The Osmonds

The Osmonds were an American pop band composed of members of the Osmond family. The group had its best-known configurations as a quartet (billed the Osmond Brothers) and a quintet (the Osmonds). The group consisted of siblings, all members of a family of musicians from Ogden, Utah.The Osmond Brothers began as a barbershop quartet consisting of brothers Alan, Wayne, Merrill and Jay. They were later joined by younger siblings Donny and Jimmy, both of whom enjoyed success as solo artists. With the addition of Donny, the group became known as the Osmonds; performing both as teen idols and as a rock band. Their only sister Marie, who rarely sang with her brothers at that time, launched a successful career in 1973, both as a solo artist and as Donny's duet partner. By 1976, the band was no longer producing hit singles; that year, they transitioned into television with Donny & Marie, a popular variety show that ran until 1979.A revival of the original Osmond Brothers lineup in the 1980s achieved moderate success in country music, and both Donny and Marie separately made comebacks in their respective fields in the late 1980s. The Osmonds have sold over 77 million records worldwide.The quartet continued to perform through their 50th anniversary in 2007, at which point Alan and, later, Wayne retired due to health issues; Jimmy was recruited after Alan's retirement, with the group performing as a trio until Jimmy suffered a stroke and retired in 2018. On 14 October 2019, the original Osmond Brothers quartet reunited for CBS' The Talk for their sister Marie's 60th birthday, which would be the last appearance for the lineup before Wayne's death in 2025. The brothers performed "The Last Chapter", written as a farewell song and introduced in 2018. Merrill and Jay professionally split from each other and began performing separately in late 2019; both now perform on reduced schedules, while Donny continues a full performance schedule.George Virl Osmond Sr. and Olive Osmond, members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, resided on a farm in Ogden, Utah, with their family. George was a postal worker with a military background; both he and Olive were musicians within their church. They had nine children: Virl (George Virl Jr.), Tom, Alan, Wayne, Merrill, Jay, Donny, Marie, and Jimmy. Virl and Tom were both born with severe hearing impairments. After Virl and Tom's births, doctors had warned the couple that further children would likely also have hearing impairment, but "sensing a divine message" not to stop having children, they continued having children anyway; all seven of the later children would be born with full hearing.

Biography summary from English Wikipedia, photograph via Wikimedia Commons.