Osmond joins Brickman

Chicago Star

Thursday, November 30, 2000
By Linda Swisher

Donny Osmond celebrated Thanksgiving in Utah. Two days later he joined Jim Brickman's holiday tour as a special guest.

Brickman calls Osmond "unpredictable."

"There is a structure , but I like it that way," Osmond says in a phone interview. "If it's fresh for us, it's fresh for the audience. Nothing ever gets stale. In the show, there is a question and answer session with the audience. We get the audience involved. You never know where that will lead!"

Brickman appeared on the "Donny & Marie" talk show during its first season.

"We did 'You are the Love of My Life.' I just love his music," says Osmond, who performed that song on Brickman's PBS special, "My Romance: An Evening with Jim Brickman."

Osmond hasn't been idle, either. He has just completed "This is the Moment," a CD of Broadway tunes.

"It's different than a typical Broadway album. It's done in a contemporary style," he says. "There is only one song that is not from Broadway, a duet with Rosie (O'Donnell), 'You've Got a Friend in Me' from 'Toy Story.' There's a duet with Vanessa Williams. Phil Ramone is producing it. I put my final stamp of approval on it a few days ago."

It will be released Feb. 6.

"We'll do a big PBS special to launch it in New York in January. It will air in March," he adds.

In addition to Brickman's special, Osmond also starred in "Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat" which premiered on the PBS series, "Great Performances." He headlined some 1,800 stage performances of "Joseph" from 1992 to 1997.

"My life is basically dedicated to PBS, now that I don't have a talk show," he jokes.

The "Donny & Marie" talk show garnered five Emmy nominations and received glowing reviews before it was canceled.

"It was completely out of the blue," admits Osmond. "When we wrapped for the second season, Columbia TriStar said 'We'll see you next year.'

"It's the politics of the business. You get the rug pulled out from under your feet. That's what show business is, like the term, 'That's show biz,'" he says philosophically.

It's hard to believe Osmond has been in show business for four decades. "That's amazing, considering I'm only 21," he jokes. Actually, he turns 43 on Dec. 9.

"I've analyzed it. I had five different careers. First, on the 'Andy Williams Show,' then the 'One Bad Apple' career (as a member of The Osmonds); a solo career — the 'Puppy Love' phase; the 'Donny and Marie' (variety show) days; the 'Soldier of Love' (which hit No. 2 in the U.S. in 1989) or as we call it, the 'reinvention;' the 'Joseph' days and the 'Donny & Marie' talk show days, — whoa, this is my eighth career."

Osmond forgets to include his career as an author. His autobiography, "Life is Just What You Make It . . . My Story So Far," was published last year.

"It was very cathartic for me to do that. It was the right time for me to do that. For me and Marie, it enabled us to come out as real people. It's not a dirty laundry book . . . it talks about challenges and how I got through the challenges," he explains.

Does it bother him when people remind him of his days as a teen idol? "I used to get to the point where I just hated it," he admits. "I came to the realization that, 'embrace it, don't resist it.' It doesn't really matter anymore. It's part of my history, and it's part of their history. I'm content with what I'm doing now. If people ask me to sing 'Puppy Love,' I'll do it.

"I just might do it at the Brickman show," he says.