A quick word with Donny Osmond

Donny Osmond (45), former American idol, on the occasion of his comeback album Somewhere In Time and TV special An Audience With Donny Osmond (One, tonight, 7.30).

Isn't it sweet how you've inspired loyalty from your fans over so many decades? When you toured Britain this year, you were mobbed by screaming - older - women.

It's a compliment. That tour over in the UK - I had no idea it was going to be as successful as it was. It was unbelievable. After the rollercoaster ride of a career, it's kind of nice to be able to be considered cool again.

Were the 80s the downside for you?

Most definitely. It was after the end of the Donny and Marie Show. In a way it was good for me to disappear, even though I was working as hard as I could to get back on to the music scene. The industry didn't really care, but it was really good because I was able to come back with a fresh start, a little bit of a novelty.

What exactly did you do during that period?

I was trying to find any gig I could possibly find. I lost everything financially so it was a rebuilding process for everything. Thank goodness I had my personal life together [Donny has been married to his childhood sweetheart Debbie since he was 20; they have five sons].

Was that a depressing time for you?

Yeah. I won't say I was clinically depressed, but it was more dispiriting, it didn't make any sense to me that you could be so hot one day and so cold the next. But what are you gonna do, sit and wallow in your pain or pick yourself up and reinvent yourself?

You sang with your brothers again for An Audience With

The brothers came on and sang Love Me For a Reason, which was a surprise, no one knew they were coming on except me, the producer and the director. It was 21 years since we'd performed together in the UK. It was quite emotional. Especially having Alan there, he has MS, it was quite laborious for him. I think everyone in that audience was singing along with us.

What's with doing Don't Dream It's Over on the album? In this country, that's akin to tampering with the national anthem.

That was a difficult song to decide upon. As a matter of fact, it was the last song I decided on. It's such a well-respected song and to attempt to redo that is almost sacrilegious. The critical thing is to take it far enough away from the original but not to go too far and ruin the integrity of the song. We toiled over that song ... I took a little bit of a different approach from Crowded House, a much softer approach.