Donny Osmond and Michael Jackson: Two Old Friends (+ Video)

American singer and actor Donald Clark “Donny” Osmond, 54, in the mid-1960s—when Michael and his brothers were running the successful group Jackson 5—along with his four older brothers, founded the music group “Osmond Brothers” (Osmond Brothers or The Osmonds) and began his independent career in the early years of the 1970s.

Osmond recently, in an interview with the magazine “Life After 50,” talked about his friendship with Michael:

Question: You and Michael Jackson entered this profession at the same time. Both of you were group singers. What do you think of him?

Donny Osmond: “We were contemporaries in our teens, but he soared to the peak of fame and left me completely in the dust. We used to walk side by side. We tried to see what each of us was doing—what was Mike doing? What was Donny doing?—and the story is funny because there are amazing similarities between us.

Our first number-one song, “One Bad Apple,” was actually written for the Jackson 5. Mike once told me they gave us this song because they had decided to use ‘I Want You Back’ and ‘ABC’ instead. The song was given to us to sing, and when it was released three or four months later, it reached the top of the charts and became number one.

I remember one time, years after all this, I told him, ‘Okay Mike, I want to tell you a story about the song Ben.’ I told him the song was written for me, and he was surprised and said, ‘Stop it!’ I told him the story of my meeting with the composer—how our group was on tour and they needed this song for the film, so it was decided that Michael would sing it. He sang the song and it became number one. Michael sang about a mouse, and I sang about a puppy.

(The song Ben, released in 1972, is the title song of a film with the same name. Michael won the Golden Globe for this song. The song was also nominated for an Oscar. Michael performed the song live at the 1973 Oscars, but he didn’t win the award. The film Ben is about the friendship between a boy and a mouse.)

We would get together and laugh so hard at the fact that there were such similarities in our lives. He always asked me how my brothers were doing, especially my mother. Me and Mike were both the seventh child out of nine children in our family. He was the lead singer of the Jackson 5, and I was the lead singer of the Osmonds. The birth dates of our mothers were the same too. Besides that, his mother played the clarinet and my mother played the saxophone. Our similarities don’t end.”

Question: Were you close friends?

Donny Osmond: “We kept our friendship private—especially in the final years of Michael’s life. These days, everyone listens to the stories and memories about him. Now that Mike is gone, and Dr. Conrad Murray has been convicted, and the media controversy has died down, I’m ready to tell my own story.

The last time we talked, he called me. At least a year before he died. When I asked where he was, he said he couldn’t say anything. I told him, ‘Come on—you’re talking to me. I’m your friend. Where are you?’ He made me promise not to tell anyone, and then he said he had rented a motorhome and secretly gone to Phoenix, Arizona with his children. I asked, ‘From whom are you hiding?’ He said, ‘There have been controversies and a lot of pressure on me.’ I asked him for a favor. I wanted him to get in my car and come to Utah with the kids and stay at my house for a while. Nobody would find out, and they could have a normal life with us for a few days. He said he would do it, but he was never found.”

In 1974, Michael appeared at the American Music Awards ceremony with Donny Osmond and child actors Ricky Segall and Rodney Allen to announce the winners on stage. Donny said their friendly relationship began from that very day and continued because of the similarities between them.

Last month, Osmond appeared on Dr. Phil’s TV show and said:

“After the award, we were hungry. We bought sandwiches at a restaurant nearby and got into my limousine. We opened the roof, and while the limousine was driving around Sunset Strip, we stuck our heads out of the roof and ate our sandwiches. That’s the best memory I have of him.”

“We both started young, and the anxiety of this profession came to us in later years—especially Michael, who became very famous.”

Donny also said that at the beginning of the 1980s, when his career was declining and Michael’s career was going in the opposite direction—rising— the King of Pop had given him advice that later turned out to be correct.

“He took me to the studio to see Quincy Jones (the co-producer of the Thriller album). We were sitting in Michael’s Rolls-Royce, and I have to say his driving was terrible. He said, ‘Donny, Donny, listen to this!’ He played me the Thriller demo cassette. It was right before the Thriller album was released (the best-selling album in history). I told him, ‘Okay, this song will be a hit.’ Then I asked him how Michael could help me get back into my career—tell me how to be successful like you. He said, ‘You have to change your name!’ I said, ‘What?!’ He said, ‘Yes! Your name is poisonous. It’s too clean and polished. The image that this name gives doesn’t work.’ I said, ‘Okay, thank you for your advice!’ But in reality, he was right.

When the album Soldier of Love was released in 1989, it was nameless, and radio stations started playing its songs. It wasn’t clear who the album belonged to! When they finally realized after a few months that I was the singer of the album, it was already too late—the album had already become successful.”

This album brought Donny Osmond’s career back.

Source: eMJey.com / Dr. Phil / Lifeafter50 Magazine