Jay Wesley Osmond (born March 2, 1955) is an American musician. He is a member of the Osmond family of performers. He wrote the story to the 2022 musical ''

The Osmonds The Osmonds were an American family music group who reached the height of their fame in the early to mid-1970s. The group had its best-known configurations as a quartet (billed the Osmond Brothers) and a quintet (the Osmonds). The group has c ...

'', a musical based on the life and music of the family. The musical was shown around the United Kingdom and Ireland in 2022, after being previously postponed due to the

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Early life

Jay Wesley Osmond was born in Ogden, Utah, the sixth son of Olive May (née Davis; 1925–2004) and George Virl Osmond (1917–2007).

The Osmonds

Starting in 1958, Jay and three of his older brothers (

Alan Alan may refer to: People *Alan (surname), an English and Kurdish surname * Alan (given name), an English given name ** List of people with given name Alan ''Following are people commonly referred to solely by "Alan" or by a homonymous name.'' * ...

, Wayne, and Merrill in their respective age orders) began singing as a

barbershop quartet A barbershop quartet is a group of four singers who sing music in the barbershop style, characterized by four-part harmony without instrumental accompaniment (a cappella). The four voices are: the lead, the vocal part which typically carries t ...

. They were later discovered in 1961 by Jay Emerson Williams,

Andy Williams Howard Andrew Williams (December 3, 1927 – September 25, 2012) was an American singer. He recorded 43 albums in his career, of which 15 have been gold certified and three platinum certified. He was also nominated for six Grammy Awards. He hos ...

's father, at a performance at

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which was being filmed for the " Disneyland After Dark" episode of ''

Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color The Walt Disney Company has produced an anthology series, anthology television series since 1954 under several titles and formats. The program's current title, ''The Wonderful World of Disney'', was used from 1969 to 1979 and again from 1991 onwa ...

''. In 1962, the four Osmonds were cast over a seven-year period on

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's '' The Andy Williams Show'', a musical variety program:'' They also appeared in nine episodes of the 1963-1964 ABC

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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 last of the original four Osmond Brothers still singing full-time. As of March 2024 he began headlining his own show in

Branson, Missouri Branson is a city in the U.S. state of Missouri. Most of the city is situated in Taney County, Missouri, Taney County, with a small portion in the west extending into Stone County, Missouri, Stone County. Branson is in the Ozarks, Ozark Mountain ...

; Alan's son, country singer Nathan Osmond, will join Jay at the residency in October. Osmond is the host of the Osmond Family Hour, a weekly

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program. In October 2024, Osmond began appearing as one of the rotating guest stars in ''Now That's What I Call a Musical'', an English

jukebox musical A jukebox musical is a stage musical or musical film in which a majority of the songs are well-known, pre-existing popular music songs, rather than original music composed for the musical. Some jukebox musicals use a wide variety of songs, while ...

based on the ''

Now That's What I Call Music! ''Now That's What I Call Music!'' (often shortened to ''NOW'') is a series of various artists compilation albums released in the United Kingdom and Ireland by Sony Music and Universal Music ( Universal/Sony Music) which began in 1983. Spinof ...

'' album series.

''The Osmonds'' Musical

Osmond wrote the story to the 2022 musical ''The Osmonds.'' It is based on the life and music of The Osmonds musical group and family. The musical was originally set to premiere in August 2021, but had to be postponed due to the

. The musical had its world premiere at the Curve Theatre, in

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on 3 February 2022. The musical was embarked on a tour around the

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and

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in 2022.

Personal life

Jay married Kandilyn Harris on August 25, 1987. They were divorced in 2011. Together, they have three sons: Jason George (born September 23, 1988), Eric Clinton (born January 2, 1991) and Marcus Jay (born January 8, 1996). Jay's oldest son Jason married Lauren Merrill on March 11, 2011, and they have one son, Grayson George, born 2013, and two daughters, Roslyn Renee born 2015 and Charlotte Dee born 2018. Jay married Karen Randall in May 2014. Karen was a fellow divorcee and eventually became involved in the Osmonds' business enterprises, including the Osmonds musical. His step-granddaughter London Brise Mortensen (born October 14, 2006) was accidentally killed on September 18, 2014, at age 7. Like the rest of his family, Jay Osmond is a member of

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Restorationism, restorationist Christianity, Christian Christian denomination, denomination and the ...

References

External links

Official website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Osmond, Jay Osmond, Jay American Latter Day Saints American male singers American rock drummers American rock singers American country drummers American country singers Musicians from Ogden, Utah Drummers from Los Angeles People from Branson, Missouri Living people The Osmonds members Osmond family (show business) 20th-century American drummers American male drummers Country musicians from California Country musicians from Missouri 20th-century American male musicians Drummers from Utah Drummers from Missouri