Wayne Osmond, singer, guitarist and founding member of the multimillion-selling Osmond family, known for 1970s youth hits such as The One Bad Apple, Yo-Yo again Down by the Lazy Riverhe is dead. He was 73 years old.
His sister-in-law Merrill Osmond wrote on her Facebook page that Wayne died this week at a Salt Lake City hospital after suffering a “stroke.”
“I never knew a man who had more humility. A man who had no guile at all,” Merrill wrote. “A man who was quick to forgive and had the ability to show unconditional love to everyone he met.”
Success with a group of brothers
Wayne Osmond was the fourth oldest of nine children raised in a Mormon family in Ogden, Utah, and the second oldest among musicians.
The brothers' career began in the 1950s when Wayne, Alan, Merrill and Jay performed as a barbershop quartet.
Their popularity grew in the 1960s after the support of singer Andy Williams, and they reached their peak as a quintet in the early 1970s, with their younger brother Donny Osmond as the breakout star.
George talks to singer Donny Osmond about playing with his sister, Mary, teenage photo hysteria and his comeback.
The One Bad Apple and other songs were often compared to the music of Osmond's contemporaries such as the Jackson 5, and Donny was positioned as the Jacksons' white partner and lead singer, Michael Jackson.
The Osmonds' fame faded in the mid-1970s, although Donny and Marie Osmond both enjoyed successful careers as singles and as a sibling duo.
In the 1980s, Wayne reunited with Alan, Merrill and Jay as a country act and had several hits, incl. Thinking Of Your Lovin'.'
The singer faced health problems in the 1990s
But in the mid-1990s, Wayne was diagnosed with a brain tumor and was unable to hear due to surgery and treatment. A stroke in 2012 left him unable to play the guitar.
“I've had an amazing life. And you know, being able to hear isn't all it's cracked up to be,” he told the Deseret News in 2018.
“My favorite thing now is taking care of my yard. I turn off my hearing aids, I'm deaf and take everything out, it's really fun.”
Wayne Osmond married Kathlyn White in 1974. They had five children.
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