Alan Osmond, the oldest singing member of Utah’s Osmond family, who also turned Brigham Young University’s football stadium into a Fourth of July extravaganza, has died.

Osmond, who with his siblings brought bubblegum pop and Utah wholesomeness to audiences from Disneyland to Branson, Missouri, died Monday, the family said in a statement to KSL. He was 76 and had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1987.

Donny Osmond, Alan’s younger brother and the most famous of the singing siblings, posted a remembrance Tuesday on his Instagram account. It featured a photo of the two of them as children.

“Even back then, you can see that he had his arm around me, watching over me,” Donny wrote. “That’s who he was. My protector. My guide. The one who quietly carried so much responsibility so the rest of us could shine.”

Donny continued: “Alan was our leader in every sense of the word. His tireless work helped build everything we became. I will always be grateful for the sacrifices he made and the love he showed — not just to me, but to every member of our family.“

The Osmond Brothers began as a barbershop quartet in 1958, when Alan was 9 years old. He and three of his brothers — Wayne, Jay and Merrill — sang together, initially as a way for the family to raise money for hearing aids for their two oldest brothers, Virl and Tom, who are hard of hearing.

The quartet went from performing around Ogden to a regular gig at Disneyland. That’s where Jay Williams, the father of crooner Andy Williams, discovered the group. In 1963, the quartet made its national TV debut on “The Andy Williams Show,” and the Osmond Brothers became regular performers on the NBC variety hour.

Also in 1963, their 6-year-old brother, Donny, made his debut on the show, and the quartet soon became a quintet. Some years into their run on the show, another Osmond — their youngest brother, Jimmy — came on as comic relief.

The Osmond Brothers hit No. 1 on the pop charts with “One Bad Apple” in 1970, a year before Williams’ show ended its run. The group released six albums that went gold between 1970 and 1973. Some of their other hits were “Double Lovin’,” “Yo-Yo,” “Down by the Lazy River” and “Love Me for a Reason.” Alan wrote two of the group’s hits, “Crazy Horses” and “Hold Her Tight,” with Wayne and Merrill.

The Osmonds became symbols of Utah and their faith, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In 1982, when President Ronald Reagan visited Utah, the four older brothers sang “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” and reportedly brought a tear to the president’s eye.

Alan Osmond retired from performing in 1987, when he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. According to the family, his mantra was “I might have MS, but MS doesn’t have me.”

Launching Provo’s Fourth of July

In 1980, Alan and Merrill Osmond took over Provo’s annual Fourth of July celebration, which had been losing money. They moved the show to what was then called Cougar Stadium, on the Brigham Young University campus, and made money the first year. The event, still held at what is now LaVell Edwards Stadium, became Stadium of Fire, billed as the largest stadium fireworks show in the country.

For the event’s first four years, the Osmond Brothers headlined the show, with Donny arriving by helicopter to the stage to sing with his brothers. Through 1990, at least one member of the Osmond family was on the bill; Donny and Marie were headliners twice in that stretch.

In the late ’80s, according to a 1995 Salt Lake Tribune article, Alan Osmond declared he wanted to set a record by igniting 1 million firecrackers during the show. “Even my fireworks guy said, ‘No, don’t do the million firecrackers,” Osmond recalled. “It’s ugly and messy.’”

The fireworks guy was right. Charlene Winters, then a volunteer with Provo’s Freedom Festival, told The Tribune that the fireworks were supposed to go off in “a series of pops that would go on forever. … It actually exploded in nanoseconds.”

Alan Osmond was given the festival’s Freedom Award in 1995 and was grand marshal of Provo’s Fourth of July parade. “What turns me on is when I see thousands of young kids out there carrying the American flag and celebrating and really getting the feeling of American patriotism,” he told The Tribune.

In 1993, the Osmond family regrouped in a new location: Branson, Missouri. The performers were inspired by Andy Williams, who had opened a theater in the town’s growing entertainment district. Jimmy Osmond opened the Osmond Family Theater there, and encouraged Alan, Wayne, Merrill and Jay, with their spouses and 21 children, to settle there. At the time, Jay Osmond joked that the family “doubled the public school population” of Branson.

Behind the scenes influence

Alan Ralph Osmond was born June 22, 1949, in Ogden, to Olive and George Virl Osmond. He married Suzanne Pinegar, a BYU cheerleader, in the Provo Temple in July 1974. Together, they raised eight sons — all of whom, the family said in a statement, were at their father’s bedside when he died.

Behind the scenes, Alan Osmond was one of the producers of “The Donny & Marie Show,” the variety program that played from 1976 to 1979 on ABC and was filmed for most of its run at the Osmond Studios in Orem. (The studio building is now part of Cirque Lodge, an alcohol and drug rehabilitation center.)

Alan Osmond and the family were also instrumental in creating the Children’s Miracle Network Telethon, which through the years has raised more than $2 billion for children’s hospitals nationwide. Alan also created the One Heart Foundation, which serves orphans worldwide.

Alan Osmond’s last public performance was in 2019, when he appeared with Wayne, Merrill and Jay on the daytime show “The Talk” to wish their sister, Marie, a happy 60th birthday.

“If you really go back to the beginning,” Marie said at the time, “none of us would have been here without the four original Osmond brothers.”

Alan Osmond is survived by his wife of 51 years, Suzanne; and their eight sons: Michael, Nathan, Doug, David, Scott, Jon, Alex and Tyler; 30 grandchildren; five great-grandchildren; and seven of his siblings: Virl, Tom, Merrill, Jay, Donny, Marie and Jimmy. His brother Wayne died on Jan. 1, 2025.

Funeral services will be held Saturday, May 2, starting at noon, at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ Orem Suncrest Stake Center, 95 N. 600 West, Orem, and will be live-streamed by Walker Sanderson Funeral Home at walkersanderson.com. Public viewing will happen Friday, May 1, 6 to 8 p.m., and Saturday, May 2, 10 to 11:30 a.m., also at the stake center. Interment will be held privately, for family only.