Interview: Donny Osmond talks bringing Vegas to Tampa, the fourth wall and more

The shelf life of a teen pop idol is extremely slim. When thinking of all the pin-up poster boys who’ve graced the bedroom walls and the turntables of teenagers over the last several decades in pop culture, only a handful can truly claim to have transcended the typical staying power an actor or pop singer marketed as a teen heartthrob is normally allowed to have.

At the head of that class is Donny Osmond. Growing up in the spotlight, as part of a singing group with his brood of older brothers, Osmond has been in the showbiz game since the tender age of five. As the 1970s were kicking off, Donny and his brothers were riding high on pop music charts, thanks to the hit singles and the concert tours they’d embarked on. Of the five singing brothers—who’d often appear onstage wearing matching Elvis Presley-like, ornate jumpsuits—the youngest of the bunch, Donny, always got the lion’s share of the ovation and the most passionate responses from audiences, thanks to his cover boy good looks and his dynamic appeal. Scoring solo hits while still a member of his family band, Osmond was a staple on the covers of ‘70s teen magazines like Tiger Beat and 16 and his popularity was astronomical.

The decade was kind to Donny, and he was able to add a weekly television variety show to his resume. Teaming up with younger sister Marie, the Osmond sibling duo hosted the aptly titled “Donny & Marie” variety show from 1976-1979 which was, for many young fans, the show to watch every Friday night throughout its three-year run. The show is best remembered for the medley each week’s show featured, highlighted by the “I’m a Little Bit Country, I’m a Little Bit Rock and Roll” duet Marie and Donny would partake in.

Falling out of the spotlight for the bulk of the 1980s, Osmond was able to pull off a miraculous comeback of sorts late in the decade when his surprise hit “Solider of Love” put him back on the top of the pop charts. Benefitting from gaining a new audience while maintaining a large portion of his original (and devoutly faithful) fanbase is no easy feat, but he was able to do just that. Back in the public’s consciousness, Osmond expanded his reach to include the Broadway stage and a return to television and music.
Now a major attraction in Las Vegas at age 66, Osmond is stepping away from the Vegas strip to take his act on the road. Promising to bring all the allure and dazzle with him that the glitzy town is known for, Osmond seemed excited and elated to talk about his summer tour recently.

Having the chance to speak to Donny Osmond was a sentimental treat for me; I grew up a fan and faithfully commandeered the family television set every Friday night in the ‘70s with my late sister (who was a diehard Donny fan, dating back to her pre-teen years). She, like so many Donny Osmond fans, had an affinity for the color purple, as Donny himself had cited that as his personal favorite color, and was known for often wearing purple socks during his teen years as a pop idol. My sister would get downright giddy when the mention of Donny came up all through adulthood. She embodied the lifelong love and admiration for the pop star that so many of his fans still carry with them.

Charming, funny, and engaging, Donny Osmond was a real joy to talk to when I chatted with him, just before his summer tour was about to kick off.

Tickets to see Donny Osmond play Tampa's Hard Rock Event Center on Thursday, July 25 are still available and start at $80.

Read our full Q&A below.
[event-1] So, tell me a little bit about this tour. I know you’re fresh off some shows from your long tenure in Las Vegas and you have this lengthy tour coming up, including four shows throughout Florida. Tell me a little bit about the show.

Well, I guess the first thing I could say was, sometimes when you have a huge show like this, like a Las Vegas production, people have a tendency, promoters and managers and artists, have a tendency to kind of downgrade it a little bit for the sake of expenses on the road and logistics. And I'm doing just the opposite. I am bringing the entire production to Florida!

Are you really?

Yeah, it's a huge tour because I figure, you know, not everybody can make it out to Las Vegas. So, I'm gonna bring Vegas to you and why bring a half big show, an abbreviated show? Why not take the full award-winning show on the road? So that's what I'm doing.

Wow. I love that approach. I'm sure people are gonna love that. Is that gonna be an adjustment for you, being out on this lengthy tour and hitting all these cities all summer? How's that gonna fit into your schedule?

I've been doing this since I was five years old. So, I've actually grown up on the road, so I’m really looking forward to it. It's something that I've done all my life. I'm particularly excited about bringing the full show out. That's what's gonna be fun. Yes, it's hard, but I've got the most amazing crew and band and dancers. And everybody is just gearing up to work really, really hard because one-nighters can be tough. But it doesn't matter how tired you are when you hit the stage, it's got that synergy that you get when the curtain goes up in the audience and the lights hit and then, then the music, it's just so synergistic.

So, you still get that sense of excitement from that after all these years.

Most definitely! Especially with this show because it's everything I've done in six decades in one show.

Wow, that's quite a lot to cover.

There are two segments that probably are my favorites, and they've become fan favorites. Number one is the request segment and it goes maybe 15-20 minutes long, however long we wanna go. I put all 65 albums that I've done up on the huge screen behind me and the audience can pick any song from any album and we do it. So, the show changes every night.

That’s really cool. I was gonna ask you about that because I’ve read you have what's called an improv segment in your shows; I assume that's what you're referring to.

That's it! And so, no matter how obscure or how deep an album cut it is, I’ll do it. Now, sometimes it gets funny because I can't remember all the words but, it's proven to be one of the fan favorite segments of the show. The other one is this rap section I do. I came up with an idea, kind of like the musical “Hamilton,” where everything's done in rhyme, and I do all six decades of my music in a 10- minute rap.

Oh, my!

And the cool thing about it is that it’s not just a rap, you actually see, visually, what I'm rapping about and it's almost data overload in 10 minutes.

Funny you say that because, I saw on one of your social media pages, a reel of you and Flavor Flav from Public Enemy together. Did you pick up any tips from him?

Actually, he wants to come see it! I told him and he said “Dude, I gotta see this!”

Now that would be something to see! Donny Osmond and Flavor Flav on stage together! Truthfully, I'm already getting the sense here, just talking to you for a few minutes, but, of course, following you for all these years, that you have a deep sense of humor, and a high level of positivity and joy. I loved the segment you did when you were a guest on the (British comedy series) “The Kumars at No.42” a few years ago, which I thought was hilarious. I have to imagine that's something that comes naturally to you. I wouldn’t think that's something that somebody could just turn on and turn off. It seems like it's your true nature. Is that a fair statement?

Yeah, I think so. You gotta enjoy life, you know? Life's too short to go through it worried and down in the mouth as they say. You just have to have a good sense of humor and self-deprecation is one of the best ways to have it. You know it's a way to have that personality trait, and, you know, just make fun of yourself. Plus, I've done so many things in my life that I have such a backlog or repertoire to embrace and enjoy and make fun of because, sometimes, people bring up the purple socks, like for instance, when I was a teenager. I mean, embrace it, enjoy it, make fun of it, have fun with it, you know? There are so many things and that's why this request segment, this improv segment, is so fun, because people will tell stories about a particular song, and their memories, and then we go into the song, so the song means more.

That's such a great attitude to have. Such a great outlook. I mean, that's contagious. I'm sure everybody around you picks up on that.

That's one of the things that I do onstage. My philosophy is, people, especially nowadays, don't really wanna just go to a concert, they wanna go to an event, they wanna get away from life. Show business is escapism; at least that's what I look at it as and for two hours. I allow people to escape, enjoy themselves, go on a journey of past and present.

On kind of a personal level, I became familiar with you and the music you created with your brothers, when I was very, very young. That was due to my older sisters, one of which was a massive fan of yours in particular. We just lost her last September, unfortunately. But, growing up living in New York City, my mom took my sisters to see you and your brothers at Madison Square Garden in 1971, and it was life-changing for them. That was their first concert and it really set the stage for the rest of their lives for loving live performance. But my one sister, who was a huge fan of yours, had your posters plastered on her bedroom walls for her entire childhood, and she never lost that admiration for you. Your name would come up in conversation throughout her life, and she would get a little giddy each and every time. That's what I've noticed from a lot of the young women, who are now mature women, who still hold that deep love and admiration for you. Why do you think that is? Because that's not common for a listener or a fan to hold on to that for so long. What do you think you brought to the table that makes it possible for so many people to still hold you in such high regard?

Well, first of all, I’m sorry about your sister. Thank you for the compliment. That really is truly a compliment and I recognize how fortunate I am to have that dynamic. But my mind goes to a moment I had with Elvis Presley when I first met him and got to know him. He said “If I could do it all over again, I would give back to my fans a little bit more.” And that's why I do a lot of social media. That's why I hold events because, it never made sense to me how certain artists will shun the fan and be above them when it's the fan that made them a star in the first place. And so that's why I do spend a lot of time doing pre-show events before the actual concert where about 50 people, it's very, very small, come in for a Q&A, where we tell stories, sing songs, whatever. It is special, and not just a meet and greet, because another term I've coined, for meet and greets, is that they are more love and shove. That's what I call it, love and shove, you know, take a picture, next, get a picture, next.

But the pre-shows that I do are like 45 minutes long. Almost an hour before the show is where people can ask questions and I talk to them as a real person, relating back to what Elvis Presley said. You gotta have a personal touch and not just a professional touch all the time. Yes, people wanna see a star when they come to see a show, but when you're doing a pre-show or a VIP experience, let them know the real person, you know? Get on everybody else's level. And that's what I gleaned from meeting Elvis because, yes, he was the King of Rock and Roll. I watched him on stage. I admired him a lot, but then he's just backstage, a real person. And I think that that's a long-winded answer to your question. But I just think you have to give back and let people know that you care about the people who made you a star in the first place.
I think that answer really lends itself to why so many folks are so loyal to you, because of what you just described. It's evident in what you're saying, it's evident in your social media pages, and just in the way you carry yourself. I think what has kept people so loyal to you for so long.

Absolutely. I mean, my whole philosophy is the fact that I want people, when they walk in, I want them to say ‘we're expecting a great show’ But when they walk out, I want them to say ‘I just experienced something that was not just a show, but an event…even more so than an event. I felt like I was in his living room.’ You know what I'm saying? Yes, give them production. Yes, give them the eye candy of the lights and the sound multimedia, all the stuff that show business brings. But, then there's moments, like this request segment, the improv where you break it down, the audience is now a part of the show, and they walk out saying that was way worth more than the price of the ticket.

It sounds like you’re knocking down the barrier between celebrity or performer and audience. You're kind of bridging that and kind of making it a little more of an immersive experience for everybody.

That’s another good way to say it. So, I think I'm gonna steal that phrase from you! (Laughs)

Do it!

I break down the fourth wall, as we call it in show business. I just don't like that fourth wall. You have to have it. You have to put across that celebrity that people wanna see, as I mentioned a second ago. But then again, there are moments where you just become a real person and that's what I try to do.

Well, you do it very well, believe me. Like you said, you've been doing this for so long. Do you think that what you're describing, that philosophy, was instilled in you early in life, and that's what helped you stay grounded and stay focused?

I think so. But there's a lot of people who are grounded in the business that don't really apply what we've been talking about. So, it really is a choice. It's a personal choice of how you approach your career, how you approach your fan base, how you just conduct your life. For instance, I've got this week off. So, guess what I'm doing? I'm mowing the lawn. I'm working out in the yard, I'm taking out the trash, all that kind of stuff where you have to balance your life out and just be normal. I recall my friendship with Michael Jackson. Without going into a long story here, I remember him calling me and saying, ‘How do I bring normalcy into my life?’ And that's what a lot of artists are missing. As we say, the air is rare up there when you become a superstar like Michael was, but you gotta get down and put your feet on the ground. You know, you gotta live like everyone else and just be normal because I love show business. I love getting on stage. I love doing all that stuff and taking people on an emotional rollercoaster for a couple of hours during a concert. But I also, probably more, love coming back home and playing with my grandkids, you know, just doing gardening work and mowing the lawn.

That's such a refreshing approach, coming from somebody who has been doing this as long as you have. You love what you do, and you love so many aspects of it. That's so encouraging.

You'd have to see the show to understand what I'm talking about, because it really is. A lot of artists make this mistake: they get on there, and they just do song after song after song. No, no, no, no. It's art in motion, in my opinion, the way you put a show together. Then there's an arc, there's a beginning, a middle and an end and there's a lot of rollercoaster rides in between those three points, and that's what I do in the show. Whereas I hit them hard with eye candy of the production, but then there are moments where, for instance, I see “Close Every Door,” from, “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat,” and there is no production. Yeah, there's beautiful lighting and scenes on the video wall. But, sometimes a singer, you look at Frank Sinatra, OK? Sometimes a singer just has to have a spotlight and a mic, and just sing the song. And so, there's one moment where I sit down at the piano and I sing a song that I wrote called “Start Again.” And that's all that is. There's no video, there's no major lighting, there's just me, the piano, the mic and the lyrics of the song. And there are a lot of people who have come up to me afterwards said that was my favorite moment of the show.
Speaking of favorites, do you have any particular favorite album you’ve done, dating back to the era of The Osmonds? I ask because a good friend of mine loves [1973 concept album] The Plan , and I love that one, too.

That is probably one of our favorites because it was so ahead of the game, and it was so unexpected from the Osmond Brothers. I think that [1975 release] The Proud One is a great album. Yeah, The Plan was so out of the realm of what The Osmonds were doing from the audience perspective. They thought, “OK, they're the ‘One Bad Apple’ group, and all that kind of stuff.” But then, we come out with “Crazy Horses,” that kind of blew everybody away. People were thinking,”Who is this?” And then we do The Plan ! Now this is what's interesting: I was recording that kind of music along with teeny bopper music. So, I was doing both ends of the spectrum at the same time! And that's what's fun about the request segment, because you actually see, in real time, the juxtaposition of all the different genres of music that I've done over the years.

Now, that's a career! You mentioned “Crazy Horses,” which brings to mind that I have played (the very Led Zeppelin-inspired Osmonds tune) “Hold Her Tight” for so many of my friends and said, “You'll never guess who this is!” and very few have gotten it right. Most people say, “You're kidding me!” when I tell them it’s the Osmonds rocking out!

I love that dynamic!

On that note, I can’t resist asking you, but are you still “A little bit rock and roll?”

Most definitely! In fact, recently, during the request segment, a young lady, who was, like, in her 30s, requested “A Little Bit Rock and Roll!” I said, ‘Do you know the words?’ She said ‘Yeah, I think so,’ so I said, ‘Come here!’ I got her on stage, and I said ‘OK, you're Marie now, here for a few minutes’ and we sang it together. It was so funny.

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