Donny Osmond Recalls Bonding with Michael Jackson Over 'Uncanny' Similarities in Their Families and Famous Lives

Donny Osmond knows the highs and lows of working with family.

The entertainer appears in the new MTV Entertainment Studios documentary Larger than Life: Reign of the Boybands to talk about his time in The Osmonds, alongside brothers Alan, Wayne, Merrill and Jay, and their immense success in the 1970s. 

"The work ethic my father instilled in us was second to none," Osmond, 66, says of dad George Osmond. "I remember as a tiny little kid, my brothers in front of that piano playing and learning the parts and harmonizing to where it was perfect. My dad was an army sergeant and so that kind of infiltrated how he raised us. I never wanted to disappoint my father."

"When we hit big, my father said, ‘Back in the rehearsal hall. Learn a new number. Keep this engine going,' " he continues. "I think having a very strong father figure was very important for our success, however it can go a little overboard.” 

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While that wasn't Osmond's experience, he knew a bit about that dynamic from his friendship with a rival "boybander" on the charts, Michael Jackson.

“If you look at the Osmonds and the Jackson 5, the comparisons of the two families are just uncanny," Osmond explains. "There are nine children in each family. Mike and I are both the seventh child of nine. Our mothers' birthdays are on the same day. Michael and I are the same age."

The young entertainers would discuss what it was like working with their brothers. Both would also later find their little sisters incorporated into the mix.

"Mike would tell me a lot of stories about Joe," Osmond acknowledged of the Jackson family patriarch. "You look at the dangers of show business in general, whether you’re a single artist or a boyband, I don’t know if I could have been able to survive show business if I didn’t have my family.”

The two singers cherised each other's company and perspective, Osmond shares. "We would get together and just laugh and reminisce about the comparisons and the similarities. Michael said something to me one day and he said, 'Donnie, you’re the only person on this planet that knows what my childhood is like.' "

Learn more about the storied histories of boybands from The Osmonds and the Jackson 5 to BTS and *NSYNC by watching Larger than Life: Reign of the Boybands, now available on Paramount+.