Donny and Deborah have five sons
Donny Osmond and his wife Deborah have five sons together; Brandon Michael Osmond, Donald Clark Osmond, Jr., Jeremy James Osmond, Joshua Davis Osmond, and Christopher Glen Osmond. The oldest of the sons, Donald, is nearly 20 years older than his youngest brother Joshua. The second born son was the first to get married and give Donny a grandchild, while Brandon and Donald Jr. got married later on.
Marie Osmond helps people with postpartum depression
After the birth of her child Brandon, Marie thought she had a typical case of the baby blues, which occurs after the hormones from the baby are not longer there, creating a hormonal imbalance within the mother. However, the feelings did not go away, and it turned out that she was suffering from postpartum depression. Marie now talks about it extensively, and encourages women to go seek treatment the moment they think that they may have it.
They began their careers in Disneyland
The Osmond family went out to Los Angeles in order to try and meet with record executives and land a major record deal. However, the day that they were supposed to meet with the record producer, the producer was busy, so father George took them to Disneyland. The kids saw the Dapper Dan Disney barbershop quartet and began singing with them. They attracted a crowd, including Tommy Walker, who was the director of guest relations at the park. He asked them to sing in Disney After Dark that night.
They almost went bankrupt
By 1975 the family wasn’t doing so well financially, especially after two of their albums flopped. Therefore, the Osmond family decided to build a TV set close to their home in Utah and get back into the spotlight with The Donny and Marie Show. They then got canceled by the television network and then tried to do two more studio albums to cover the costs of the studio they built. However, these also flopped. Yet they pulled themselves up by their bootstraps and repaid all their debts instead of declaring bankruptcy.
They only started selling CDs in 2008
Did someone buy you an Osmund Band CD anytime in the last 15 years? You might want to check out when that CD was made, because there is a good chance it is fake. The only way people were able to get a hold of Osmund CDs before 2008 was if they were bought illegally. After 2008, the family decided that it would be a good idea to finally start selling their music on the new form of media. Too bad that MP3s already existed by then.
Alan Osmond chose the army over a mission
Alan Osmond decided that he would quit the band and go on a Mormon mission trip. However, something didn’t feel right. He fasted and prayed for several days, and at the end of it, he felt that the mission trip was not right for him. He decided not to go, and so he decided to join the military to go to Vietnam. He had an interview with a Colonel, and he was picked to be the Colonel’s secretary at a base close to home.
Boot camp awards
Alan knew that he was not going to physically fight, but everyone has to go through basic training in the army. It turns out that his years in show business prepared him for boot camp, which made it a breeze for him. His choreography skills helped him with bayonet training, his band’s ruthless schedule helped him when he was sleep deprived in training, and he was also an amazing shot. Alan would come out of basic training with three trophies.
David Osmond has MS
David Osmond was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis at the age of 26. The singer and nephew to Donny Osmond actually was wheelchair bound for a time and could not even walk without a cane. However, after a huge shot of steroids so that he could walk down the aisle and marry his fiance. After the shot, he has felt much better, and while he still feels pain, he is no longer wheelchair bound by it.
Jay Osmond wrote an autobiography
Jay Osmond was the drummer for the Osmond family band, and he wrote an autobiography titled Stages. In the book, Jay tries to take the reader through the different challenges the family faced while they were on the road throughout the 1970s, as well as what it was like working with the people the band collaborated with, including Elvis Presley and The Beatles. Jay Osmond actually wrote the book like a play due to all the stages the family performed on.
Working with the Jackson 5
The Osmonds were not the only musical performing family around in the 1970s. Another musically talented family was the Jackson Five, hailing all the way from Gary, Indiana. The Jackson Five and the Osmond Family used to coordinate shows together. In fact, one time when the two families were staying at the same hotel in Toronto, Canada, the kids of both families decided to have a big football game against each other.