Song:Soldier Of Love
Album:Best Of Donny Osmond
Of course Donny Osmond is best known as a 70s teen idol with hits like Go Away Little Girl. The 1989 top five hit Soldier Of Love marked his surprise return to the pop charts. After The Donny & Marie Show ended in 1979, he attempted to get into musical theater with the 1982 show Little Johnny Jones. The show was unsuccessful though Osmond would have success in musical theater in the 90s. Other than an appearance in the 1985 Jeff Beck video Ambitious, things were quiet for Osmond in the 80s. He hired entertainment attorney Steven Machat to get him a record deal and Machat hooked Osmond up with Peter Gabriel. This led to a deal with Virgin Records in England. The 1989 album Donny Osmond was produced by Carl Sturken and Evan Rogers. They worked on the music for the film Beat Street and they had produced Stephanie Mills and Gavin Christopher. They have been very successful most recently with jazz singer Kandace Springs. The idea was to give Osmond a contemporary sound so that no one would recognize him as the 70s teen idol. Soldier Of Love was a top 30 hit in England. But Osmond didn't have a US record deal. A cassette of the song was sent to WPLJ New York music director Jessica Ettinger. She liked the song but she was concerned that Osmond would not be accepted by the current pop music audience. So she put the song in rotation as a mystery artist asking WPLJ listeners to guess who it is. After several weeks, she had Osmond come to the studio to introduce the song. Soldier Of Love reached #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and Osmond signed with Capitol Records. Osmond has always given full credit to Ettinger for Soldier Of Love's success. A second song from the album Sacred Emotion was a top 20 hit. Though the comeback was successful, it was short lived as Osmond only recorded two albums for Capitol. This budget comp covers his Capitol recordings. It was at this point that Osmond got back into musical theater and he has had a lot of success there. Here's the video for Soldier Of Love by Donny Osmond.
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