Wayne Osmond, co-founder of the Osmonds, scored four top 10 singles with the group and was a regular on the hit variety show Donny & Marie with his younger brother and sister, died on January 1st after a stroke. He was 73.

The news was confirmed in a Facebook post by his brother Merrill Osmond, who wrote in part: “I have never known a man more humble. A man without any guile. A person who was quick to forgive and had the ability to show unconditional love to everyone he ever met. Until I see him again, know that he was loved.”

Born on August 28, 1951 in Ogden, Utah, Wayne Osmond began singing with his siblings Alan, Merrill and Jay in a barbershop quartet called The Osmond Brothers in the late 1950s. The group appeared on a local Disneyland TV show in 1962 when seen by Andy Williams’ father, and from 1962 to 1967 they were regulars on the hitmaker’s NBC variety show.

“I dressed her up for a show — I thought she was cute,” Williams said in a 2005 interview with the Television Academy Foundation. “We stopped rehearsals so they came in and auditioned for us… and they were adorable. The youngest, Jay, was missing teeth in the front. …And the audience went crazy. They came back for about six or seven years.”

Williams continued that the show’s choreographer, Nick Castle, taught the brothers how to dance and “they were like sponges – they would learn anything.” He added that he suggested they get instruments and like one Rock’n’roll band to perform: “That’s what they did. …And everyone on the show, all the creative people, loved them, so they helped them. And they could dance like crazy.”

Each member of the group also appeared as the Kissel Brothers on the 1963-64 ABC Western The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters, with Dan O’Herlihy.

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Along with younger brothers Donny and Jimmy, the Osmonds signed with MGM Records in the early 1970s and stormed into the charts with their first single. “One Bad Apple” followed on from the Jackson 5’s enormous success the previous year and reached the Billboard Hot 100 exactly 54 years ago today – on January 2, 1971 – and stayed at number 1 for five weeks. Their debut LP of the same name reached theirs Peaked at number 14 and won gold.

With Wayne on guitar, the group had three more Top 10 singles over the next three years: “Yo-Yo” (No. 3, 1971), the harder rocking “Down by the Lazy River” (No. 4). , 1972) and “Love Me for a Reason” (No. 10, 1974). Their first five albums were certified gold in the US

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The Osmonds’ recording career cooled in the mid-1970s, but by early 1976 its members had become television regulars again Donny & Marie. Led by teenage siblings Donny and Marie Osmond, the series that started the variety craze debuted as a winter replacement on ABC and was a moderate success in the three-network universe. Wayne also executive produced 20 episodes of the series, which rotated around the Alphabet schedule – from Friday evening to Wednesday, back to Friday and finally Sunday – before ending in May 1979.

The original Osmond Brothers band reunited in the early 1980s and turned to country music, which subsequently experienced a pop moment Urban cowboy. The groups placed nearly a dozen singles on the Billboard country charts, but only their first – “I Think About Your Lovin’,” credited to the Osmonds – made the top 20.

The brothers continued to perform until Alan and Wayne retired in the late 2000s. In 1997 he was diagnosed with brain cancer, which was successfully treated, but remained virtually deaf due to damaged cochlea. In 2012, he suffered a stroke that forced him to stop playing guitar.

Wayne Osmand is survived by all of his active siblings, of which he is the second oldest; his wife of 50 years, Kathlyn; her three daughters and two sons; and extended family.