Not too many months ago, my father, who is in the Real Estate business in Los Angeles, called me and said he had heard a vocal quartet that he thought would be good for my television show. An audition was set up and I met, for the first time, the Osmond Brothers.
The minute I saw them I realized why my father was so taken with this group. They were four boys ranging in age from seven to twelve. The four Osmond Brothers were about the same ages as the four Williams Brothers were when we started singing on the radio back in Des Moines, Iowa. The resemblance was uncanny.
When they finished their first song, I was still somewhere back in Iowa singing with my brothers. In Jay I could see myself. He was the youngest and the smallest and had two teeth missing and winked a lot. He captured me right away.
I put them on the show that week and they were an immediate hit with the cast and the crew and the studio audience. But I didn’t know until the following week, when the mail started to come in, how much these boys had captured the hearts of the American public in only one appearance.
Everybody wanted to see more of the Osmond Brothers.
I thought at first that their appeal was mostly to mothers and fathers – but their clean-cut, scrubbed look and natural charm reached everyone. After a few appearances on my show, people from all walks of life would stop me and ask if the boys were going to be on the show that week. It could be a golf caddy, a middle-aged woman, a group of teenagers…it didn’t seem to matter. Everybody liked the Osmond Brothers and wanted to see more of them.
With the success of the Osmond Brothers on my show, it was inevitable that they would be asked to record. This album, their first, promises to be the start of what looks like a long and tuneful career.
Besides their new MGM Records contract, they have been signed by MGM-TV to appear regularly on the new TV adventure series, “The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters,” which is scheduled to be aired every Sunday night on ABC-TV starting in the fall of 1963.
George Wyle, prominent West Coast arranger and conductor, and Don Williams, their agent, played prominent roles in the production of this album. Mr. Wyle wrote the arrangements for the album, and worked with the boys at his home. He is tremendously proud of them and says, with almost fatherly pride, that along with their talent, they are without doubt the most gentlemanly and respectful boys he has ever met.
Four of the songs in this album are performed just as the boys sing on my show, without orchestral accompaniment. The remaining eight tunes have subtle instrumental backing. About the only difficulty encountered at the recording sessions what that of height. Each brother is about three inches taller than the younger brother next to him – reading high to low, it’s Alan, Wayne, Merrill, and Jay. To get their heads on one level for microphone balance an intricate system of platforms had to be arranged. But musically, the boys had no problems at all …as you will soon hear.
When you listen to this album, I know you’ll love it, and the Osmond Brothers, as I do. – Andy Williams
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