osmond was chosen to be the singing voice of Li Shang in Mulan. He sang I'll Make a Man Out of You. In another Disney role, albeit on stage, he would play Gaston in the Beauty and the Beast musical on Broadway in the last few months of 2006 and returned to the part for the show's final Broadway performance on July 29, 2007.