Donny Osmond is revisiting memories of his early career and sharing how he managed to survive stardom while avoiding being forever labeled a child star.
The singer, who was 5 years old when he made his TV debut and was approached to record solo music at age 12, explained to Fox News that he kept his career alive on his own terms — and although it was not always easy, it worked. Decades later he is still going strong.
"It is a curse when you hit it big as a little kid because everyone wants to keep you in that pigeonhole," the star said. "And it’s really difficult to break out of it."
Osmond pointed to Justin Bieber as an example. The pop star, he said, has "done an amazing job" but Osmond noted that Bieber also "didn’t go through it easily either."
"He had some hard times breaking through that image," Osmond said.
"I decided long ago that I wasn’t going to do it with scandals, trickery, or promotional campaigns," he continued. "I was going to do it with my music, which is a really difficult way to do it. But it happened. And it took me 10 years. But I wanted the music to speak for itself … it’s very difficult to break out of that teenybopper career. But thank goodness that through perseverance and a lot of support from my fan base, it happened. But it takes an awful lot of work to be accepted as an adult."
Osmond's career, which already was on an upward trajectory, gained momentum when he and his sister appeared for three years on the TV variety show "Donny & Marie." But when the series ended in 1979, it seemed as if his career had stalled. Osmond was determined to remain a success.
"When I was told I was a has-been at 21, I said, 'I’m not accepting that. There’s no way I’m going to accept that. I will fight so hard to be back in the business,’" he said. "The truth is, without trying to sound cliché, I love what I do. I love getting on stage. I love singing and entertaining. To me, yes, it’s a job and I work hard at it, but there’s something about the magic of show business."
Osmond added: "There’s something about that curtain going up, the lights hitting you, the band going and the fans cheering. But I also want to rebuild my way. People will always give you advice on how you should do things, and not all of it is good. That's why it was so important for me to stick with what I truly believed in."