Marie Osmond

Marie Osmond
Background information
Birth name	Olive Marie Osmond
Also known as	Marie Osmond
Born	October 13 1959 (age 48)
Origin	Ogden, Utah
Genre(s)	Country, Pop
Occupation(s)	Singer, Actress
Years active	1973—Present
Label(s)	MGM Records Curb Records
Website	Osmond Family Official Site

Marie Osmond (born Olive Marie Osmond October 13, 1959 in Ogden, Utah) is an American Actress, Singer, and a member of the show business family, The Osmonds. Although she was never part of her family's band, she gained success as a Country music artist in the 1970s and 1980s. Her best known song is the 1973 Country Pop ballad "Paper Roses".

Starting in 1976, Marie Osmond hosted a show with her brother called Donny & Marie, which they both became best-known for. She has also has started her own successful Doll company called Marie Osmond Fine Porcelain Collection Dolls. She has recently been a judge on the short-lived television show Celebrity Duets.

Early life & Rise to success

She was born Olive Marie Osmond in 1959 to Olive and George Osmond. She was raised in a strict Mormon family along with her eight brothers. Osmond was the only daughter. Since her early age, her brothers maintained a career in showbusiness, singing and performing on national television. She got her start as part of her brother's act, The Osmonds on the The Andy Williams Show at the age of three. Throughout much of the 1960s, The Osmonds spent their time performing and trying to get a name in the music business, continuing to appear on televison shows through the rest of the decade. Marie however, stayed out of the picture through much of this time.

In 1970, her brothers shot to Pop Music stardom, when a couple of their singles became hits for them that year.

Music career

Early music success during the 70s - "Paper Roses"

Soon after the success of The Osmonds, Marie's older brother Donny Osmond was gaining success as a solo artist on the Pop Music charts, with songs like "Puppy Love" and "Go Away Little Girl". Donny was also a teen idol sensation, and Marie was soon the only one in the family not making an impact on the music business. Soon though, The Osmonds' management convinced Marie to try her hand at recording as well. Soon, Marie was signed onto MGM Records and began her career in the recording business. She began making numerous concert appearances with The Osmonds, although she never became an official member of the group. Marie decided to pursue her musical career not in Pop Music like her brothers, but in Country Music.

In 1973, Marie cut her first single as a solo artist. The song was written by Country Music singer Sonny James called "Paper Roses". The song was released that year and became a #1 Country hit, and making all the way to the Top 5 on the Pop charts as well, achieving Country Music crossover success. The song went Gold that year, and the album of the same name, also went to the coveted #1 spot. At only 13 years old, Marie Osmond was one of the youngest Country Music singers to achieve significant hits on the Country charts. Before too long, Marie Osmond had the music success equal to that of her brothers. She released another single and another album, both entitled "In My Little Corner of The World". The song failed gaining any major success on the Country charts, only making the Top 40 in 1974. Marie released a few more albums and a few more singles on her own through the rest of the decade, none of which were successful.

In 1974, Marie had two Pop Music duet hits with her brother Donny Osmond, with the songs "I'm Leaving It All Up to You" and "Morning Side of the Mountain". "I'm Leaving It All Up to You", was even a Top 20 Country hit. In 1976, Marie and Donny Osmond began hosting the show Donny & Marie. The variety show ran on ABC from 1976 to 1979. The phrase Donny and Marie sang in the opening of the show, "I'm a little bit Country" (said by Marie) and "I'm a little bit Rock'n Roll" (said by Donny), became the saying Donny and Marie became best known for. For the rest of the decade, Marie pursued her career on her television show, as well as singing regularly with her brother. Together Donny and Marie achieved quite a few hits together in the 1970s.

Later music success in the 80s - "Meet Me In Montana"

Marie went into brief retirement from the music business, and pursued a career in acting in the early 1980s. She famously turned down the lead role as Sandy in Grease, because she didn't approve of the script's moral content. The role was soon given to Olivia Newton-John. She found some success appearing in TV movies, and did voice-over work for a few children's cartoons. While seeing the comeback success Donny Osmond had in the 1980s, returning back into Pop Music, Marie decided to make a comeback into Country Music as a solo artist. She soon signed a deal with Curb Records in Nashville. Success came immediatley in 1985 when the duet with Dan Seals called "Meet Me In Montana" became a #1 Country hit that year, an achievement that had not been done since the release of "Paper Roses" in 1973.

Her follow-up to "Meet Me In Montana" was a solo hit called "There's No Stopping Your Heart", which reached #1 a second time for Marie. Her singles mainly focused on the more-popular Countrypolitan style. In late 1985, she released an album by the same name was also released that featured another big hit for Marie in 1986 called "Read My Lips". She hit #1 one last time, but as a duet act, this time with Paul Davis with the song "You're Still New to Me". She had a Top 20 hit called "I Only Wanted You", which was her last major hit on the Country charts. Osmond continued releasing singles throughout much of the 80s, like "I'm In Love And He's In Dallas", and the last charting single came in 1990 with "Like a Hurricane".

Acting career

Recently, Osmond's radio show, Marie And Friends, was canceled after 10 months.

Along with actor John Schneider, Osmond is the co-founder of the Children's Miracle Network. The singer played her mother, Olive, in the TV movie Side By Side: The True Story Of The Osmond Family. She also starred in the TV movies The Gift Of Love and I Married Wyatt Earp. She garnered rave reviews in the Broadway musicals The King and I (as Anna) and The Sound of Music (as Maria) in the mid-1990s. She returned to television first in the short lived 1995 ABC sitcom Maybe This Time and then with brother Donny in 1998 to co-host Donny And Marie, a talk/entertainment show that lasted just two seasons.

She appeared as herself in the 2001 TV movie Inside The Osmonds, which showed how the brothers' egos, their father's fiscal mismanagement, and the family's quest to build a multimedia empire led to their downfall. The film was produced by her younger brother Jimmy Osmond.

In 2006, she was a judge on the short-lived show Celebrity Duets.

Doll business

She is a regular on QVC where her "Marie Osmond Fine Porcelain Collector Dolls" are the top-selling line. Marie Osmond Dolls are also available through authorized retailers. Marie recently celebrated her 15th Anniversary of selling dolls in 2006. Marie has launched her own embroidery machine, sewing machine, and embroidery designs through Bernina. She has recently been featured on the cover of Designs in Machine Embroidery, a national magazine for machine embroidery enthusiasts. The cover article featured an interview with Marie where she discussed how she became involved in embroidery.

Personal life

Osmond married Stephen Craig, but the couple divorced in 1985. She then married record producer Brian Blosil in May 1986 in a Latter-day Saint wedding ceremony. The couple had eight children, some of whom are adopted: Stephen James Craig Blosil, Jessica Marie Blosil, Rachael Lauren Blosil, Michael Thomas Blosil, Brandon Warren Blosil, Brianna Patricia Blosil, Matthew Rodger Blosil, and Abigail Michelle Blosil. On 30 March, 2007, Osmond and Blosil announced they were to divorce.^[1]

In 1999 Osmond revealed that she had suffered from severe post partum depression.^[2] In August 2006, it was suggested by several US tabloids that Osmond had attempted suicide, but these were fully denied by her publicity team who said she had suffered an adverse reaction to a medication she was taking.^[3]

Discography

Singles

Albums

Filmography

• Hugo the Hippo (1975) - Vocalist
• "Donny and Marie" (1976) - Herself
• Goin' Coconuts (1978) - Marie
• The Gift of Love (1978) - Beth Atherton
• "The Big Show" (1980) - Host
• "Marie" (1980) TV Series - Herself
• The Osmond Family Christmas Special (1980) - Herself
• Side by Side: The True Story of the Osmond Family (1982) - Olive Osmond
• Rooster (1982) - Sister Mae Davis
• "The Love Boat" (1982) - Maria Rosselli (2 episodes)
• I Married Wyatt Earp (1983) - Josephine 'Josie' Marcus
• Rose Petal Place (1984) - Rose Petal
• The Velveteen Rabbit (1984) - Fairy Princess and Velveteen Rabbit
• Rose Petal Place: Real Friends (1985) - Rose Petal
• Marie Osmond's Merry Christmas (1986) - Host
• "Maybe This Time" (1995) - Julia Wallace
• Buster & Chauncey's Silent Night (1998) - Queen (voice)
• "Donny & Marie" (1998) - Host

References

Wikipedia information about Marie Osmond This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Marie Osmond". It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer). Help contribute to Americola and edit this article.