In the history of rock and roll has there ever been a more macho guy than Donny Osmond? Take a minute and consider this. He’s been married to his wife Debbie for over thirty years and they have five sons. That’s right - five sons! He’s a former teen idol who all the ladies still love to this day. He’s the oldest contestant ever to win “Dancing with the Stars.” He’s been successful on Broadway. He’s conquered Las Vegas. He’s had a successful television career. He’s been in movies. Obviously he’s an excellent singer and musician and he’s been making records since he was a kid. He’s had his own radio show. He’s written books. He’s a philanthropist who has given millions of dollars to assorted charities. He’s great looking. He’s awesomely fit. He’s also a deeply religious man. He makes it perfectly clear that the second most important woman in his life is his only sister. Oh, and if you ever met Donny, he’s one of those guys who has to break all your fingers when he shakes your hand. If you look up “macho” in the dictionary, there should be a picture of Donny!

Donny Osmond is a busy guy these days. For the past couple of years he’s been out in Vegas playing the Flamingo Hotel with his sister Marie. The two just release a new self titled CD this past May. As usual they sound excellent together (some things never change) on this 15 song disc that leans towards an adult contemporary sound. The pair also did a stint on Broadway last year in a show called “Donny and Marie – A Broadway Christmas.” At this writing Donny was taking a break from his Vegas gig to take his own band on a short tour. His first show was in Wallingford, CT. on August 24th. When his tour is over he’ll be back with his kid sister for an extended stay at the Flamingo. This phone interview took place on Wednesday August 3rd. Donny was calling from his home in Utah.

Congratulations on the new CD. I’m sure you’re very happy with it.

DO – “I am because we took our time to do that. We all stretched on this one. I was doing country and our producer Buddy Cannon went into the rock and roll area of music because he’s mainly a country producer and we got with the likes of Gavin DeGraw and Richie Sambora and Buddy really stretched and went into the rock area.”

Were any of these new songs written specifically for you and Marie?

DO - “No we searched out. We probably had two hundred tunes submitted to us. They were just great songs but not specifically written for us. Actually ‘Vegas Love’ was written specifically for us. And that was kind of like an eleventh hour addition to the album. We had it all done and our music director Jerry Williams played it for us. We said we got to put it on the album because of what’s happening in Vegas with our show.”

“Touch” sounded like a song written for you because it seemed so personal.

DO - “When I first heard it I wanted to do this one myself and Marie said ‘no I got to be on it with you.’ It’s a really cool song and we had lost our parents not that long ago and no pun intended but that song really touched us.”

Have you and Marie enjoyed your time in Vegas?

DO - “It’s unbelievable what has happened. Let’s go back to 2007. That was the last time I did a solo tour. And then in the beginning of 2008 I produced the Osmond’s 50th anniversary tour and final tour that we ever did and immediately after that Marie and I went to Vegas and did ten test shows. They sold out like eight or nine months before the gig and we thought maybe we got something here. We went over to the Flamingo and saw the room and thought this is perfect. So they gave us a six week contract and we were worried about the fact can we fill the room for six weeks and here we are going on our fourth year.”

Is there any end in sight?

DO - “Well there comes a time when you’ve got to move on. I think the end of next year will probably be the end of it but I think Marie and I will always have a presence in Vegas. I mean you look at what Celine does and what Shania now is doing and Rod Stewart. They come in for a couple months at a time here and there and rather than a year long stint it becomes a special event. Because there are a lot of markets around the country and around the world actually that want this Donny and Marie production. There are places in China that wants us, Singapore, Australia, over in the U.K. so by tying us down to a year long contract in Vegas we can’t really do these things. Although about three weeks ago Marie and I took our show to Toronto and it’s a huge ordeal to move that big of a show but we did it. And that’s what we want to do in the future but always maintain a presence there at the Flamingo because it’s great room.”

Did playing all these shows with Marie help when the two of you went to the studio to record together?

DO - “No not really because our schedules were so busy we couldn’t really record together. Maybe I shouldn’t be saying this but it was all done individually. I’ve got my little vocal booth in my dressing room and Marie’s got a little recording studio in her home. And it’s not like we spent 24/7 together so whenever we had a little bit of time I would do my vocals and Marie would do hers. There’s the genius of Buddy Cannon to be able to pull it off in that kind of way because it was the only way we could record because I live in Utah so I commute back and forth. I’d fly in and do the shows and do some recording. It took eight months to do this album but we took our time. One of the things that we did because of the success of the Vegas show, was everybody was saying to get album out there real fast to capitalize on it. But we said no, we didn’t want to just throw and album together like we did in the past in the seventies. You know, just slap a bunch of songs together in an album and it would sell. We took our time. We took the eight months or so and we were very careful with the song selection and the vocal production. So it was a labor of love if you will because everyone said to get it out there quickly because you’re missing all kinds of sales, you have all these people every night in a captivated audience. And we both said ‘I don’t care! We’re going to make the right album.’ So we took our time.”

I noticed you were on Broadway again last Christmas. Before that you had a long run in “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” as well as “Beauty and the Beast.” Is it safe to say that you’ll be back on Broadway again when the time is right?

DO - “Absolutely if it’s the right property and the right time but I can’t do it right now because of the amount if time you have to commit to amortizing the expenses of advertising. You got to do at least four or five months and I just don’t have that availability in my schedule but it’s definitely in the cards. As a matter of fact in the show that I’m bringing to Wallingford I’ll be doing a Broadway segment and I’ll be singing stuff from ‘Joseph’ and I’ll be singing stuff from ‘Beauty and the Beast.’ But I’m also going to sing stuff from ‘Little Johnny Jones.’ I don’t know if you know that one.”

I remember that it was a long time ago.

DO - “1982, I opened and closed the same night on Broadway. It was a disaster! So I am going to revisit that show and sing songs from it. And another thing I’m going to do, I’ve got a box in my basement, I’ve never opened it up since 1982. I got the reviews in there and they were scathing. I’m going to open it up for the first time on the 24th.”

I’m sure Frank Rich had something to say?

DO - “Frank went in there and just ripped me apart so much so I just couldn’t read the reviews. So I’m going to read them for the first time and do songs from ‘Johnny Jones.’”

Even though you enjoy your work with Marie, I imagine that it must be nice to get out on the road with your own band and do your own thing.

DO - “You better believe it. You have to stretch as an artist because you can get a little stagnated. Although our show in Vegas is constantly evolving, it’s in flux all the time but it’s been since 2007 as I said since I’ve gone out and done some solo stuff. But this is kind of a show that I’ve never done before. There’s a structure to it. You have to have an opening and a closing but everything in between I have no idea what’s going to happen. Because there’s going to be Q and A’s in the show and wherever the audience wants to go that’s where the show will go. So every show is going to be different and I’ve got all kinds of material in my computer system. I’m such a geek when it comes to computers but I’ve got all this stuff ready to go. All the band members are going to have ipads and whatever is called up they get the music. And I only have three guys with me because it’s a very intimate, up close, and personal kind of show. Say for instance somebody says ‘hey remember that video you did with Al Yankovic ‘White and Nerdy?’ Boom, it’s going to be on the screen immediately. And I’m sure the audience will think ‘that was a plant.’ And then is somebody says ‘what about that one skit you did with Lucille Ball back during the Donny and Marie show.’ Boom – there it is! I mean I have all this stuff ready to go. So who knows what’s going to happen on the 24th.”

I’m sure someone will request a dance number!

DO - “I’ll give it to ‘em!”

Let’s segue into Dancing with the Stars. Why don’t you talk a little bit about that experience?

DO - “Well it’s one of the hardest things I’ve ever done in my life. A lot of people don’t understand that I was doing Vegas and Dancing with the Stars at the same time. I’d be rehearsing all day and then do the show in Vegas. Mondays and Tuesdays fly down to Los Angeles and compete. I won that thing with a broken rib and a broken toe. I didn’t talk about it because I didn’t want the sympathy vote. I knew I had the broken toe, I didn’t know I had the broken rib until afterwards. My doctor was giving me a checkup around my heart and he said ‘you know what you recently had a broken rib right there.’ And I remember falling on the floor and it was painful but you just forget about it and keep going.”

Do you watch American Idol?

DO - “I didn’t watch it much this last year because I was so involved with Vegas and I was a correspondent for Dancing with the Stars so I didn’t really get into it all that much and didn’t see J-Lo and all the guy judging. J-Lo is going to be back isn’t that cool? I think that’s a good move for her.”

I’m surprised that you’ve never been asked to be a guest mentor. It seems like a natural fit.

DO - “Well, you know, this gets into the whole Donny Osmond image and believe me I’ve had a lot of time to analyze this. And I think a lot of people still, depending upon a certain generation, are still a little afraid of that Donny Osmond image because it was so goody, goody in the early days. But now I’ve kind of earned my stripes so I think you’re going to be seeing more and more of those kind of things where I’m invited to be a mentor. But it was a difficult time to go through during that transition of teenybopper into a serious entertainer.”

There was the “Soldier of Love” breakthrough right?

DO - “The Soldier of love breakthrough that’s exactly right. I just got an email from Jeff Beck a couple days ago. He and I were talking about the fact that it was his video ‘Ambitious’ that really was the precursor to ‘Soldier of Love.’ It started breaking down the ice because I was on MTV. Somebody made a comment ‘pigs will fly when Donny Osmond is on MTV.’ Well pigs were flying that year baby! It was 1985 and it was there that Peter Gabriel heard me singing and we ran into each other in New York and from there, long story short I’m leaving out so many details, we went to England and cut ‘Soldier of Love’ and the rest is history.”

Changing the subject, there’s a large group of republicans who are running for president. Two of them, Jon Huntsman and Mitt Romney, are Mormons. They seem to have to talk about their religious beliefs more than the other candidates. What misconceptions are out there about the Mormon religion?

DO- “I think the biggest misconception is that we’re only allowed to have fifteen wives not sixteen.” (laughs)

I thought Newt Gingrich had fifteen wives?

DO – (bigger laugh) “You know what I think is really cool is that ‘The Book of Mormons’ is a hit on Broadway. There’s a lot of misconception about how that’s presented because it’s not true to life. But I think slowly but surely all of those misconceptions are being knocked down. Yes, there was that history of polygamy. I mean it certainly was in biblical times, Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all these guys. It was a biblical thing. But it’s something that we got to live with because it was something in the early, early days of the church and people blow it way out of proportion. There were only several people that were asked to practice that but hey, it is what it is right? I just think there will always be a problem in some people’s minds that they’re Mormons just as somebody has a problem with somebody else being a very religious person. It was very interesting that Kennedy wasn’t knocked down because he was a Catholic. And I just think it’s a matter of time that people stop throwing darts and being accusatorial. We’ll see what happens. I think they’re both great guys. I think they both could be great presidents if people could get over that issue that they’re LDS (Latter Day Saints) because what it really does for me is it just gives me a wonderful foundation and basis of family life. That what it gets right down to. Theology, you can argue that until you’re blue in the face and no one will win. You got to look at their stands on how to run the government and how to run this country. And I know it in my heart of hearts that they’re not going to say we all have to be Mormons. That’s ridiculous because that’s not what America is built upon. It’s freedom of religion. But when you get right down to the tenets of the church and not look at all this anti-Mormon stuff that blows so many things out of unbelievable proportions. It’s a faith that is very family based and we believe in God and country but a complete separation of church and state. But I think you got to go to the source to understand exactly what it’s all about rather than going on the internet and looking at all this anti-Mormon stuff because you’re going to get such a skewed viewpoint of what it really is. Well that was kind of a long winded answer!”

How many grandchildren do you and Debbie have?

DO - “Forty seven that I know of. (laughs) I’ve got three little teeny ones. It’s fun to be able to say I’m a grandpa but it sounds weird coming out of my mouth because I act so much like a kid. My wife said yesterday ‘will you please grow up and act your age’ because I’m out there playing around in the sandbox with the kids.”

What else might we see from Donny Osmond in the near future?

DO - “I just got a pilot and I’m hoping I get this thing because CBS asked me to do this. It’s a cross between ‘Who wants to be a Millionaire’ and ‘Deal or no deal.’ It will be a prime time network television series and it would be just ideal. We cut the pilot and was nail biting. Everybody was on the edge of their seats. These two people go for a million bucks. It can be anywhere from a hundred bucks to a million bucks depending upon on how they answer the questions. It’s all multiple choice answers. It’s a series of eleven answers and if they get it all right they got a million bucks. It’s a big hit over in England right now.”

The television show that Donny talked about is called “Secret Fortune.” We’ll see what happens there. On August 24th Donny indeed took the stage at the old Oakdale in Wallingford in front of a raucous room of adoring women. There were a few guys there but we were outnumbered about a hundred to one. The setting was relaxed and intimate and Donny was clearly having a great time. Towards the end of the concert he showed footage of himself on the Andy Williams show when he was five years old. He said that Andy would always close his show with his signature song “Moon River.” Donny paid homage to Andy and at the same time brought his forty-eight year career full circle by also closing with “Moon River.” A fifty-three year old man who has been in show business for forty-eight years is hard to believe. What is not hard to believe is that when it comes to Donny Osmond the best is undoubtedly yet to come.