Marie Osmond

Marie Osmond was the only sister to eight brothers. She hails from Utah and was christened Olive Marie Osmond. She was born on the 13th of October, 1959. The Osmonds were a family singing group, but Marie went on to make a niche for herself within the music industry as a solo country music artist and reigned the 1970s and 1980s. Her early exposure came with the popular 1976 Donny and Marie show, where she teamed up with her singer brother Donny Osmond. Olive Marie Osmond was spectator to her brothers’ performances in show business, singing on national television. She did debut in the Andy Williams Show when she was just three, but never really performed with her brothers, as part of the group.

It was only when in 1970, Marie's brother Donny gained success as a solo artist and became a teen idol that Marie tried her hand at show-biz as well. She signed on the dotted line with MGM Records and started off with concerts. Marie Osmond was influenced by country music and flaunted a style that was very different from that of her brothers'. In 1973, Paper Roses, her first single, became a country hit and a grosser at the Bill Board charts. Armed with this major crossover success and the Gold Record Award for the song and album of the same name, Osmond went on to release ‘In My Little Corner of the World’, again a grosser at the Bill Board Top 40 in 1974. ‘This Is The Way That I Feel’, ‘I'm Leaving It All Up to You’ and ‘Morning Side of the Mountain’ established Marie Osmond as a winner in her experiment with country music.

In 1978, the brother-sister duo released ‘Goin’ Coconuts’, their film together. Marie also starred in a sitcom titled ‘Marie’ and her own variety show on NBC. In the 1980s, Marie’s fans craved for more of the magic, as she briefly retired and pursued a career in acting. The role Olivia Newton John played in Grease, that of Sandy, was first offered to Marie and subsequently turned down on the basis of disapproval of the moral content of her role. Marie Osmond also appeared in TV movies and took up challenging voice-over work for cartoons. Her duet with Dan Seals ‘Meet Me In Montana’ in 1985 became Numero Uno that year.

Her follow-up numbers like ‘There's No Stopping Your Heart’, ‘Read My Lips’, ‘You're Still New to Me’, ‘I Only Wanted You’, ‘I'm In Love And He's In Dallas’ and the 1990 hit single ‘Like a Hurricane’ are all Marie Osmond music industry greats. Marie co-starred with Timothy Bottoms in the movie ‘The Gift Of Love’ and gave her fans something to muse about – her first on-screen kiss! Osmond introduced travel and discovery based segments based on the Ripley’s Believe It Or Not. She set the theatres ablaze with her experiments in ‘Side By Side’, ‘I Married Wyatt Earp’ and ‘Inside the Osmonds’ and Broadway’s ‘The King And I’ and ‘The Sound Of Music’. In ‘Inside the Osmonds’ she bared all – the family ego, her father's (mis)management skills and the family's dream to build a multimedia empire.

Marie Osmond appeared as ‘celebrity contestant’ on the 2004 US Rising Star Latin Champion. However, during the show, Marie's father, George Osmond, died at the ripe old age of 90. Marie continued with the show in her father's memory. Despite the lowest judges' scores on her card, she was the oldest woman to have made it to the finals. Marie finished in third position, on Dancing with the Stars. In 1991, Marie Osmond launched her exclusive doll line. The distribution is planned via retail stores and Internet sales, besides direct response from fans and genuine customers from every part of the world.

Her first doll design was a toddler doll, who she named after her mother, Olive May. Her doll line includes ‘Remember Me’, ‘Baby Adora Belle’, ‘Vote For Me’ and ‘Adora Belle’. Marie's doll collection has bagged nominations to the ‘Trendsetter of the Year’ and the ‘Award of Excellence’, by the Doll’s Magazine. Osmond’s personal life comprises two divorces and eight children. Her first husband was Stephen Craig, a basketball player and Brian Blosil, a record producer.