Merrill Osmond Biography

Merrill Davis Osmond (born April 30, 1953) is the lead singer and bassist of the 1970s pop-rock music group The Osmonds and its 1980s country music spinoff, The Osmond Brothers. He continues to perform with his brothers and also without them as a solo act.

Early life

Osmond was born in Ogden, Utah, the fifth of the nine children of Olive May (ne Davis; 1925 – 2004) and George Virl Osmond (1917 – 2007).

Career

Four of the Osmonds were cast over a seven-year period on NBC's The Andy Williams Show, a musical variety program. They also appeared in nine episodes of the 1963-1964 ABC western television series, The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters, with Merrill in the role of young Deuteronomy Kissel. The series starred then 12-year-old Kurt Russell on a wagon train headed to the American West.

A tenor/countertenor vocalist well into adulthood, Merrill was either lead singer or co-lead singer (usually sharing duties with younger brother Donny) on almost all of the Osmonds' songs and co-wrote, along with older brother Alan, many of them. When Donny began to focus on his own career in the late 1970s, Merrill grew out his beard and, along with his brothers, shifted to country music, recording a number of hits on the country charts in the 1980s; he also has at least one "solo" hit independent of his fellow Osmonds, a duet with session singer Jessica Boucher (younger sister of Savannah and Sherry Boucher), "You're Here to Remember (I'm Here to Forget)," which peaked at number 62 on the Hot Country Singles chart in May 1987.

Merrill has been twice knighted, once by the Order of Saint Michael of the Wing and once by the Sovereign Military Order of the Temple of Jerusalem. In May 2017, Merrill received an Honorary Doctorate Degree in Humanities from Dixie State University.

Personal life

Merrill was the first of the performing Osmond siblings to marry. He wed Mary Carlson on September 17, 1973; they have four sons, two daughters, and 15 grandchildren. Merrill's second son, Justin Osmond, is deaf, as are Justin's uncles, Virl and Tom Osmond, Merrill's two oldest brothers. Justin Osmond works with several organizations and launched the Olive Osmond Perpetual Hearing Fund in 2010. His youngest son, Troy, died in his sleep at the age of 33 in November 2018.

Like the rest of his family, Merrill is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In keeping with church tradition, all of his sons have served as missionaries.