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By the late 1980s, Donny Osmond was persona non grata in the US, at least as far as record companies were concerned. Donny no longer had an American recording contract, but luckily, he did in Europe, where fans were not so fickle.
One day, Jessica Ettinger, music director at WPLJ in New York City received a cassette in the mail from a Donny Fan. On it, was a song from a British import album that Donny had recorded.
Jessica thought it was fantastic: catchy, danceable, and it sounded nothing like teenage Donny. However, she was afraid to play it for fear of backlash.
Speaking as a former music director, I can tell you that playing the wrong artist on your radio station can cause listeners to tune out and lead to a ratings drop. It was a real threat back then and still is today.
(Like I said, fans are fickle--as well as picky and cruel! The song may have been great, but Donny himself was so...'70s.
It's also important to note that since the song wasn't officially released in the US, no one who liked the song could actually BUY it!
In 1989, WPLJ was an extremely popular radio station with good ratings, and Jessica didn't want to risk it all by playing a DONNY OSMOND song.
But then she had a clever idea!
She put it on the air in heavy rotation, and instructed her deejays NOT to mention the artist. It kept listeners guessing for several weeks.
Finally, Jessica had them reveal it was Donny, who was live in the studio for the "event."
Capitol Records thought Jessica's "guessing game idea" was brilliant, signed Donny to a contract, and released "Soldier of Love" nationwide, re-using her idea with great success.
The next thing you know, the song was #2 on Billboard's Hot 100!
It was a great comeback for Donny Osmond, and "Soldier of Love" was a" Great Song of 1989." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXs0r47STuY
Tomorrow: Vince before he was Vince.
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