Marie Osmond visits children’s hospitals all over the country in her role as founder of the 35-year-old Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals.
And at nearly every hospital she visits, there will be that one person who will greet her with that look of “I think I know who you are.”
“We help over 11 million kids every single year, and when I visit these hospitals, they have no idea who Marie Osmond is and they have no clue who Donny & Marie are,” said Osmond, who has spent her life singing, dancing and performing on TV, Broadway and in concert halls around the world. “But they look at me and they’ll go, ‘Who are you? Oh, you’re the NutriSystem lady’. And I’ll go, ‘Yeah, and I sing, too’.”
Don’t misunderstand: Osmond, whose Donny & Marie Summer Tour with brother Donny Osmond pulls into Tucson on Sunday, July 22, is beyond proud to be recognized as the NutriSystem’s lady. She credits the diet program with giving her her life back after she had packed on 50 pounds in the early 2000s; she has kept the weight off for the past dozen years.
“I never put my name to anything that I don’t believe in 1,000 percent. My dad said there’s only two things that are important: your good name and your beliefs. Those are the things that define who you are,” she said.
But when she and Donny take the AVA at Casino del Sol stage Sunday, she’ll focus on her career that has spanned 50 of her 58 years.
“It’s so fascinating because it is such a long, unique five decades,” she said last week. “In this show, we touch on everything.”
She and Donny, who have been in residence at the Flamingo Las Vegas since 2008, will drop names of the icons who have been part of their career — Merle Haggard, Bob Hope, Johnny Cash, Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., Lucille Ball, Elvis Presley — and those whose careers they helped — Christina Aguilara, Jessica Simpson and Britney Spears.
They will dip into their solo careers — he was a bubble-gum pop/rock with teen idol hits including “Puppy Love” and “Go Away Little Girl”; she was a little bit country with pop-country chart-climbers “Paper Roses,” “No Stopping Your Heart” and “Who’s Sorry Now.” They’ll also touch on their leaning-toward-country duets — “A Beautiful Life,” “I’m Leaving It All Up to You” and, of course, their signature “A Little Bit Country, a Little Bit Rock N Roll.”
The pair has performed together since they were in their teens in the early 1970s, with Donny splitting away from the Osmond family band that included most of his nine siblings. They were regulars on Bob Hope’s TV show, had their own TV variety show for several years and successful solo careers.
While her brother focused on pop and rock, Osmond turned her attention to country, and throughout the 1970s and ’80s, had a fairly successful run with a few Top 40 hits and gold records. But in the 1990s, her career stalled when country music, which throughout much of the ’80s leaned more toward pop and country rock, returned to its traditional, more twangy roots.
Osmond turned her attention to Broadway with successful runs in “The King and I” and “The Sound of Music.” She wrote a couple of books and took a few short-lived shots at TV before refocusing on music in 2010 with the release of “I Can Do This,” a collection of ballads that showcased her opera-quality soprano. Proceeds benefited the Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals.
In 2015, she returned to the studio to record “Music Is Medicine,” an album that includes collaborations with John Rich of Big & Rich, Olivia Newton John, Alex Boyé, Sisqó and Diamond Rio’s Marty Roe. The album, which came out in April, debuted at No 10 on Billboard.
“You know, for being 29 years old, that’s not bad,” she said and laughed.
She will probably sing a cut or two from the new album on Sunday, in between the friendly barbs aimed at big brother Donny, 60.
“It’s super fun. It’s very fast-paced. We grew up in the era where it wasn’t just stand there and sing,” she said of the show. “Maybe it’s why we stayed in Vegas for so long and were voted best entertainers. We don’t just sing, we entertain.
“Donny and I were supposed to be in Vegas for six weeks; this is our 10th year,” she added. “Isn’t that insane? It’s the fight capital of the world, and I haven’t decked him yet.”
