Donny Osmond remembers the ‘very offensive’ career advice Michael Jackson gave him

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Donny Osmond at the 11th annual AMAs in 1984; Michael Jackson at the BPI Awards in 1983
Michael Jackson did not mince words when giving advice to Donny Osmond back in the day.

Both Osmond and Jackson rose to popularity at a young age as part of their respective family bands, before eventually going off to start their own successful solo careers. But Osmond initially found the transition from child star to adult singer difficult, and asked Jackson, who died in 2009 at age 50, for advice as a result.

“The name Donny Osmond was a joke, years ago,” Osmond said in a clip shared recently on his Instagram account, which was initially from his 2023 appearance on The Adam Carolla Show. “I mean, if you said you like Donny Osmond music, you were ousted.”

“In fact, WPLJ in New York, they got a hold of ‘Soldier of Love’ as an import,” he added, referring to his 1988 single that was initially not released in the U.S. due to his lack of a record deal. “They played the record to test it because they liked the song, but they just didn’t want to say my name.”

The singer then explained to Carolla that circa 1983, after the massive success of Jackson’s Thriller album, Osmond remembered asking him, “Mike, how do I get back on the charts?”

“He said, ‘Your name’s poison, Donny. You gotta change your name,” Osmond recalled, laughing.

“It was very offensive,” Osmond said. “It was tough to hear that. But he was right, because in ‘89, radio stations all across the country played my music, but didn’t say my name.”

He concluded, “And they did me a favor by not saying who I was, and it became a hit. Then they found out it was me.”

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Donny Osmond in 2022
Osmond previously opened up about his and Jackson’s friendship in last year’s MTV Entertainment Studios documentary, Larger than Life: Reign of the Boybands. 

“I spent a lot of time with Michael Jackson. I mean, you look at the Osmonds and the Jackson 5, the comparisons of the two families are just uncanny,” Osmond explained at the time. “There’s 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 “One Bad Apple” singer also said that he and Jackson would often get together to “laugh and reminisce” about their similar childhoods and career moves.

“Michael said something to me one day,” he recalled. “He said, ‘Donny, you’re the only person on this planet that knows what my childhood was like.’”