Jay Osmond
Jay Wesley Osmond was born March 2, 1955 in Ogden, Utah, the 6th son of
Olive and George Osmond.
Career
Starting in 1958, Jay and 3 of his older brothers (Alan, Wayne and
Merrill) (in their repective age orders) began singing as a barbershop quartet.
They were later discovered in 1961 by Jay Emerson Williams, Andy
William's father, at a performance at Disneyland which
was being filmed for the
Disneyland
After Dark episode of Walt
Disney's Wonderful World of Color.
In 1962, the four Osmonds were
cast over a seven-year period on NBC's The Andy Williams Show,
a musical variety program. 
'We were under tremendous pressure whenever
we performed on The Andy Williams Show. We only ever had one take to
do it right.
Eventually they called us the 'One Take Osmonds'
because boy, we had to be right on it, there simply wasn't the time
for us to make a mistake.
Every week we had to do something
different whether it was pianos, tap dancing, ice skating, karate or
saxophones, we had to learn to do something new every week.
One time
they wanted me to play a drum solo and I hadn't even learnt how to
play the drums; man I was six years old'
They also appeared in
nine episodes of the 1963-1964 western television series, The
Travels of Jaimie McPheeters, with Jay in the role of young
Lamentations Kissel.
In addition to drums, he shared lead vocals on the group's hit
Crazy
Horses, a hard rock song that fit Jay's more guttural voice better
than usual lead singers Merrill or Donny:
he occasionally contributed lead vocals to other tracks, usually ones
with a harder-driving sound, such as 'One Way Ticket to Anywhere' and 'Having a Party'.
Jay continued with Merrill and Wayne (later joined by
Jimmy) as a member of the Osmond Brothers when the group shifted to
country music in the 1980s.
Jay is considered to be one of the best drummers in the world.
In 2019 Jay
retired from showbusiness with a concert in the Netherlands, with his
brother Merrill.
Jay
wrote the story to the 2022 musical
'The Osmonds', a musical based
on the life and music of the family.
The
musical was originally set to premiere in August 2021, but had to be
postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The musical had its world premiere at the Curve Theatre, in Leicester, England on
3 February 2022.
The musical was embarked on a tour around the United Kingdom and Ireland in 2022
and plans are to bring it to the US.
Personal life
Jay married Kandily Harris on August 25, 1987. They were divorced in
2011.
Together, they have three sons: Jason George (born on September
23, 1988), Eric Clinton (born on January 2, 1991) and Marcus Jay (born
on January 8, 1996).
In 2014 Jay
married Karen Randall. Karen was a fellow divorcee who
had never heard of The Osmonds before meeting Jay.
She eventually became
involved in the Osmonds' business enterprises, including the Osmonds
musical.
Jay moved to the UK during his work with the musical. In 2021 he built a
house in Idaho but decided to move back to Branson in 2023.
In Branson he has been back on stage again with the group 'The Duttons'.
|