As Coldplay’s Chris Martin sat at the piano, performing the band’s ballad “All My Love” onstage at the Grammys, the names and faces of hundreds of people the music industry lost in the past year played on a large screen behind him.
The In Memoriam segment Sunday night, which can be viewed on Grammys.com, started with the loss of former One Direction member Liam Payne at the age of 31. As Martin performed, music legends including Kris Kristofferson, Toby Keith, Tito Jackson, Duane Eddy and Sam Moore flashed behind him (Quincy Jones was honored in a special segment earlier in the evening).
About three and a half minutes into the segment, the Grammys paid tribute to Wayne Osmond, whose baritone voice helped create the tight, four-part harmonies of the Osmond Brothers.
“Singer, guitarist, founding member The Osmonds,” read a caption alongside a photo of the late singer, who died Jan. 1 at the age of 73.
Wayne Osmond honored in Grammys In Memoriam segment
For Osmond’s family, it was meaningful to see him recognized during the ceremony Sunday night.
“My heart was filled with joy to see my brother honored at the Grammys,” Merrill Osmond, one of Wayne Osmond’s younger brothers, wrote in a post on X. “Historically, the entertainment industry as a whole has never really supported the Osmonds despite the accomplishments around the world. Brother Wayne was one of the key reasons why the Osmonds even came to be.”
Wayne Osmond’s nephew, Justin Osmond, also shared his gratitude for the recognition in a post on Facebook.
“THANK YOU to the Grammys for honoring my amazing uncle Wayne Osmond last night,” he wrote. “What a wonderful & heart-felt tribute to an incredible musician.”
It’s been a little over a month since Wayne Osmond’s death. As his younger brother, Donny Osmond, prepares to return to his solo residency in Las Vegas later this month, Wayne Osmond continues to be on his mind.
“In my Vegas show, I sing ‘Love Me for a Reason.’ This was the last official video I did with my brothers, and it holds such a special place in my heart especially after the loss of our brother, Wayne,” Donny Osmond shared in a recent post on Instagram. “I’m so thankful for all of the memories we created as a family and I know that someday we will be reunited and make heavenly musical memories together.”
More about Wayne Osmond
Long before there was Donny and Marie, or the superstardom of The Osmonds in the 1970s, there were the Osmond Brothers, a barbershop quartet-style act that had its unofficial start with a performance of “Oh Dear Lord in Heaven” for their Latter-day Saint church congregation in Ogden, Utah, as the Deseret News reported in 2018.
Wayne Osmond was 6.
Eventually, The Osmond Brothers made their way to Disneyland, where they gathered a crowd and stopped traffic with their barbershop act — and caught the eye of Andy Williams' father.
About five years after their first performance in church, the Osmond Brothers were making their debut on “The Andy Williams Show.”
“We owe them everything,” Marie Osmond previously told the Deseret News. “My brothers are legendary. Go listen to their harmony (from the old days), it’s mind-boggling. I have spent a lifetime studying and learning singing, but I promise you I have never heard anybody sing like my four original brothers.”
Wayne Osmond, who was a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, maintained his values on and off stage — even as he faced health setbacks that cost him hearing and led to his retirement from the music industry.
I’ve had a wonderful life,” Wayne Osmond previously told the Deseret News. “And you know, being able to hear is not all that it’s cracked up to be, it really isn’t. My favorite thing now is to take care of my yard. I turn my hearing aids off, deaf as a doorknob, tune everything out, it’s really joyful.”