Jimmy Osmond

January 2013



LESS than a year after The Osmonds bid farewell to the UK, three of them are back in Boogie Nights, the 70s musical co-created by EastEnders star Shane Ritchie.
It will bring Jimmy, Merrell and Jay to the Royal Concert Hall next month, where the trio played to a sell-out crowd last April as part of what was billed their final UK tour.
“We will still perform together but a proper tour like that, that really was it,” says Jimmy Osmond, 49, from his home in Utah.
The tour was tinged with sadness for the trio as brother Wayne was unable to perform.
“We were really concerned about his health and then the worst happened when just before the tour he had a stroke.
“We’d already sold around 100,000 tickets so we went ahead with just the three of us. And the fans were great. It was the best tour we ever did.”
Jimmy was already committed to join the likes of Gareth Gates, Chico and EastEnder Louisa Lytton in Boogie Nights before the Osmonds tour had finished.
“My brothers were like ‘hey, that was a blast, can we come?’ So they kind of invited themselves,” he laughs.
“I called the producer and he said ‘absolutely, bring them along!’”
Boogie Nights was the West End’s original jukebox musical, conceived by Jon Conway and Shane Richie in 1997.
“It was the first musical that I was in over in the UK,” says Jimmy, who starred in it during its West End run in 2004.
“I’d been in Joseph and other shows in America but it really kicked off a lot of opportunities for me. After that I was in Chicago and Grease. It was when I was in Chicago that the bug really bit me. It’s fun to part of a team.
“So this kind of show is nothing unusual for me, but my brothers have never done anything like this before.”
The latest tour is more of a celebration of the music from the original show and features 70 songs.
“The play that was a hit in the West End was written by Shane and Jon about their experiences growing up in the 70s.
“I think that’s why it has been successful; because people who come to see it are experiencing how they felt growing up in the 70s.
“And that’s always a fun thing to be part of.”
As well as doing Osmonds songs, the brothers will be covering hits from the decade by other artists such as Stevie Wonder and the Bee Gees.
Their visit to the UK coincides with Donny and Marie Osmond’s arena tour, which comes to the Capital FM Arena on January 27.
“When I committed to Boogie Nights I didn’t know that they were going to do their tour at the same time,” says Jimmy. “I’m thrilled. My sister hasn’t spent a lot of time in the UK.
“I used to business manager her and a bunch of other stuff, so I’m looking forward to taking her around some of the places that I love there.
 “I’ve been in Nottingham quite a bit so I know the town pretty well.”

Boogie Nights, featuring The Osmonds, Gareth Gates, Louisa Lytton, Andy Abraham, Chico and Shane Richie Junior, comes to the Royal Concert Hall on Tuesday, February 12. Tickets are £29.50 to £35.50 from the box office, call 0115 989 5555 or go to www.trch.co.uk.

Donny Osmond

November 2012

MY brothers bid farewell to touring this year but I don’t see an end in sight. In fact, 2013 is a landmark year for me.

I’ll be releasing my 60th album in my 50th year in showbusiness. And I think it’s the 40th anniversary of Puppy Love.

So I’ll be very careful how I put the album together. I don’t know what it will be yet but it will be one that I want to make.

I won’t be trying to prove anything because I think I’ve done that over the last 50 years. This one will be for me.

And I’ll definitely follow that with a tour in the UK.

Before that I’ve the tour with my sister Marie, which is going to be more than the Vegas show we’ve been doing since 2008.

In Vegas we’re limited to 90 minutes so on this tour we’re going to add a lot more.

The show actually got the award for the Best Show in Vegas for 2012. So we’re bringing the Best Show in Vegas to the UK. Even better than the Best Show in Vegas. How is that for an egotistical statement?

A lot of people wondered when we first started it four years ago whether it would be like the Donny and Marie Variety Show of the Seventies. It’s anything but that.

Obviously you’ve got to do a little nostalgia; you’ve got to do thew old hits. There’s a lot of dancing, costume changes, multi-media... the puppet show is amazing, the juggling fire, the sword swallowing, the elephants dance up a storm... I’m joking.

It’s a variety show with a heart and soul.

A lot of variety shows turn my stomach to be honest because producers will throw a ton of money at it thinking that the more expensive it is, the more entertaining it is. That’s not necessarily the case.

There are times in the show where we shut it down, sit on the stools and sing a song, so it’s not just a big production.

Do I still get fans screaming at shows? It’s different in Vegas but in the UK I think we will get that because they love to do it. It reminiscent of the days of old, particularly when I do Puppy Love. But it’s fun.

The audiences are so diverse now. Primarily it’s the Puppy Lovers, as they call them, but they’re bringing their kids now and their grandkids.

The other night we had four generations at the show and the teenagers liked it the most. Obviously the mom said ‘I grew up with you and she loved Puppy Love’ but the teenager only knew me from Dancing With The Stars.

When I’m at home I live an extremely normal lifestyle because that’s the environment I wanted to raise my kids in. I have four. I have five sons and they range from 14 to 33.

My eldest is going for his business degree, the second one is a doctor of physical therapy, another one is an advertising executive in Boston, my fourth is interested in the music industry but not being a pop artist. He’s DJing and stuff like that.

I’m a Bond fanatic. I’ve got every one of the films but I have yet to see Skyfall. I had planned on seeing it while I’m over here in the UK but the night I thought I was free Gary Barlow wanted me to go to the Music Industry Trusts Awards, where was to be honoured.

So it was either Gary Barlow or Daniel Craig. And Gary won. We’ve worked together before and he produced one of my albums.

The last movie I saw was Hotel Transylvania that my 14-year-old wanted to see it. It’s aimed at teenagers and I didn’t think I’d enjoy it but I did. I thought the writing was so clever. Adam Sandler is amazing.

The book I’m reading now is Quiet by Susan Cain. It’s about how powerful introverts can be and how ineffective extroverts can be. It’s intriguing to me because by nature I am an introvert.

I know, you wouldn’t think so because I’m in showbusiness.

I’d rather read books where I learn something although I really enjoyed Angels and Demons (by Dan Brown) and the first one he did (The Da Vinci Code). So much so that I got the illustrated version.

Muse are probably my favourite band right now. My 22-year-old son turned me on to them. Katy Perry’s new album will be my next purchase because that’s been getting amazing reviews and I want to get the new Maroon 5 album.

I think you have to keep up with what’s going on if you are going to be in the music business. If not then rest on your laurels.

You’ll see that in the show we’re bringing to Nottingham. It’s not just the old stuff.

Donny and Marie Live is at the Capital FM Arena on Sunday, January 27. Tickets are £40 to £70 from the box office, call 0843 373 3000 or go to www.capitalfmarena.com.

Jimmy Osmond

August 2011

The Osmonds are bidding farewell on their next UK, including a show at the Royal Concert Hall. “It’s kind of bittersweet for me,” Jimmy Osmond tells SIMON WILSON

DESPITE running the family business for the past two decades, when his older brothers told Jimmy Osmond that they want to tour for one final time then call it a day, he could little to persuade them otherwise.

“This is the legacy that my brothers have created and this is their wish,” he says.

“I think we could have gotten another ten years out of us, I know the demand is there,” he says.

“So it’s kind of bittersweet for me.”

The Osmonds will bid farewell on next year’s tour which comes to the Royal Concert Hall in April.

“It’s not a scheme, to say come see us while you can,” he laughs.

“I’m kind of in denial that it’s the last tour because I love working with my brothers.”

As a group, The Osmond family have been touring for over 50 years. They have sold more than 100 million albums around the world and in the UK their hit singles included Let Me In, Love Me For A Reason, Crazy Horses and Jimmy’s 1972 UK No. 1 Long Haired Lover From Liverpool.

The latest line-up includes just four brothers: Jimmy, Wayne, Merrill and Jay. Donny, Marie and Alan continue to work on their own projects.

The 50th anniversary tour two years ago featured all seven siblings performing together for the first time in over 25 years.

“It’s a big job, particularly for my older brothers, to be in a different city every night, like we’ve done for most of our lives,” says Jimmy.

But he’s been brand controller for years. Can’t he tell them to carry on?

“I’ve done what I’ve done not based on me monetising their brand but what they wish to do. The only reason why I’ve had so much authority to make deals is because they’ve allowed it.

“They were happy for me to be in charge.

“I don’t own the Osmond brothers brand. I only control what Jimmy does.”

Jimmy is the youngest of the nine siblings at 48. The eldest brothers Virl and Tom never performed with the group due to hearing problems. Alan is the eldest of the Osmond singers at 62.

“It might be misleading in some ways to say this farewell because you can’t really split up a family. But my brothers have been performing for over 50 years, with 45 years for me. And they thought it was time to call it quits.

“I betcha there’s going to be one-off dates here and there. Just no more touring as a group.”

To make the most of this tour, they’ve booked into theatres rather than arenas.

Says Jimmy: “We’re playing the smaller venues because we want it to be... well, we’re calling it Up Close & Personal. We chat more to the audience and I think people prefer that. We could have played half as many dates in bigger venues.”

It’s 50 dates in the UK alone.

“This a pretty gruelling tour. I hope it doesn’t kill us,” he laughs.

“We’re going to make the most of it and have fun together. It’s a celebration. Then try new things after this.

“I will continue. I’ve always had my own thing going on anyway. After the tour I’ve already booked some more dates for a show I have called American Jukebox which is a retrospective of all the great hits of the past.

“And if Jay or Wayne or Merrill want to join me then they can, like they have in the past.”

He adds: “I’m going to do panto again this year. My families history is from Wales and it’ll be nice to go there to do Aladdin in 3d.

“I think I’m one of the only Americans that really gets it.”

Do you really get it?

“Oh yes I do,” he chuckles.

“I have a young family and they really like the whole Christmas experience, flying over to the UK and seeing the panto.”

But for now he’s working on  making the show the best he can for the fans, one last time.

“There are so many fans in the UK and we are really blessed to have them. And they’re used to going to more than one concert. You’d hop in the bus, look behind and there’d be a car procession a mile long.

“That’s not going to happen any more after this.”

Has there been a negative reaction from fans about the farewell?

“Yeah, we’ve had a lot of people really upset but we just have to get on with it.”

What: The Osmonds Final Tour – Up Close & Personal

Where: Royal Concert Hall

When: April 4

Tickets: £29.50, 0115 989 5555

Web: www.trch.co.uk

Leo Sayer

October 2009



It has been more than 30 years since Leo Sayer topped both the UK and US charts with his signature hit You Make Me Feel Like Dancing, so what makes him feel like dancing these days?
“Not a lot really,” he says.
“I hate to say it. It’s all clever but it’s all done for money. And it’s all very much a business.”
It annoys him that the industry seeks to “bury the past” and spend more on promoting new talent.
Which is one of the reasons he moved to Australia five years ago.
“The popularity I’ve had down here has always been great,” he says, hastily disposing of a Carr’s water biscuit.
“They’re a fine old thing. I’m also supping up a cup of Taylor’s of Harrogate tea. I must be thinking about England.”
He adds: “I hit the ground running here in 1974, I think. They put a huge campaign together before I arrived. So it was a bit like when The Beatles went to New York. It was mad.”
And he can still get regular bookings these days.
“I work all the time. I’m in the middle of a load of gigs at the minute. I’ve done about 82 shows in the last five years. It’s keeping me young.
“I miss England in a lot of ways but the lifestyle here is not that different. It’s just the weather. It’s like Lanzarote but a bit further,” he laughs.
Sayer, who had his biggest hits in 1977 with You Make Me Feel Like Dancing and When I Need You, has garnered a new generation of fans in Oz thanks to The Wiggles. The children’s TV phenomenon did a cover of You Make Me Feel Like Dancing and invited him on to the show.
“It’s been crazy. You know, I’m a single bloke at the moment and I’ll get in to a shopping centre and a very attractive lady of about 30 or 40 will come up to me and say ‘I adore your music’.
“And I think ‘ooh, this is cool’. Then she says: ‘Yes, me and my son listen to it every morning’.”
Doh!
He recently converted a room in his Sydney home in to a recording studio in order to make new music.
“I’m still creative. If other people think of me as a nostalgic artist, that’s not really how I think of myself. I’m moving a little more with the times. I couldn’t make Beyonce or Jay-Z type of music. I just don’t know how to do that.”
Three years ago he was back at the top of the UK chart when Meck remixed his song Thunder In My Heart, although the marketing plan was to keep the name of Leo Sayer out of any publicity.
“First off they said ‘don’t tell anyone it’s Leo.’”
Bit of an insult, isn’t it?
“Yeah but that’s typical of English pop. We love to bury the past and reinvent. They spend more money on Duffy than they do on Dusty Springfield. I don’t understand it. Let’s kill anyone over 21 – that’s always been a British kind of thing.
“But it doesn’t work with the public because we all want to see Duran Duran again, Spandau Ballet again and hold on to Eric Clapton and Elton John. Look at The Beatles reissues. Kids will have spent more on The Beatles (Rock Band) game than the latest war games.
“The lasting power of music goes against the marketing ethic of ‘let’s find some new acts.’
“I say it’s The Beatles 10, Simon Cowell 0.”
It is nostalgia that brings Sayer to Nottingham next year on the Once In A Lifetime tour with The Osmonds, David Essex and the Bay City Rollers.
“Paul Young is a friend, he’s done it, and he was always telling me it’s a fun tour to do.”
It helps that he knows the other artists: “In those days we were all mates because we all did Top Of The Pops together.
“There was no video so we had to perform our songs live. There’d be David Bowie over there, Marc Bolan, David Essex, Mick Jagger, the Bay City Rollers... so, coming together for this tour, it was an easy thing for us to say yes to.
“There was a great camaraderie – none of that ‘I’d like to kill you’ kind of competition going on that there’s been in a lot of the acts since.
“I never had to be in hand-to-hand combat with David Essex for a place in the charts,” he laughs.
“There seemed to be room for all of us in those days. Maybe because pop music was so much more important as the voice of the age.”
Who is going to be the best and worst behaved on the tour?
“Who knows? We all grow up. Though I don’t think I’ve grown up as much as I thought I would. I don’t feel like a 61-year-old.”

Once In a Lifetime 2010 Tour with The Osmonds, David Essex, Leo Sayer and Les McKeown’s Bay City Rollers, Trent FM Arena Nottingham, June 28 2010, £36.50, 0844 8471726