According to the biographical film Inside the Osmonds (2001), the Osmond family mottoes were: “It doesn’t matter who’s out front, as long as it’s an Osmond” and “Family, faith, and career. In that order.”
Wayne Osmond, who has died aged 73, was never a solo star like his siblings Donny, Marie and Jimmy, but he was a vital part of the family band as a singer, composer and multi-instrumentalist. He shared fully in the Osmonds’ devout Mormon faith, which seemed to enable the group to resist the more outlandish temptations of the show-business lifestyle.
The group first became successful as the Osmond Brothers through TV variety shows, but in the late 1960s they wanted to embrace rock and pop music, despite the misgivings of their father and manager George Osmond. They were given a helping hand by Elvis Presley, who frequently watched them perform in Las Vegas and encouraged the group to adopt matching Elvis-style jumpsuits for their stage shows. After some unsuccessful attempts at recording, the record producer Mike Curb helped them to sign to MGM Records, and arranged for them to record at the renowned Fame Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, with the studio owner and producer Rick Hall.
Their name was shortened to the Osmonds, and their recording of One Bad Apple topped the US singles chart in 1971. It would be their sole No 1 hit in their homeland.
However, it marked the beginning of the Osmonds’ period of international stardom, which provoked almost Beatles-like hysteria among their young fans. In one notorious incident in 1973, part of a balcony collapsed when thousands of people crammed on to the roof of an office block to see the Osmonds arrive at Heathrow airport. Eighteen were injured.
They enjoyed further notable hits in 1971-72 with Yo-Yo, Down By the Lazy River, Hold Her Tight and Crazy Horses. While Wayne never sang lead vocals, he possessed a fine baritone voice, played multiple instruments including the drums, saxophone and lead guitar and also had perfect pitch. “Whenever my brothers wanted the instruments tuned, I was the one they turned to,” he revealed.
He was a regular songwriting contributor and it was his guitar riff that inspired the group to write Crazy Horses. It won enduring popularity among heavy metal fans, with Ozzy Osbourne declaring it to be one of his favourite songs.
Wayne was born in Ogden, Utah, the fourth oldest of the nine children of Olive (nee Davis) and George Osmond. All the siblings were male except Marie (the second youngest). George was a postal worker who had served in the second world war, and both he and Olive were members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, also known as the Mormons, into which all their children followed them.
Wayne was an original member of the family singing group, in which he was joined by his brothers Alan, Merrill and Jay. The two oldest Osmond brothers, Virl and Tom, had both been born with severely impaired hearing and part of the motivation for forming the family band was to pay for hearing aids. Under the strict guidance of their father, in 1958 they began performing as a barbershop quartet, the Osmond Brothers, earning money to sponsor overseas missions for their church.
In 1962 they auditioned for Walt Disney and were invited to appear on Disneyland After Dark, an episode of the TV series Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color, where they were seen by Jay Emerson Williams, the father of the singer Andy Williams. This led to them being invited to appear on The Andy Williams Show on the NBC TV network, where they would perform regularly from 1962 to 1967. They earned the nickname “one-take Osmonds”, thanks to their slickly rehearsed performances.
In 1963 their five-year-old brother Donny made his debut on the show, singing You Are My Sunshine, and their sister Marie would appear the following year, aged four. The ninth and youngest Osmond sibling, Jimmy, would also be introduced on the show. Meanwhile in 1963-64, the Osmond brothers joined the cast of ABC’s Western series The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters, which featured the then 12-year-old Kurt Russell. Wayne played the role of Leviticus Kissel.
The Osmonds became one of pop’s biggest phenomena in the early 70s – with their own cartoon series, The Osmonds, in 1972 – but when they released their album The Plan (1973), which attempted to evangelise their Mormon beliefs in song, it failed to reach the US Top 50, after their previous four albums had all reached the Top 30.
It was an early warning that Osmondmania had reached its peak, even though the Mormon church was pleased with the album’s effectiveness in recruiting new members. The spotlight moved on to Donny and Marie, who enjoyed success in the charts and on TV both singly and as a duo. Jimmy Osmond, too, carved out his own niche, having become the youngest artist to have a UK No 1 single with his 1972 hit Long Haired Lover from Liverpool.
The Osmonds’ last big hit was Love Me for a Reason (1974), which reached No 10 in the US and topped the UK chart, and the following year they had another Top 30 success (and a Top 5 UK hit) with The Proud One. In 1994, the Irish band Boyzone reached No 2 on the UK chart with a cover of Love Me for a Reason.
By the end of the 70s it was estimated that the Osmonds were worth $100m and the group dissolved in 1980. However, following a series of financial calamities and being defrauded, they found themselves facing insolvency. Their father George insisted that they would not declare bankruptcy, but would go back on the road and pay off all their debts. Although their record sales had tailed off, they could still play sellout shows in casinos and conference centres.
In 1982, they also scored a couple of Top 30 hits on the US Country chart with I Think About Your Lovin’ and It’s Like Falling in Love (Over and Over).
In 1992 the brothers relocated to Branson, Missouri, and for the next decade performed regularly in the Osmond Family theatre. In 2008 the Osmond family embarked on a 50th anniversary tour.
In 1997, Wayne was diagnosed with a brain tumour. Treatment was successful, but damaged his hearing and caused him to have a cochlear implant. In 2012 he suffered a stroke that left him unable to play the guitar. A second stroke proved fatal.
He is survived by his wife Kathlyn (nee White), whom he married in 1974, their children Amy, Sarah, Michelle, Steven and Gregory, and 20 grandchildren; and by his siblings, Virl, Tom, Alan, Merrill, Jay, Donny, Marie and Jimmy.
• Melvin Wayne Osmond, musician, singer and songwriter, born 28 August 1951; died 1 January 2025
