Donny Osmond Gets on the Radio

Though he is no longer a chart topping anywhere, Donny Osmond was a musical force to be reckoned with in his day, selling 80 million records. That is quite impressive. Despite those figures, Osmond had to work hard to get his name out there. Osmond was promoting his album Soldier of Love in 1988. DJs probably avoided it because of the name alone, but Osmond was trying to revitalize his career and needed airplay. When he discovered that one DJ in particular from Miami had told his listeners that he despised the album and Osmond, he was furious. Donny had no choice but to throw down.

The two guys arm wrestled in a best-of-three series. Donny won the first round but was defeated in the second. He came back to win, and Wheeler performed the song for him. It's worth mentioning that at least one source claims Wheeler called Donny to set up the fight, with both men fully aware it was a publicity scam. Wheeler stated that he did not dislike the song. He claimed it just had the same melody as another recently released song. And that he would have played it anyway because it was going to break into the top ten. In any case, he and Osmond remained friends after that.

Date: 1989