Up next in 10
Donny Osmond recently completed his 100th solo residency show at Harrah’s Las Vegas beneath a rig of 140 Elation luminaires with lighting design by Tom Sutherland of DX7 Design. Just getting started in what is expected to be a multi-year residency, Osmond opened the show, “Donny,” last September less than two years after he and his sister Marie Osmond ended their hugely successful 11-year Vegas residency.
The song and dance show is an energy-filled musical journey through the legendary entertainer’s musical career and includes all new songs and highly original numbers. With the former 11-year residency an indication of how long this solo residency may last, venue operators Caesars Entertainment sought to purchase lighting gear for the 544-capacity Harrah’s Showroom as a cost effective solution for an anticipated multi-year run.
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Donny Osmond Talks Las Vegas Residency | SWAY’S UNIVERSE
https://youtu.be/j3l1ErZQWnw
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0:00
man that voice right there is legendary
0:03
I've been listening to that voice since
0:05
the 70s as a youth
0:08
watching The Osmond family had to be he
0:11
been on the show before I had to give
0:12
him his props and couldn't believe it
0:15
man I was like damn it I got Donny
0:17
Osmond on this show crazy grew up
0:19
watching this dude as a team as a
0:22
childhood star the man has been a star
0:25
since he was about five years of age
0:27
probably started back in 1847.
0:29
1847 18 right before that man right
0:33
after the Emancipation
0:34
wow oh
0:36
Donnie was there David he was there but
0:39
no but you know it came came into the
0:41
game as a child came from a famous
0:43
family we watched the Osmonds as youth
0:47
we saw him on tour
0:50
um we compared them to the Jacksons they
0:52
lost every time but they came in a close
0:54
second yes it's okay it's nothing wrong
0:55
with a close second
0:58
well Mike had more Soul than I did okay
1:01
let's face it a little bit a little bit
1:02
a little bit watch you host The Pyramid
1:04
game which was one of my favorites yeah
1:06
watch you on Dancing With the Stars uh I
1:09
haven't seen you in Vegas but I seen you
1:11
in Clips in Vegas and we are celebrating
1:13
Donny Osmond now has got his show
1:16
extended his residency at Harrah's Las
1:18
Vegas his showroom uh in 2023 he's
1:21
coming back soon yeah baby
1:24
congratulations
1:26
it's so nice it's probably the biggest
1:29
show I've ever put together because it's
1:30
all inclusive it includes my career with
1:33
the brothers with my crew with Marie as
1:35
well as mine okay and uh I called Raj
1:37
Kapoor he was my my uh creative director
1:40
for the show okay and I said I got an
1:43
idea Raj how can I fit for you know six
1:46
Decades of Show Business into a
1:47
90-minute show what if I did a rap kind
1:49
of like uh Hamilton and he starts
1:51
laughing he said I would pay money to
1:53
watch Donny Osmond rap so it starts like
1:56
it All Began wait stop her photo we came
1:59
prepared for this what watch this
2:01
go ahead do that rap
2:04
is that cool that's a good place hey
2:07
no shut it off okay
2:17
okay you want some boom bap okay okay
2:19
you want a different Temple while we
2:21
while we work on that temple with like
2:23
BPM about Donnie you know about music
2:25
music sequences right you know about the
2:27
808 the MPC and all these different
2:29
machines dude I produced this this is my
2:32
65th album I produced it and wrote it
2:34
dude wow I did I did all my my uh my own
2:36
engineering of course dude yes yeah I'm
2:41
a Tech head when it comes to that I use
2:43
Cubase I don't I don't do the pro tool
2:44
sticks yeah Cubase is my dog yeah
2:49
are you a Cubase guy I used to be yeah
2:52
the algorithms in that thing 32-bit
2:55
float is you can't beat it
2:57
nuendo yeah it started in the window and
2:59
then it went to Cubase you get on the
3:01
mic Ty if you're gonna say these things
3:02
I'm just talking about new window I do
3:04
engineering myself so I started with
3:06
Cubase and well I started with new
3:07
window I did the same thing
3:10
or uh nuendo is great for mixing he's
3:13
got the five one um yeah it's around
3:16
town all that stuff so also out of the
3:18
uh the hip-hop producers who you like
3:21
your Dr Dre fan your DJ Premiere I read
3:23
something uh about uh Drake the other
3:26
day what was the most successful
3:28
artist in Show Business history and
3:30
music history what was the thing I was
3:32
reading his last album how many number
3:34
ones like eight number ones on the Same
3:35
album something like that yeah yeah yeah
3:37
it's crazy yeah so so you're Dr Dre fan
3:39
yeah okay he's a drake fan too well he's
3:42
talking about you read about Drake or Dr
3:44
Dre I can't remember oh Drake
3:47
Drake
3:50
I was about to pull you into Drake the
3:52
Drake roll but
3:55
yeah but that's uh so you're a drake fan
3:58
because when we were playing sticky you
3:59
were doing some Beats
4:02
well you know I've been doing this for a
4:03
few minutes you know
4:06
just only a couple of days
4:09
I paved the block
4:14
you built the block I ain't mad at that
4:16
I just you don't even know
4:19
okay you wrote your own rap Donnie yeah
4:21
check it out okay let's get up again
4:23
back in Utah I was four years old
4:25
started singing with my brothers and the
4:27
sound was like gold so my folks took a
4:28
leap and said what the hey we gotta get
4:30
these monsters out to California and it
4:32
gets faster and faster and faster and
4:35
when I first did it people were sitting
4:37
in the audience just staring at me I
4:39
thought this thing is bombing yeah and
4:41
then at the very end it just goes crazy
4:43
it just it explodes with a plus because
4:45
they don't have time to acknowledge
4:47
anything I'm saying because everything
4:48
I'm talking about you see visually on
4:50
the huge screens video and all kinds of
4:52
stuff wow it's kind of and then my next
4:55
favorite part of the show is I call it
4:57
the uh the request segment and it's
5:00
about 15 minutes long totally improv I
5:03
put all 65 albums on the huge screens
5:05
and anybody can pick any song I've ever
5:07
recorded in my entire life and we do it
5:09
just like that it is so much fun the
5:12
band goes crazy I mean it's a challenge
5:14
but we get through it and the audience
5:16
loves it because they hear what they
5:17
want to hear yeah bro I've always wanted
5:19
to do something like that I finally did
5:21
it 65 albums yeah yeah
5:24
and you can remember any song from any
5:27
album 99 of them
5:31
like that's incredible yeah you look
5:34
amazing too buddy yeah yeah man what's
5:36
your regimen what are you doing I'm a
5:37
vegan
5:38
actually I'm a cheek and a cheek
5:44
do you feel being a child how does being
5:47
a childhood star how how did it affect
5:50
you as an adult do you you know was it I
5:53
had I didn't know any other life you
5:55
know I just started singing when I was
5:57
uh you know three watching my brothers
5:58
and then professionally at five and then
6:02
it's that's all I've known I I went
6:04
through a point when uh I didn't have a
6:06
career anymore in the 80s I remember
6:08
that and I just did not want to give up
6:10
and so I kept writing and recording I
6:12
did uh demos for Al Jarreau and and you
6:16
know I sang a couple songs for him he
6:17
says how do you do this Donnie and I was
6:18
saying but I do anything sing demos just
6:20
to get back and uh finally by the end of
6:23
the 80s Soldier of Love came around Carl
6:26
stork and Evan Rogers they're the one
6:27
that pretty much discovered Rihanna and
6:30
they're the ones that wrote and produced
6:31
uh soldier soldier for me and never
6:33
looked back since it's just been an
6:36
amazing ride but that time off though
6:38
people don't talk about what you go
6:40
through in that time on yeah because you
6:43
know especially when you start art as a
6:45
little kid what else you're going to do
6:46
this is your life this you know that you
6:48
love writing music you love getting on
6:49
stage and and that's why I love what I
6:51
do in Vegas because it's it's my entire
6:54
life in 90 minutes and uh I show them
6:57
the different styles of music I sing
6:58
puppy love and I do it with respect I
7:01
used to make fun of puppy love but now
7:03
and they called
7:06
and I sing it with respect but then I
7:08
also even during the request segment I
7:10
go back and sing the stuff that I'd sing
7:12
when I was 12 years old all the way to
7:14
the current stuff and Donnie have you
7:16
ever felt like you missed out on a part
7:18
of your childhood sometimes we hear
7:20
about that from like very artists who
7:22
started off very very young and then we
7:25
end up seeing them sometimes Rebel
7:27
because that part of their life was
7:29
missing well
7:31
um yes the short answer is yes I've
7:33
missed out on a lot and I never really
7:36
wanted to Rebel uh because I didn't want
7:39
to compromise who I was just for the
7:40
sake of being popular although my
7:42
publicist one time is Michael Jackson
7:44
Public he said Donnie I know how to give
7:46
you some street cred I'm gonna send you
7:48
overseas and when you come back through
7:50
immigrations they're going to open up
7:51
your suitcase and there'll be all kinds
7:53
of drugs and you're gonna get busted for
7:55
drugs and it'll you'll be you'll be
7:57
credible overnight and then I thought
8:00
you know this could work
8:02
but what am I gonna do when my grandkids
8:04
come to me and say Grandpa boy did you
8:06
sell out you know just for the sake of
8:08
five minutes of fame to be you know
8:10
street cred and have that street cred
8:12
and all that kind of stuff and I thought
8:13
no no I'm gonna do it the right way I'm
8:15
gonna do it with my music and shortly
8:17
thereafter that's when I met up with
8:18
Peter Gabriel and we started creating
8:20
the the new Donny Osmond sound name
8:24
dropping boy different he didn't get met
8:26
up with Peter oh yeah yeah he was kind
8:29
of an inspiration for that album and uh
8:31
and and this current one
8:34
I really dug deep on this one
8:37
when uh Justin Bieber when he came out
8:40
with lonely remember that video and I I
8:43
saw that and it just it shocked me
8:46
because it it's it was my life that's
8:48
what I lived and so I wrote a song
8:50
called life after loneliness and uh in
8:54
fact hold on you got that song it's
8:56
listen we're gonna dig it up life after
8:57
lonely is it out yet yeah hold on I'll
9:00
just play at the chorus here but you
9:01
know Donnie we could play it on air we
9:03
got to play it off your phone
9:05
it's
9:08
[Music]
9:09
treasure
9:11
I can't really hear them
9:20
oh there it is go into the chorus the
9:22
like the very end can we hear the song
9:25
so you can get both
9:28
Donny okay okay Donny Osmond is here
9:32
888-742-3345 yo
9:35
[Music]
9:37
and I and I'm listening to the lyrics of
9:40
the song and I think what it is
9:42
because you've been so at least in
9:45
appearance to us you've been so
9:46
carefully
9:48
um marketed and branded over the years
9:50
that when I hear lyrics like these scars
9:53
won't heal I'm thinking what scars oh
9:58
there's one scarf I'm just talking about
10:00
this a few minutes ago I did a show here
10:02
in New York on Broadway it's called
10:04
Little Johnny Jones you ready for this
10:05
yeah open and close the same night
10:15
actually you know what's funny about it
10:17
I got we had to stop the show three
10:19
times for standing ovations but Frank
10:21
Rich didn't like me because I was coming
10:24
off the Donnie and Marie show with this
10:25
really really sugary goody goody image
10:27
yeah and he just wanted something
10:29
different and he wrote a scathing review
10:33
I mean it was it was worse than bad okay
10:35
and so Jimmy neitherlander pulled the
10:38
plug
10:39
but Frank Rich did me a favor by doing
10:42
that okay because it was the very fuel
10:45
that he pour on this poured on this fire
10:48
underneath me to reinvent myself and and
10:50
come up with something and so it's been
10:52
a life of reinvention that's what
10:53
longevity is all about okay you got to
10:55
find something different every single
10:57
time and uh and you know and Frank Rich
11:00
gave me a you know I like that did you
11:04
affect you well I I don't want to know
11:06
what I'll do with him if I ever met him
11:07
but you thank him I thank him exactly
11:11
you thank him yeah because life is full
11:13
of experiences good or bad and you take
11:15
everything and you just become who you
11:18
want to be based upon all those
11:20
experiences I've had some a lot of scars
11:22
that you just mentioned with the lyrics
11:24
that I wrote about Justin uh but you
11:26
become who you want to be and not be
11:29
somebody that everybody else wants you
11:30
to be I wrote a song called faces in the
11:34
mirror looking back at me
11:37
am I getting nearer to Where I Wanna Be
11:41
oh and it was a it was a song kind of
11:44
like a Prince song and I heard this
11:47
Indian kind of song over in the UK it
11:49
inspired the feel of this thing but the
11:50
whole lyric was about okay I'm looking
11:52
in the mirror who's Donny Osmond today
11:54
yeah is he the puppy love kid is he a
11:57
soldier of Love kid who is he now and
11:59
eventually I just realized just be
12:01
yourself Jessica yourself be yourself
12:03
dude there it is Donny Osmond come on
12:06
Wow
12:07
HB what well I was thinking about what
12:10
you were saying Donnie and thank you for
12:12
sharing so much but when you talk about
12:13
experiences and reinvention I'm thinking
12:16
about not only the Osmond family but all
12:19
of the famous families that we've been
12:20
able to watch and enjoy could you ever
12:23
see yourself one day like being a
12:25
therapist or a counselor for like famous
12:27
families um and just sitting down and
12:29
talking to them because we look at some
12:32
of the horror stories too that come from
12:34
some of the families and the things that
12:36
happen when people experience Fame so
12:38
young yeah could would you you think you
12:40
could be able to advise I've done it I'm
12:42
not gonna tell you who who oh I can't
12:45
tell you who I've helped because I I
12:47
wrote in my my uh autobiography back in
12:49
the 90s that I suffered from anxiety
12:51
severely you would be surprised if if I
12:55
were told you who I spoken to in Show
12:57
Business big stars suffer from anxiety
13:00
they said how did you do it Donnie just
13:01
tell them what to do tell them how to
13:03
figure it out one of my good buddies
13:06
um was Michael Jackson and we had a
13:08
really cool relationship yes he did some
13:11
strange things at the end of his life
13:12
but I remember getting a call from him I
13:15
was on tour and I picked up phone I said
13:17
hello he said Donny
13:19
hello Donny
13:22
I said Mike
13:24
how are you doing I find
13:26
I said uh where are you he said I can't
13:28
tell you I said Mike you're talking to
13:30
me come on where are you he said I'm in
13:32
Phoenix I rented a tour bus and I got my
13:35
kids and we just had to escape because
13:37
I'm being bombarded with the Press with
13:39
all the allegations
13:41
I said Mike I'm done with this Tour on
13:43
Saturday
13:44
you get a net bus I'm a nine hour drive
13:47
away from you
13:48
and I want to give you some normalcy in
13:50
your life my your kids are swimming with
13:52
my kids nobody will know you're there
13:54
and he said to me I really need that
13:56
right now I need some normalcy I said
13:58
I'll give it to you and he never took me
14:00
up on it the last time I spoke with him
14:02
um yeah we were actually going to do a
14:04
record together I went over to Neverland
14:06
it was uh I wish those days
14:09
cook come back what's wrong and he was
14:13
gonna take the bad looking back on when
14:16
I was a little nap ahead and boy and I
14:20
was gonna I was gonna take that not only
14:22
about it was for Christmas but but be my
14:25
toy and I played in the track
14:28
and in fact I played it for Stevie the
14:30
night before I went over to Neverland he
14:31
said this is going to be huge
14:33
and uh he was ready to uh he was ready
14:37
to do this we set the the time three
14:39
weeks after that meeting we're gonna do
14:40
our vocals I played on the track he
14:42
loved it and he called me said Donnie
14:44
can we postpone a little bit I'm just so
14:47
busy right now Mike you postpone as long
14:49
as you want when it's right it'll happen
14:51
and never happened but he was ready for
14:54
it he was ready and my bet the best
14:57
memory I have of him because I hold on
14:59
to
15:00
the mic of of the little teens not not
15:03
the what they called wacko Jacko because
15:05
that that affected me I hated I didn't
15:07
like that either I hated that because I
15:08
knew him as a friend yeah we we were the
15:11
first uh on the first American Music
15:13
Awards Dick Clark said I want Michael
15:16
Jackson and Donny Osmond to present an
15:18
award and we agreed it agreed to it
15:20
after it was over he and I are in on
15:23
stage right in the wings
15:24
I said Mike you hungry he said I'm
15:28
starving he said follow me and we went
15:31
into my limo that's a big stretch black
15:34
limo
15:34
went to Jack In The Box and we bought
15:37
all of these tacos
15:39
and uh we're driving down Sunset
15:42
Boulevard we open up the sunroof and my
15:44
memories of this is just kind of like so
15:46
cool both Donny Osmond Michael Jackson
15:49
eating tacos with wind blowing and
15:51
driving on Sunset Boulevard laughing our
15:52
heads off that's the mic I remember and
15:55
that's the Michael I always remember
15:56
thank you Donny Osman for representing
15:58
that man yeah I can see correctly yeah
16:00
right yep thank you for doing that my
16:02
pleasure we lost a genius when we lost
16:05
Michael Jackson absolutely but I lost a
16:07
friend and in fact he told me he said
16:09
you know Donnie you're the only person
16:11
on this planet that really knows what
16:14
I've gone through in my childhood and I
16:15
looked and I said and you for me because
16:18
we both come from a family of nine he
16:21
and I are both the seventh our mother's
16:23
birthdays are on the same day wow I mean
16:25
it keeps going you know and y'all were
16:27
kind of like everybody was popular but
16:29
y'all were the popular ones in the
16:32
family clan of performers and in the
16:34
press it was always like the Jacksons
16:36
versus but we were we're best friends
16:39
yeah man that's beautiful man that's why
16:42
I wanted you up here bro thank you I
16:44
like your spirit thank you good guy man
16:48
Mike you just imagining this story right
16:50
now with Mike yeah it just changed my
16:52
whole conversation I wanted to take him
16:54
down the road but it's almost like the
16:56
spirit guy just came over to the room
16:58
that because you humanized Michael
16:59
Jackson in such an amazing way we
17:01
haven't heard those stories and stuff
17:03
like that and that's what it was just
17:05
mentioning like you and him were of the
17:06
same elk of that time period and always
17:09
well not me but you know Society always
17:11
talk about this rarefied air or like the
17:13
Brotherhood nobody wants to be a part of
17:15
right but like that is a brother only
17:17
you and him which I understand what it
17:19
was like to be that popular at that time
17:22
so with that being said though Donnie
17:23
like now I'm thinking about it
17:26
how did you it was there ever a moment
17:28
where you had to reconcile the Donnie
17:30
Osmond that America or the world knows
17:33
versus who Donnie Osmond actually is and
17:36
did you ever find yourself chasing the
17:38
Donny Osmond that people knew
17:41
great question poof I could spend an
17:45
hour answering that one but in a short
17:48
synopsis answer I'm gonna say yes
17:51
because everybody expected Donny Osmond
17:54
to be one thing I remember doing an
17:56
interview and I can't remember the
17:57
Rolling Stone or something and they said
18:00
uh uh I made a statement they said well
18:03
Donny Osmond wouldn't say that and I
18:04
said well Donny Osmond just did and
18:09
um but you got to be careful because you
18:10
don't want to ruin people's memories
18:12
that's why I do puppy love in the show
18:13
in Vegas yeah and I treat it with
18:15
respect because it happened in New
18:17
Jersey at the I think it was The Count
18:19
Basie Theater if I'm not mistaken and I
18:23
was making fun this is when Soldier
18:24
Bluff came out and puppy love was not in
18:25
the set list and everybody in the
18:27
audience got saying poppy loves and it
18:29
just really irked me I said this is the
18:31
new Donnie I don't do puppy love yeah
18:33
finally at the middle of the show I
18:35
stopped in the middle of the song I said
18:36
you want puppy love you got puppy love
18:40
and I turned around to the band off Mike
18:41
I said guys give me a heavy metal
18:43
version of puppy love and they said yeah
18:46
yeah
18:46
[Music]
18:52
oh that's cute no whatever pissed them
18:54
off pissed them off
18:55
at the end of the show I'm walking out
18:57
the stage door
18:58
and this lady grabs me and she said why
19:00
did you make fun of puppy love
19:02
and I said in a very cocky way it's my
19:05
song I can do whatever I want to with it
19:06
and then she said something you guys
19:08
that changed my life she said you may
19:10
have had a hit with that song
19:12
but puppy love is a big part of my
19:14
childhood memories and you have no right
19:15
to mess with my memories wow and it
19:18
changed my life and that's why I sing it
19:20
with respect and uh don't make fun of it
19:23
anymore so when you say do I chase it no
19:25
I embrace it wow Donny Osmond come on
19:29
man
19:30
we got Paulette on the line calling in
19:33
from Memphis
19:35
888-742-3345 uh Paulette go ahead say
19:37
hello to Donald hey Paulette hi Danny
19:40
how are you I'm good where you calling
19:41
from
19:42
I'm calling from Memphis and uh good
19:45
morning sway good morning heatherby I
19:46
just want to let you know I grew up
19:48
listening to you
19:50
um I saw your TV show your mom was so
19:53
pretty and I remember the competition
19:55
that they tried to create between you
19:56
guys in the Jacksons yeah and I just
19:58
thought man that was so stupid because
20:00
you both had your own great music and
20:02
you did your own thing and I really
20:04
really loved watching you yeah I'm not
20:06
OG so I just wanted to let you know I
20:09
still love your music Still appreciate
20:11
you and flan hubby I love you Heather I
20:13
was watching you on the real world girl
20:15
thank you so much
20:18
uh Paulette you know if you get a chance
20:20
you might want to go and next year go up
20:22
um make sure you go to Vegas and see
20:24
Donnie live I mean it's a 90-minute show
20:27
he's yeah I've already got the tickets
20:29
to see so definitely I will put down it
20:32
on my map I'm that girl I'm there okay
20:34
there it is a great show too I haven't
20:36
been able to see it do you go to Vegas
20:38
shows that's the problem we all do shows
20:39
at the same time
20:40
we're all performing at the same time at
20:43
the literals like at the same time 38
20:45
o'clock show there was a 7 30 show I
20:47
wanted to catch real fast but Derek Huff
20:48
who's next door so I ran over watched
20:51
the first half hour five minutes to
20:52
eight I run back to the hairs and we
20:55
started the show one minute late
20:57
oh that's all you can do but but what
20:59
does that cost you if you start the show
21:01
late or finish it late
21:03
I'm Donnie Osmond
21:13
put the pavement was that egotistical or
21:16
what that's Johnny awesome
21:19
I love it man hey Donnie I want to thank
21:22
you for coming by again my pleasure man
21:26
we had you on this show twice now so
21:28
um yeah absolutely man I respect your
21:30
career thank you uh respect who you are
21:32
as a man thank you very much you've
21:34
always been honest and not like you know
21:36
not everything you've said in your past
21:39
I'm aligned with or agreed with no yeah
21:41
you know but um we're all individuals
21:43
we're all individuals but I respect you
21:45
and coming in here and I love your music
21:47
sensibility you know Donnie is letting
21:49
us know hey hey bro 65 albums do I know
21:53
the 808 are you kidding me
21:56
you might even hear the 808 in the album
21:59
too of course oh come on better believe
22:02
it that's what's up man well thanks for
22:03
coming through brother all right see you
22:06
guys good to see you Donny Osmond man
22:07
give it up for Donny Osmond up next we
22:09
got the founders of rolling loud tarek
22:12
and Matt zingler are coming up you want
22:14
to know about rolling loud and how it
22:15
got created they got a big show this
22:17
weekend with Nicki Minaj ASAP Rocky
22:19
Playboy cardi and future
22:22
888-742-3345 maybe they'll give away
22:24
some tickets shade for five
22:28
[Music]
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