OSMOND TRIES NEW IMAGE IN COMEBACK BID

In a free-association session, the name “Donny Osmond” might elicit any number of responses: toothy grin, teen idol, bubble-gum pop, Hawaiian Punch, “Goin’ Coconuts,” lots of brothers, “The Donny & Marie Show,” Mormon, “a little bit rock ‘n’ roll,” Utah.

But most of those images represent the old Donny, the precocious kid who at age 5 won the hearts of middle America on the old Andy Williams TV show and who a decade later became a heartthrob for millions of teen-age girls.

The old Donny recorded his last solo album nearly 10 years ago, after helping various combinations of Osmonds rack up a string of about two dozen gold singles and albums during the 1970s. His last appearance on the pop charts came in 1978 with the Donny & Marie duet “On the Shelf,” which is essentially where the record stayed after peaking at No. 38.

But with his 29th birthday approaching in December, Osmond is ready for the world to meet the new Donny, who has grown up, heads his own multifaceted entertainment corporation and is resuming his recording career with a more serious attitude than when he was making “music by the pound,” as he refers to some of his past records.

“I can’t wait to see people’s reaction to the new album--I really think we’re going to blow a lot of people away with it,” Osmond said Wednesday during an interview at the Santa Ana headquarters of Donny Osmond Entertainment Corp. (DOEC), which is producing music videos, films and TV shows and even “yuppie boxing” matches in Orange County.

His long, dark hair falling down past his collar, Osmond looked more the businessman than the rock star when he walked into the spacious office, briefcase in hand, and greeted his staff.

“I should have brought my computer,” he said, flashing a wide, toothy grin that showed that some aspects of the old Donny will never change. “I feel lost without it. I’m always making notes.”

Orange County audiences will be able to sneak a peek at Osmond’s new act on Dec. 1 when he plays the Crazy Horse Steak House in Santa Ana, although Osmond cautions that the Crazy Horse show is “strictly for fun” and will only include a few of the new songs he is planning to record in January and February.

He is saving the real unveiling for next spring, when the new album is released, and he’ll embark on his first solo concert tour in several years.

Osmond’s first priority in attempting a comeback has been to overcome considerable skepticism, from both the public and the music industry, that Donny Osmond can make real rock records.

“The whole image stigma of Donny Osmond has really been a problem,” he said. “It’s amazing how time freezes in people’s minds, as to what people think I’m doing and how they think I sound.

“I really am serious about the music now. It’s not just a music-by-the-pound situation like it used to be. I’m going to be saying some stuff on this album that (is) tough for me to say: about my personal life, (about) growing up with this type of (image) problem, yet growing up with the advantages I’ve grown up with. Hopefully those songs I’m working on right now are going to turn out real well.

“I’ve got a name. I’m lucky for that and fortunate that at least I don’t have people saying, ‘Who?’ But it definitely has worked to my disadvantage at times.”

The advantage, however, is that he’s got a potential audience of millions of former fans of Little Donny Osmond, the Osmond Brothers and Donny & Marie who have grown up with him and could turn into a significant audience for his new album.

Osmond will be recording in London, where earlier this year he scouted musicians and songs for a demo tape that resulted in a new contract with Epic Records. He has since been writing songs with keyboardist Ian Stanley, who plays with Tears for Fears, and said the album will be produced by George Acogny, who arranged Peter Gabriel’s hit “Sledgehammer” and other songs on Gabriel’s “So” album.

“One thing I really want to be careful of on this album is not to make it a ‘guest’ album. If I use people like Ian . . . it’s strictly for their creativity and not for their name value. So many artists on a comeback basis try to use other people’s names to give them credibility, and although that’s good, you can’t depend on it and you can’t look like you’re depending on it. So in a way I’m kind of downplaying all that stuff. I’m hopefully letting the music speak for itself.”

Both Osmond and Epic Records executives had specific ideas of just how his music should sound to win new fans in the 1980s, and Osmond said, “Fortunately, our ideas were surprisingly similar.

“They said it’s got to be rock ‘n’ roll, it’s got to be hard, it’s got to be dance, it’s got to be totally different, so it doesn’t sound like a Phil Collins or a (Steve) Winwood or anything like that. We were in pretty much agreement with each other. So I think it’s a real nice marriage.”

For his part, Osmond has played against his stereotyped image at a couple of recent turns. Last year he publicly spoke out against censorship and proposed ratings for records when the Parents Music Resource Center launched its attack on explicit rock lyrics.

The father of three children, Osmond said he is concerned about what his own kids listen to but added, “I’m totally against censorship. Who’s going to judge and say, ‘Yes, this is good’ or ‘This is bad’? I don’t agree with a lot of the stuff that’s on the market, but I’m certainly not going to shoot it down.”

In April, Osmond turned up as an unexpected guest at an ASCAP songwriters award ceremony honoring Bob Dylan, who reportedly insisted on having his picture taken with Donny.

“It was a real nice compliment that Dylan would have said something like that,” he said. “It’s been real tough to get respect within the music community. For the past five or six years I’ve been working on this record deal--it’s taken that long. Slowly I’ve been trying to prove myself.”

All of his time, however, hasn’t been spent trying to get this album off the ground. He’s also consolidated DOEC’s operations in Orange County, where he moved in 1985 with his wife, Debbie, and their three sons, away from the Osmond family enclave in Provo, Utah. He has also “completely divested” himself of any involvement with Osmond family business ventures in Utah.

“I’m pretty much the only one who doesn’t live in Utah--I don’t know if they’d let me back in,” Osmond said with a laugh. “We feel pretty isolated sometimes. It’s difficult, but I’d rather spend my time out here behind the Orange Curtain. Although sometimes it seems like I’m spending most of my time on the 405 (Freeway) parking lot.”

He had continued to perform periodically with Marie in recent years, but says, “Donny & Marie has slowed drastically because it’s something I want to put to bed. It’s kind of sad to see something like that end, but it’s time to move on.”

Osmond said he has no immediate plans to take another stab at acting on Broadway, where his 1981 debut in the George M. Cohan musical “Little Johnny Jones” was savaged by New York critics. “One of these days, I want to go back and prove them wrong.”

But, he added, “not right now” because he is focusing most of his time and energy on revitalizing his music career.

His last bid for greater rock respectability--his 1977 solo album, solemnly entitled “Donald Clark Osmond”--was greeted in some corners as overly pretentious coming from a 19-year-old.

“Yes, I got that response on that album, and I’ll get that response with the new album. There will always be some doubters,” Osmond said.

Yet he is optimistic that his new album will even win over the critics, who have never been especially kind to Osmond’s records. (In Rolling Stone’s Record Guide, critic Dave Marsh gave all six of Donny’s solo albums the guide’s lowest rating, dismissing them as “well-crafted garbage.”)

“I think we’re going to get ‘em,” Osmond said. “I don’t want to sound overconfident, but I really think we will.”

LIVE ACTION: General Public will play Cal State Fullerton’s Titan Gym on Dec. 21. . . . Bonnie Raitt will play the Coach House in San Juan Capistrano on Dec. 7. . . .Peter Murphy’s Dec. 12 date at the Coach House has been canceled. The Knack will replace Murphy. . . . Gary Morris returns to the Crazy Horse on Dec. 8 and 9.