The Osmonds coming for PICC concert on June 14

Who has not heard of The Osmonds or, for that matter, their more celebrated members, Donny and Marie Osmond?

To be more specific, what Filipino family has not experienced watching and listening to this immensely popular American family pop group of the ’70s whose music, concerts and television shows were synonymous with good, quality and wholesome family entertainment?

Who can ever forget those happy, quiet and pleasant evenings of yesteryears when a typical family would huddle together in front of the TV set in the  living room to watch the top-rated variety series,  Donny and Marie (and later, The Osmond Family Show), starring Donny and Marie and occasionally featuring the rest of the Osmonds?

That was many years ago. Donny and Marie is no more, but its many happy and wonderful memories, as well as those of the legendary pop group that made it possible, will come alive and dazzle music enthusiasts when The Osmonds celebrate their 50th anniversary in the field of popular entertainment.

The series of commemorative events will kick off with an all-star music for television on PBS titled The Osmonds 50th Anniversary Reunion, starring, of course, The Osmond Brothers, with Donny, Marie and Jimmy as special guests, and scheduled to begin airing this month.

Funfare learned the good news that three months from now, it will be the turn of Pinoy fans to share in the excitement and the jubilation of the historic milestone when The Osmonds come to Manila as part of the Asian leg of their anniversary world concert tour.

Titled The Osmonds 50th Anniversary Reunion World Tour, the musical event will be held on June 14 at the Plenary Hall of the PICC in Pasay City, with Donny, Marie and Jimmy Osmond topbilling the star-studded cast, together with the rest of the Osmond family.

Here’s a refresher on The Osmonds, courtesy of JP, Primetime and First Look Entertainment, producers of the one-night-only concert:

Since it was formed in 1957 in Ogden, Utah, The Osmonds have evolved from an original family pop group whose members achieved enormous success as teenage music idols, into the King Family of pop and country music and reputedly one of the longest-running family dynasties in popular music.

All of the Osmond progeny, who were raised in a strict Mormon environment, learned music from their parents, George and Olive, and began singing religious and barbershop-quartet songs.

Their big break came in 1962 when the Osmond Brothers (at the time Alan, Jay, Merrill and Wayne) went to Disneyland wearing identical suits and made a good impression on a Disney talent scout, who invited them to perform for the summer.

They made their national television debut on Disneyland After Dark, a taped musical segment shown occasionally on Walt Disney’s Wonderful World Of Color.

On the recommendation of his father Jay, Andy Williams auditioned the boys and invited them to his TV variety series, The Andy Williams Show, where they appeared as regulars from 1962 to 1971. The singer also took them on his cross-country tours for two years.

In the mid-‘60s, The Osmonds (now joined by Donny) also appeared on TV shows with Jerry Lewis and toured with Pat Boone and Phyllis Diller.

After signing with MGM Records, they skyrocketed to international recognition when their 1971 debut LP went gold, as well as Donny’s million-selling debut single, Sweet and Innocent (No. 7).

Earlier that year, the brothers scored a gold with their breakthrough US hit, One Bad Apple (No. 1) which bore an uncanny similarity to the “bubblegum soul” sound of their contemporaries, The Jackson 5,  and spent five weeks at No. 1 in the Billboard Hot 100 in the winter of 1971 and even hit No. 6 on the R&B chart.

Marie made her recording debut with the No. 1 country and western hit, Paper Roses (No. 5 pop, 1973), while little Jimmy’s debut LP and single, Long Haired Lover From Liverpool, made it to the US Top 40 in 1972 and topped the UK charts for six weeks.

The Osmonds were voted Best Musical Variety Act of 1974 in Las Vegas and won the People’s Choice Award as America’s “Favorite Musical Group” in 1975.

With the advent of the Donny and Marie show in 1976, starring Donny and Marie, The Osmonds gained wider international exposure, attracting audiences of all ages to the best they had to offer as they successfully projected the unified quality of their own family relationship.

 Marie, who underwent an image makeover to something little hipper in the late ‘70s, was most visible with Donny doing Hawaiian Punch TV commercials in the early ‘80s  even as she continued to gain success on the country charts with a number of hits, including the C&W No. 1 single, Meet Me In Montana (a duet with Dan Seals, 1985), There’s No Stopping Your Heart (1985) and You’re Still New To Me (a duet with Paul Davis, 1986).

Donny, on the other hand, headed his own recording company for a number of years before returning to active  recording in the late ‘80s when he accepted the invitation of Peter Gabriel to record in his Bath, England studio.

In 1992, after almost four decades of concert tours, The Osmonds decided to bring their work and home together in one place with the purchase of a theater in Branson, Missouri, where they performed two shows a day, six days a week for sell-out crowds.

The brothers continued their successful streak in Branson, where they were recognized as Best Vocal Group of 1995, 1996 and 1997, and Best Show in Branson for 1996 and 1997.

In 2003, the Osmond Family was honored for its achievements in the entertainment industry with a star on the legendary Hollywood Walk of Fame in Hollywood, California.

To commemorate its 50th anniversary in show business, plans were being made for the 120-plus members of the Osmond Family to appear on The Oprah Winfrey Show, when George Osmond died on Nov. 6, 2007 in Salt Lake City at the age of 90.

The tragedy did not deter the clan from going on with the show as scheduled. On Nov. 9, 2007, the entire Osmond Family appeared on stage with Oprah Winfrey as a tribute to its departed patriarch, with the program airing on Nov. 10, the day of his funeral.

(Note: The Osmonds 50th Anniversary Reunion World Tour is produced by JP, Primetime and First Look Entertainment. Tickets priced at P9,000, P6,000 and P2,500 are available at Ticketworld outlets. Special VIP seats are reserved. For inquiries, call Ticketworld at 891-9999.)

Celine Dion ‘live’ in Macau

More good news on the music front:

Celine Dion is performing at the ultra-plush Venetian Macau Resort-Hotel on March 15.

Fresh from five years of performing in her sell-out show A New Day in Las Vegas, Celine reaches out to her thousands of Asian fans by bringing her Taking Chances World Tour to Macau. Taking Chances is also the title of her new album.

Celine has sold more than 180 million albums worldwide, winning awards along the way including Grammys in the US, Juno and Felix Awards in Canada (where she hails from), and World Music Awards in Europe.

Among her hits are The Power of Love, Misled, Where Does My Heart Beat Now, My Heart Will Go On (from the movie Titanic) and her Beauty and the Beast animated movie soundtrack.

Affordable tour packages with tickets to Celine’s Macau concert are now available. (For more information, call the Macau Government Tourist Office in Manila at 812-2595 or 813-0947. Or log on to www.macautourism.gov.mo.)

(E-mail reactions at [email protected] or at [email protected])