Why Did Donny and Marie Osmond Split Up?

DONNY AND MARIE, Donny Osmond, Marie Osmond, 1976-1979.
Courtesy Everett Collection

The music industry produced lots of successful sibling acts, from the Bee Gees to the Jackson 5 to the Osmonds. But aside from Karen and Richard Carpenter, no brother-sister act hit the big time like Donny and Marie Osmond. With their wholesome, teen-mag friendly looks and harmonious voices, Donny and Marie were sweethearts of the pop charts and television alike throughout the ’70s. Their Donny & Marie variety show, which aired on ABC from 1976-1979, was must-see family viewing. That is, until the enterprise tanked by news that Donny had fallen in love.

How Donny & Marie became a musical duo

DONNY AND MARIE, Donny Osmond, Marie Osmond, 1976-1979.

Everett Collection

The Osmond parents hoped Marie would become a good Mormon housewife, but their girl was set on being a star just like the boys. Though she wasn’t an official member of the Osmonds, Marie sometimes performed with her superstar brothers as a youngster. And her 1973 solo debut album, Paper Roses, released when she was only 14, became a number one country hit.

The same year, Donny, 16, who had already established himself as a teen idol with the Osmonds, officially paired up with his sister as Donny & Marie Osmond. Their first album, 1974’s I’m Leaving It All Up to You, became a smash based on the popularity of its title track, which scored on both the pop and country charts. A second album, Make the World Go Away, released a year later, also proved a success, landing Donny and Marie guest spots on talk and variety shows.

When ABC network president Fred Silverman saw the charismatic kids co-host The Mike Douglas Show for a week, he offered them a show of their own. Silverman thought the pairing would work nicely in the wholesome television landscape of the time, which also featured The Brady Bunch, The Partridge Family and The Waltons.

TV stardom arrives

DONNY AND MARIE, from left: Marie Osmond, Donny Osmond, 1976-79

Everett Collection

Donny & Marie debuted in January 1976 as an instant smash. The hourlong show featured the duo performing musical numbers and a wide variety of skits with a cast that included Paul Lynde and Ruth Buzzy, and sometimes with their Osmond siblings or celebrity guests. The show’s opening and closing tunes — “A Little Bit Country, A Little Bit Rock and Roll” and “May Tomorrow Be a Perfect Day” — became hits in their own right. And audiences loved Donny and Marie’s natural sibling interplay.

But a few years — and a few more successful albums — in, the show’s ratings declined. Both Osmonds were clearly outgrowing their teen sweetheart status. And Donny’s 1978 marriage broke millions of fans’ hearts. Plus, by the late ’70s, scripted comedies and dramas bumped the variety genre out of the TV spotlight.

Donny & Marie ended in 1979 and the siblings opted to move on to solo careers, which would allow their work and public images to mature. Both Osmonds still performed and recorded music, occasionally together. Donny ventured into acting. Marie married, started a family and balanced occasional acting gigs with business and philanthropic ventures.

Donny & Marie reunite … for a while

DONNY AND MARIE, Donny Osmon, Marie Osmond, 1998 - 2000.

Columbia Tri-Star Television / Courtesy: Everett Collection

In 1998, Dick Clark approached Marie about persuading her brother to reinvent Donny & Marie as a daytime talk show. Both siblings correctly worried the enterprise would cast them back to their teen idol status, and the talker only lasted two seasons.

But it wasn’t the last time that Donny and Marie would work together. In 2008, the pair agreed to a six-week run at the Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas. “We always knew that we’d come back together again,” Donny told the Las Vegas Sun, “and when I saw this room at the Flamingo, with the booths, I called Marie and said, ‘This is it. This is the old Las Vegas that we grew up in.’ ” In that room, Donny and Marie rediscovered just how loyal their fans were. Six weeks turned into a whopping 11 years, plus multiple awards and a renewed interest in Osmonds’ music.

Eventually, though, performing live six days a week, plus the siblings’ longtime creative differences and personal struggles, took a toll on both Osmonds, who had now reached their ’60s. Donny and Marie’s Las Vegas residency ended in 2019. And Donny believes the split is likely permanent this time.

“I miss working with her because we had such a rapport onstage. But that whole era is passed,” Donny told American Songwriter in 2023. “It’s gone. It’s done.”

 

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