Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Donny Osmond voices vocal recovery and return to Flamingo in 2016

Donny Osmond

John Katsilometes

Donny Osmond appears at the Danny Gans Memorial Champions Run for Life, a benefit for Nevada Childhood Cancer Foundation, on Saturday, Oct. 17, 2015, at Town Square.

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Donny Osmond, right, with Jeff Leibow, appears at the Danny Gans Memorial Champions Run for Life, a benefit for Nevada Childhood Cancer Foundation, on Saturday, Oct. 17, 2015, at Town Square.

Donny Osmond is enough to drive you crazy. Turning up early on a Saturday morning at Town Square, he looks as if he’s just had 11 hours of sleep and is ready to run a marathon.

“We’re not getting any older, are we?” Osmond asked rhetorically, his disposition far sunnier than this overcast morning. “I’m ready. Let’s go.”

Fulfilling a promise he made two years ago to the family of his late friend and fellow Strip headliner Danny Gans, Osmond once more hosted the Danny Gans Memorial Run for Life, a benefit for the Nevada Childhood Cancer Foundation. The charity was a favorite of Gans up until his death in 2009. Osmond has since taken over, with Saturday marking his seventh appearance.

“I promised to remain as spokesman. I made that promise, and I don’t want to break it,” the 57-year-old Osmond said minutes before addressing the 650 or so runners and walkers who took part in the event. “But it’s not just verbiage. This is very fulfilling, to help children and families like this. I’m doing what I can to give back to a city I love so much.”

Osmond actually walks the walk. How much he loves the city has been evident over the past seven yeas, as the Donny & Marie stage show has been among the most popular productions on the Strip. But the duo have been in something of a suspended state of late, as their contracted commitment to perform at the showroom named for them at the Flamingo times out in December.

Donny and Marie’s current run on the Strip ends Nov. 14, a total of 15 shows, before they hit the road for their annual run of holiday shows through the end of 2015.

Osmond said the talks have become urgent, but fans should not be concerned that Donny & Marie are ending their residency in Las Vegas.

“Marie and I are getting together this afternoon, actually, and making a final decision,” Osmond said. “Caesars Entertainment is getting very impatient because it’s getting close to the end. I will say this much: I like it here, and I want to stay here. We both like it.

“The answer to that question is obvious.”

In an oft-publicized struggle with his health, Osmond underwent surgery in June to remove a legion from his right vocal chord (Osmond still carries the graphic photos of his damaged vocal chord on his Samsung smartphone). He missed three performances from June 24-26, with his nephew David stepping in to fill the dates at Flamingo.

“This has just been the worst summer because when you take away a singer’s voice, you take away his identity,” Osmond said. “Even though the doctor says you’ll be fine, you just don't know. I followed his directions to a T and came back.”

After undergoing surgery by the renowned Dr. Steven Zeitels, director for laryngeal surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital (whose patients included Adele, Sam Smith, Lionel Richie and John Mayer), Osmond also was forced to call off a solo tour in September. He finally returned to the stage at Flamingo on Sept. 29.

Did he have confidence in his voice that night?

“Well, it was scary. So the answer to that question is no. I had no confidence,” Osmond said, shaking his head. “It took a few shows, but, by the beginning of this week, I felt 100 percent.”

The surgery was a first for Osmond, but it wasn’t his first throat problem. In 1995, while performing the lead in “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” on Broadway, he missed three months because of a vocal hemorrhage.

Follow John Katsilometes on Twitter at Twitter.com/JohnnyKats. Also, follow “Kats With the Dish” at Twitter.com/KatsWiththeDish.

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