George Osmond

Nov 9 2007 by David Charters, Liverpool Daily Post

HIS ancestors were among the Mormon pioneers who trekked across the Utah desert to found Salt Lake City but, in a later age, the man himself was responsible for making us all feel dentally challenged.

George and Olive Osmond dazzled the world’s telly viewers with the teeth of their chirruping children and, before you could say Puppy Love, we had a new pop sensation or sensations, as it really depended on whether your daughter/ sister/ girlfriend fancied Alan, Wayne, Merrill, Jay, Donny or Jimmy.

In the end, most went for Donny, who was certainly strong on the tooth-front, but the then-chubby Jimmy will be long remembered in these parts for Long-Haired Lover from Liverpool, which soared to the top of the charts.

Boy fans were left on the wings by this phenomenon, but then came Marie, who couldn’t roll her Rs, but was toothsome like the others, and reached number two with Paper Roses (1973). However, she seemed so pure that you wouldn’t even touch her photograph.

George was in some ways responsible for all this as the manager of the Osmonds. But his life hadn’t been easy. He was brought up in poverty, but, as a good singer, realised that there was money to be made in show-biz.

First, though, came his service in the US Army during World War II and work in property and insurance. He and Olive had two sons Tom and Virl, who weren’t musical because of a hearing disorder. But as boys Alan, Merrill, Wayne and Jay formed a barbershop harmony group, for whom he negotiated a regular slot at Disneyland, California. This led in the early ’60s to appearances on the Andy Williams Show, where they were joined by the younger members of the family.

George was a stern taskmaster. The boys slept in a bunkhouse, awoken at dawn by the insistent blasts on his military bugle. But he and Olive, who died in 2004, were also devoted to their welfare. Donny, a classroom darling, had a string of solo hits and never had the problems experienced by his former friend and rival Michael Jackson, whose upbringing had in some ways been similar.

The Osmonds were the world’s most famous Mormons, and George was a missionary for the religion. His family includes 55 grandchildren and 48 great-grandchildren.

George Osmond, family manager; born October 13, 1917, died November 6, 2007.