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Alan Osmond, singer, musician and eldest brother of the legendary seventies family band The Osmonds, died on Monday, April 20th. He was 76 years old.
A spokesman for the Osmond family confirmed the death to ABC 4 in Salt Lake City. A cause of death was not given, although Alan was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1987. According to the spokesman, Alan was surrounded by his wife Suzanne and children when he died.
Alan’s brother and bandmate Merrill recalled their last conversation together in a tribute on Facebook. “We talked as brothers talk, heart to heart,” Merrill wrote. “He struggled, but as I made one joke after another, he found the strength to giggle… and then he smiled. In a tender moment that I will never forget, he leaned in close and whispered something in my ear. He said, ‘Merrill, you and I worked side by side. We created, produced, directed… we put our hearts into The Plan with Wayne.’ Please… do something with it. Let people know what we wanted to say.’ I want you to know: His request will be granted.”
Childhood and early years
Alan grew up with his siblings as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Ogden, Utah, and the family’s musical roots lie in the church choir. In the late 1950s, Alan, Merrill, Jay and Wayne formed a barbershop quartet that performed early gigs around Los Angeles – including gigs at Disneyland and a long-running regular presence on The Andy Williams Show.
In the mid-1960s, younger brother Donny joined and the Osmonds transformed into a bubblegum pop band. In 1970, they scored a number one hit with “One Bad Apple” – a track originally written for the Jackson 5 – and began an impressive run that made them one of the biggest bands of the 1970s. At that time they were seen as a decidedly conservative, family-friendly counterweight to the wilder, more disreputable and more revealing sides of pop culture.
Although Alan rarely took on lead vocals with the Osmonds, he was one of the band’s creative minds. At first, the Osmonds often covered other people’s songs, but soon Alan and his brothers were writing much of the material themselves – including hits like “Down by the Lazy River”, “Crazy Horses” and “Hold Her Tight”. Alan also became the group’s primary producer and oversaw several albums, including the 1973 Osmond LP The Plan.
“The Plan” and belief
Released at the height of Osmond fame, The Plan was a distillation of the Osmond family’s beliefs and worldview – the album title alludes to the Mormon concept of the plan of salvation. Musically, the work was extremely experimental: prog and synthpop excursions on songs like “Movie Man” also offered one of the rare opportunities to experience Alan as lead singer.
The Osmonds’ success gave them special status in the Latter-day Saint Church; Church elders credited them with tens of thousands of baptisms in the 1970s. But in the middle of the decade, the family band increasingly faded into the background while Donny’s solo career blossomed and he enjoyed great success with his sister Marie.
The decade ended turbulently: the Osmond family fortune was thoroughly plundered by a series of fraudsters and rip-offs. Family leader George Osmond refused to declare bankruptcy, so Alan and his brothers took on every gig, from corporate events to carnivals, to pay off the debt.
Illness and withdrawal
In 1987, Alan was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, but was able to continue working for several decades. He largely retired in 2007, but made a few stage appearances in the late 2010s. He also didn’t completely give up songwriting: in 2019 he composed a track for the centennial celebration of Orem, Utah. He and his wife Suzanne had eight children.
