From the Tiger Beat Archives, October 1968
Tiger Beat’s FIRST feature on the Osmonds!
If you’ve been watching Andy Williams shows and specials since 1961, then you probably feel like you’ve grown up with the Osmond Brothers.
The funny, fab, exciting act is just as dynamic offstage as onstage, though you’d never know it from just meeting them once. All the boys are introverts except 10-year-old Donnie. But that doesn’t mean that they sit around quietly and do nothing all day!
On the contrary, the Osmond Brothers and the rest of their family have probably seen more of the world while performing than lots of old-time travelers. And the strange part of the whole story is that the family—though really close-knit—hasn’t become like just one person. Everyone has their own personality and their own dislikes and likes.
ALAN
Alan, who is 19, was born in Ogden, Utah, like all his brothers and sisters, and has the family coloring—dark hair and brown eyes.
He digs photography and has some fantastic pictures in his collection that he’s taken while traveling with his family. He’s also a great sports fan and says that girls are a pretty good hobby, too.
He’s not the oldest male in the family. He’s got two older brothers—Virl, 23, and Tom, 21—who are both on church missions (they’re Mormons) in Canada.
Alan is the family expert on guitar, piano, bass, banjo, and saxophone. He goes for bright rajah coats and the colors yellow and gold. In groups, he thinks the Cowsills and the Bee Gees are tops.
Alan is quiet and sincere. His personal ambition is to get a good education. Realizing that entertainment is a perilous industry at best, he wants to finish college so that he’ll be well-rounded in music.
Don’t be surprised if someday you see Alan on the street in the XKE Jag he’d like to own, a famous writer and composer in his own right! But in the meantime, Alan’s going to be wearing Army fatigues for the next six months while he’s with the Army Reserves. Before he enters, he’ll have done a Jerry Lewis show and recorded three singles and an album with his brothers.
WAYNE
Wayne, unlike Alan, is looking at the immediate future when it comes to his personal ambition: by the time you read this, Wayne will have his private pilot’s license.
Wayne’s hobby (he’s 16) is aeronautics, and he’s been taking flying lessons for quite some time. Now that he’s a fully-fledged pilot, Mr. and Mrs. Osmond are debating whether or not to use Wayne as the family air chauffeur. On the one hand, it would save the extra expense of a pilot, but on the other hand, it might tire Wayne too much to perform and fly, too. So they’re still holding family summits on the matter.
Wayne’s favorite color is orange, and he might be tempted to paint the Cessna Skylane plane he wants (instead of a car) a wild, bright orange.
Clarinet and flute are two instruments that Wayne plays besides guitar, banjo, and saxophone—which makes him the family expert in the wind section. He plans to stay in show business for the rest of his career.
Wayne’s favorite singer is Andy Villiams, and his favorite food is spaghetti. He’s shorter than Alan’s 6’1″ by a shade—Wayne is 5’10”.
MERRILL
Merrill Osmond, 15, doesn’t have a nickname, though you’d expect him to for some reason. He’s a great fisherman (or is that a fishman’s tale?) and particularly likes to catch (and eat) freshwater trout.
The Osmond family are all fond of salads and have named their favorites after each person. Merrill’s favorite food is a type of macaroni salad which the Osmonds call Merrill salad. His favorite dessert is Tommy Salad, a fruit salad.
Merrill usually dresses in Nehru jackets and shirts, most of them in purple. He plays drums in addition to sax, banjo, and bass. He doesn’t have a favorite kind of song, but he digs Andy Williams, and anything Andy sings.
Merrill shares two things with Alan and Wayne: like Alan, his hobby is photography, and like Wayne, he wants to get a private pilot’s license.
JAY
Jay Osmond, 13, plays banjo, sax, trumpet, and drums. Since he’s been in show business since he was 2 1/2 years old, he can’t imagine doing anything else for a living ever.
Jay likes to surf and sail and also enjoys archery. One of his ambitions is to become Wayne’s co-pilot.
Jay’s the type of person who can exist on nothing but hamburgers and malts, though he actually prefers fruit instead. He also digs anything green, especially new sports cars.
Jay, like his brothers, is an introvert, and while he’d like to live in both California and Utah someday, he prefers a place called Huntsville, Utah, as his favorite city—probably because it’s off the beaten track and not too touched by the big city unfriendliness that pervades most other places.
His personal ambition right now is to improve his work on the drums, and consequently, he practices almost every day.
DONNIE
Donnie, who’s the family showoff, has the official name of Donald, but no one uses it. His specialty is the organ, but he also plays piano, banjo, and saxophone.
When he was 2 1/2 years old, he sang at his first show. Then he joined his brothers as part of the act when he was five, which means he’s spent exactly half his life in show business as part of the Osmond Brothers.
Donnie also likes Huntsville, Utah, as his favorite place, and his favorite color is blue. Andy Williams is his favorite singer.
Donnie wants to stay in show business, and he’s suited for it. Even now, he says he loves all the tours he goes on because they are fun—and with an attitude like that, Donnie can’t miss!
Editor’s note: Guess we didn’t ask Donny how he spelled his name for this introductory article! Oops!
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