One bad apple, one extraordinary life. Alan Osmond dies at 76

Alan Osmond, the eldest of the performing Osmond brothers, has died at the age of 76 after a 40 year battle with Multiple Sclerosis (MS). He passed away on the evening of April 20 at his home, with his wife Suzanne and all eight of his sons by his bedside. The Osmond family confirmed the news in a statement to the world. 

Born in Ogden, Utah, he was the third of nine children of George and Olive Osmond, but the oldest to perform. The family act began when Alan, Wayne, Merrill and Jay formed a barbershop quartet as young boys, originally to raise money for hearing aids for their two older brothers, Virl and Tom, who were deaf.

The group were spotted singing at Disneyland which lead to their performance on The Andy Williams Show

Their big break came through appearances on The Andy Williams Show, which made the family a household name across America and eventually the world. Younger siblings Donny, Marie and Jimmy each joined over time, with Donny and Marie going on to sustain solo careers that have lasted to the present day.

Alan co-wrote some of the group’s best-known songs, including the 1971 chart-topper One Bad Apple and Crazy Horses, which surprised critics who had pigeonholed the group as a clean-cut pop act. Relentless preparation earned them the nickname the ‘One Take Osmonds’, child labour laws limited their on-set hours, so they rehearsed at home until they had it perfectly right just before the cameras rolled.

Alan battled his condition and spoke opening to raise awareness for MS

He was diagnosed with primary-progressive multiple sclerosis in 1987, after he began tripping unexpectedly on stage and was unable to raise his hand. Unlike the more common relapsing-remitting form of the disease, primary-progressive MS involves a steady decline without periods of recovery,  yet Alan continued to speak openly about his condition and threw himself into raising awareness of it. As he battled the condition, he was encouraged by the motto, ‘I may have MS, but MS does not have me!’. 

When his son David was diagnosed with MS in 2005, he went from a promising performing career to a wheelchair almost overnight so father and son faced the disease together. Their public determination to keep going, and to use their profile to do incredible work to highlight the condition, earned both of them the T.K. McCarthey Silver Hope Award from the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. Donny Osmond paid tribute to both of them during MS Awareness Week, describing their fight as courageous.

He is survived by Suzanne, their eight sons, 30 grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.