Jay Osmond

Jay Osmond
Jay Osmond as part of The Osmonds in 1971
Born
Jay Wesley Osmond

(1955-03-02) March 2, 1955 (age 68)
Occupations
  • Musician
  • film producer
  • television producer
Years active1962–2019
Spouses
Kandilyn Harris Osmond
(m. 1987; div. 2011)
Karen Randall
(m. 2014)
Children3
Musical career
InstrumentsDrums
Formerly ofThe Osmonds

Jay Wesley Osmond (born March 2, 1955) is an American musician. He was a member of the Osmond family of performers. He wrote the story to the 2022 musical The Osmonds, a musical based on the life and music of the family. The musical was shown around the United Kingdom and Ireland in 2022, after being previously postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Early life

Jay Wesley Osmond was born in Ogden, Utah, the sixth son of Olive May (née Davis; 1925–2004) and George Virl Osmond (1917–2007).

The Osmonds

Starting in 1958, Jay and three of his older brothers (Alan, Wayne, and Merrill in their respective age orders) began singing as a barbershop quartet. They were later discovered in 1961 by Jay Emerson Williams, Andy Williams's father, at a performance at Disneyland which was being filmed for the Disneyland After Dark episode of Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color. In 1962, the four Osmonds were cast over a seven-year period on NBC's The Andy Williams Show, a musical variety program:

We were under tremendous pressure whenever we performed on The Andy Williams Show. We only ever had one take to do it right. Eventually they called us the ‘One Take Osmonds’ because boy, we had to be right on it, there simply wasn’t the time for us to make a mistake. Every week we had to do something different whether it was pianos, tap dancing, ice skating, karate or saxophones, we had to learn to do something new every week. One time they wanted me to play a drum solo and I hadn’t even learnt how to play the drums; man I was six years old.

They also appeared in nine episodes of the 1963-1964 ABC western television series, The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters, with Jay in the role of young Lamentations Kissel.

In addition to drums, he shared lead vocals on the group's hit "Crazy Horses," a hard rock song that fit Jay's more guttural voice better than usual lead singers Merrill or Donny: he occasionally contributed lead vocals to other tracks, usually ones with a harder-driving sound, such as "One Way Ticket to Anywhere" and "Having a Party." Jay continued with Merrill and Wayne (later joined by Jimmy) as a member of the Osmond Brothers when the group shifted to country music in the 1980s.

The Osmonds Musical

Osmond wrote the story to the 2022 musical The Osmonds. It is based on the life and music of The Osmonds musical group and family. The musical was originally set to premiere in August 2021, but had to be postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The musical had its world premiere at the Curve Theatre, in Leicester, England on 3 February 2022. The musical was embarked on a tour around the United Kingdom and Ireland in 2022.

Personal life

Jay married Kandilyn Harris on August 25, 1987. They were divorced in 2011. Together, they have three sons: Jason George (born on September 23, 1988), Eric Clinton (born on January 2, 1991) and Marcus Jay (born on January 8, 1996). Jay's oldest son Jason married Lauren Merrill on March 11, 2011, and they have one son, Grayson George, born 2013, and two daughters, Roslyn Renee born 2015 and Charlotte Dee born 2018.

Jay married Karen Randall in May 2014. Karen was a fellow divorcee who had never heard of The Osmonds before meeting Jay and eventually became involved in the Osmonds' business enterprises, including the Osmonds musical. His step-granddaughter London Brise Mortensen (born on October 14, 2006) was accidentally killed on September 18, 2014, at age 7.[citation needed]

Like the rest of his family, Jay Osmond is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Osmond has since moved to England:

I would say that life at the moment really is quite wonderful, life is so good that we have recently moved over here and now we live in England. We just love it. The UK is so beautiful and moving here is something that I have wanted to do for a very long time and we have finally done it.


This page was last updated at 2023-10-31 02:13 UTC. Update now. View original page.

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