Donny Osmond’s entertainment career started when he was just 5 years old. Now, 48 years and 59 albums later, his profession continues to take him on new adventures. “It’s what I do,” Osmond replied in an interview Aug. 18 when asked how he manages it all. “I’ve been doing it non-stop since I started at 5 years old.” Osmond is bringing his show to the Honeywell Center in Wabash Sept. 3 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $29, $49, $69 and $100. For more information, visit the website at www.honeywellcenter.com He said the show is the most challenging one he’s done because he’s not sure how it will unfold. There’s a part of the show where the audience gets to tell Osmond what song to do from his repertoire, and he’ll do it. He has to be prepared for any of his songs to be requested. His band also will have to know all of Osmond’s music so they can play it. “And that’s the scary part of it,” he said. During the 1-1/2-hour show, Osmond will share stories of his songs and life, such as his friendship with the King of Pop Michael Jackson. Osmond said he and Jackson were very good friends. One night, until 2 a.m., Osmond and Jackson hung out talking about their lives and families. One hit song for The Osmond Brothers was “One Bad Apple”. Jackson told Osmond that the song originally was given to the Jacksons to record. Osmond hadn’t known that until that night. He then told Jackson that Jackson’s song “Ben” was originally offered to him, but he couldn’t do it at the time, so Jackson was asked to record it. When Jackson died three years ago, Osmond said it was a tough time. Osmond said there’s no particular era of his 50-year career that’s he partial to. He’s even prepared to sing the song “Lollipops, Lace & Lipstick” from his teen heart throb days if it’s requested. He is even thinking of doing a tribute to “Little Johnny Jones”. In the 1980s, Osmond was experiencing a string of successful endeavors. In 1982, Osmond said, he decided to take on the stage and perform in a revival of the musical “Little Johnny Jones”. The show opened and closed the same night. Years later, Osmond would have greater success on the stage with his performance in “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat”. Originally, he said, it was suppose to be a six-month gig. It became a six-year stunt. Osmond said the musical became so successful it was hard to turn away from the standing-room-only audience and ovations every night. There were moments when it felt like the “bottom of the barrel,” he said, but once the show got going, it fed him and his adrenaline was pumping. For the show Osmond is doing this year, it’s going to get his adrenaline pumping again. Years ago, it would have been scary for a performer to mess up on stage. Now, he said, “Part of the process is becoming vulnerable.” During the show, his sister Marie and his brothers won’t appear in person, but Osmond said people can expect to see them on the video screen. Donny’s latest, and 59th album, was just done with Marie. It was the first time in 30 years that the siblings had recorded an album together. They’ve been performing in Las Vegas for some time, starting in 2008 with what was suppose to have been just a six-week show. Several years later, their show is still going strong, though Donny said it won’t go on forever. Besides his musical career, Osmond also has appeared on television as a semi-co-host on “Entertainment Tonight”. He said that juxtaposition is so unique because as a celebrity he knows a lot of the celebrities he talks to for that program. Recently, he said, he did a pilot for CBS for a game show called “Secret Fortune”. He said it’s a cross between “Deal Or No Deal” and “Who Wants to Be A Millionaire”. A person has to answer 11 questions right to win the million dollars. Nigel Lythgoe, the producer behind “American Idol” approached Osmond about hosting the American version of the U.K. game show. Osmond took a day in Las Vegas to film the pilot, and it’s up to CBS now as to whether or not it gets picked up. “It could be as early as this year,” Osmond said.Asked if he’d do a movie or scripted television show, Osmond said everything is scripted, even reality shows. One reality show moment that Osmond doesn’t believe was scripted was Susan Boyle’s surprise performance on “Britain’s Got Talent” in 2009. While the producers may have known how talented Boyle was, the reaction by the judges and the audience was true. He got to meet Boyle “She told me something cool. She said she learned to sing listing to my albums,” Osmond said. Osmond said he wants to do a duet with Boyle, but it has to be the right song. Another person who Osmond would love to do a duet with is Justin Bieber. He said if you put his photo from when he was 14 years old next to Bieber’s photo when he was 14, they would look like twins. Transitioning from a teen heart throb to an adult star is tough, Osmond said. But now, he said, he is having the time of his life. He uses stuff from his past for his shows. “It was a very exciting time in my life,” he said. If a person doesn’t know him from his musical career, they recognize him from his contribution to the Disney movie “Mulan” or his appearance and win on “Dancing With the Stars”. “It’s the best thing I’ve ever done in my life,” Osmond said of appearing on “Dancing With the Stars”. When an NFL player breaks down because of how hard something is, audiences know how tough it is. Winning the dance show competition, he said, is a feather in his cap. He keeps the trophy in a glass case in a hotel room in Las Vegas. He joked that he has to keep it safe so his sister Marie won’t steal it. He likes to use the trophy to jokingly rub it in her face that he won and she didn’t. Osmond also has a worldwide radio show, which recently won an award in London. The program may be broadcast in the Middle East soon. For more on Donny Osmond, visit his official website at www.donny.com
