With that, the Osmond Brothers were introduced to a broader audience and eventually became a recurring part of the show. They changed their name from the Osmond Brothers to just the Osmonds, with other siblings, including Marie, later joining. The radio hits and touring followed.
“The Osmonds present a kind of theater‐in‐rock ‘n’ roll,” Ian Dove wrote in a review in The Times in 1973. “With tight choreography, taken perhaps from Black soul groups, they wheel and strut around the stage, regimented and disciplined, programmed to draw that last squeal out of an ecstatic weeny bopper.”
As a child, Wayne Osmond had a brain tumor; he was told it would be fatal, and he underwent rigorous cancer treatment. In 2012, he suffered a stroke that left him unable to play guitar, Ms. Cook said.
Mr. Osmond spent the last decade of his life pursuing fly fishing and other hobbies, and spending time with his family. In addition to Ms. Cook, he is survived by his wife, Kathlyn; four other children, Steven Osmond, Gregory Osmond, Sarah Hilton and Michelle Erickson; and 20 grandchildren. He is also survived by his eight siblings: Virl, Tom, Alan, Merrill, Jay, Donny, Marie and Jimmy.
As much as Mr. Osmond was defined by his musical career, he said his faith was always a driving force in his life.
“We’re Latter-day Saints, and we have a very high moral and ethical code that we live by,” Mr. Osmond told the Deseret News, a Salt Lake City newspaper, in 2004. “It’s not something that’s forced upon us. Anyone can do what they want to.”
