American musician, a member of the singing Osmond family, devout Mormons. He was the seventh son and featured with his sister Marie, the only girl in the family and two years younger than he. At age 21, he was a boyish 5’10” and 130 lbs, gaining screaming adulation from the teenybopper crowd.
The Osmond brothers teamed up to sing, starting in a Disney show in 1962 and Donny joined the group in 1971 after they had been performing professionally for nine years on TV. He had already been on stage on the “Andy Williams Show” in 1963 and an overachiever ever since. The “Donny and Marie” TV show ran from 1976-79.
At 20, he married Debbie, 1978 and they have five sons ranging in age from 19 years to 16 months old (in 1999). A “straight-shooter,” he never did drugs or booze, married as a virgin and maintained his belief in fidelity.
During the ’80s, when he hit a rocky patch, coming close to bankruptcy, Donnie wondered if his life in show business was over. It was 1989 before he scored a comeback hit with “Soldier of Love,” which hit No.2 on the Billboard charts. In the ’90s he spent five years touring as the lead in “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.” He and Marie teamed once more on a syndicated daily talk show, “Donnie and Marie,” September 1998, airing weekdays on stations around the nation. He was also the noted voice of “Shang” in the newest Disney release, “Mulan.”
He published his autobiography in 1999, “Life is Just What You Make It: My Life So Far.” He revealed the paralyzing anxiety attacks that almost forced him out of his role as Joseph.
His mother Olive Osmond died of complications from a stroke on May 9, 2004 in Provo, Utah. The entertainer’s father died on November 6, 2007. George Osmond was the patriarch of a talented family and manager of his sons’ group. He died in Provo, Utah at age 90.
His 18-year-old nephew, Michael who is Marie Osmond’s son, committed suicide on February 26,2010 at about 9 PM in Los Angeles.
Link to Wikipedia biography