By Jae-Ha Kim
Chicago Sun-Times
November 14, 1989
Donny Osmond had hit records before he hit puberty, and his own network TV show before he was old enough to vote. Today, he has something he values more: “Donny Osmond,” a pop album he can respect.
His current album has resurrected Osmond’s career, which had been in a nosedive since the late 1970s. It has produced two hit singles, “Soldier of Love” and “Sacred Emotion.”
The new Osmond has a new image, with stubble and leather replacing the squeaky-clean look of the past.
“If I had been 20 or older when I hit it big in the ’70s, then I probably wouldn’t be that much different now as I was back then,” said Osmond, 31. “But when you hit it big when you’re 13 or 14 years old, so much changing goes on in the rest of your teenage years.
“Let’s be honest. I was a teeny-bopper idol, and that was fine for the times. But I didn’t want to be known as a has-been at 20, and that’s basically what I became. The problem was that after my teeny-bopper years were over, I was known for something I really wasn’t. And it has taken me 10 years to change that.”
Osmond said he hopes his first solo tour will convince new and old fans that he is not the same starry-eyed teen who sang “Puppy Love.”
With a six-piece band that includes Michael Jackson’s guitarist (John Clark) and Paula Abdul’s drummer (Jeff Suttles), Osmond will perform at 8 p.m. tomorrow at the Star Plaza in Merrillville. Tickets ($18) are available through the Star Plaza (734-7266 or 219-769-6600) and through Ticketmaster (559-1212).
Fans who expect to hear old Osmond favorites should stay home, he said.
“I’d rather just do my new material,” Osmond added. “This isn’t a revival tour. It’s a tour promoting the type of music I’m into now. I’m not putting down what I did in the past, because I think that was great for then.
“But now, I’m emerging into the musician I’ve wanted to become for so long. This tour, in my opinion, is not going to be a gangbuster tour, because people are coming to the shows with a little bit of a question mark in their minds. Right now we’re basically just turning heads.”
Osmond’s career turning point occurred four years ago. He made a good-humored appearance as a singer auditioning for a band in Jeff Beck’s video for “Ambitious.”
At that point, Osmond had little to lose. He had no record contract and no TV show. His last major appearance, in the 1982
Broadway musical “Little Johnny Jones,” was panned by the critics.
“That video was one of the first things that started changing people’s minds about me,” Osmond said. “It was a great opportunity to show people I could sing rock ‘n’ roll, and that I wasn’t something that time had frozen. There was still a large roadblock for me to get over, but that was the first thing that started breaking the ice.”
After that, Osmond was pictured on gossip pages, schmoozing with celebrities such as Boy George and Billy Idol.
