Article Submitted by Fran Hulmes

Squeaky clean musical family, The Osmonds, are coming to Manchester this weekend. Conrad Astley spoke to singer Jimmy.

Although Long Haired Lover from Liverpool was a hit over 30 years ago, Jimmy Osmond still can't shake the word ‘little' from appearing in front of his name.

As the youngest member of the Osmond family, and the platinum-selling Mormon teenybop group of the same name, Jimmy was also the youngest performer to get into the UK Top 40 when the single broke Grandmother's hearts across the land in 1972.

But surely, as a 42 year old man, he must be somewhat miffed at still being referred to as little Jimmy Osmond.

‘I started doing this when I was 3 years old and I haven't really stopped ever since,' he said.

‘Everyone over here still thinks I'm a 9 year old boy, but people have seen me as I have grown up, and I look back on all of it with a lot of fondness'.

‘I sometimes think I have grown up too much. There is a quote that says ‘you don't stop playing with toys because you get old, you get old because you stop playing with toys''.

The grown-up Jimmy has a number of strings to his bow. As well as a career as a singer and actor he has spent much of the last few decades as a slick businessman.

He got involved in the family's merchandising business at the tender age of 15, and has since launched an advertising agency dealing with clients like Yamaha and Coca Cola.

He has also worked as a producer for the ABC television network and as a consultant for Warner Brothers, as well as owning two theatres in Branson, Missouri, running Osmond Real Estate in Utah, Osmond Family Theatre Productions, and an online store selling his brand of dolls.

‘I am getting quite sick of the business stuff,' he said. ‘I've played the grown up stuff, particularly the TV stations. I honestly prefer just being who I am. You can't beat the excitement of doing a live show'.

His return to live shows comes as he rejoins his older brothers for his first tour with the rest of the Osmonds in years.

Although Wayne, Jay and Merrill continue to perform as the Osmond Brothers, Jimmy has mainly worked as a solo artist until now.

‘For the past few years I have always done my own thing,' he said. ‘But the older ones have always been a group so it will be interesting to see what happens'

‘It is going to be fun. At 47 years we are one of the longest running bands around to have never disbanded'.

Comparisons were often made between the Osmonds and the Jackson Five, another chart-topping family group from the 70's.

But while some observers claimed the problems which later befell Michael Jackson were caused by having to handle the pressure of fame from an early age, this is something Jimmy and his brothers have avoided.

‘We had a lot of the pressures that other families did but we stuck together somehow,' he said.

‘We've had our problems – nothing quite as controversial, but we've stuck together. We had a belief system and we stood for something. We stuck it out and we'll continue to do so'.

Jimmy worked his way back into the public arena with his appearance on ‘I'm a Celebrity get me out of here'.

He said his upbringing, touring the States from a young age with his brothers, prepared him for the hardships of the bush tucker trials, but it was still tough.

‘I grew up on the road,' he said. ‘And you learn to entertain yourself. But I was amazed by everyone in there, they kept it interesting'.

‘It was a lot harder than it looked.'

‘You watch it on the TV and think there is a hotel round the corner, but it wasn't like that at all, it really was 17 days of intense living, dealing with snakes and spiders. It was quite an experience.'

Jimmy, who narrowly lost out to former P.M.'s daughter Carol Thatcher, became known as the show's Mr. Clean – not even uttering any words filthier than ‘damn' – but he did allow himself one small vice.

His luxury item was a Teddy Bear which, against the rules of the show, he had stuffed with salt pepper to make the rice and bean diet more palatable, and a letter from his children.

‘I didn't do it to try to get publicity,' he said.

‘But when it came out that damn Teddy Bear was more famous than I'll ever be. I didn't think I was doing anything wrong, but when I was told that was against the rules, I realised this was serious business.'

The Osmonds play the Apollo tonight (Friday).