Knowing me, knowing you - Jimmy Osmond and Mel Bush

A relationship under the microscope

Jimmy Osmond, 48, rose to fame in the 1960s as Little Jimmy Osmond, the youngest member of The Osmonds, who have sold more than 100 million records worldwide. He lives in America with his wife and four children.

I was about 12 when I first met Mel; he promoted everybody, he was really well known. It was such a frenzy for us back then, the girls were crazy; it was chaos. It was quite frightening in a way. Sometimes I had to be taken out of buildings in a trunk. It was a weird way to grow up. After a lot of therapy, I'm OK now! Mel definitely looked out for us.

Mel and some of the other guys were sort of father figures for me. It was important to surround ourselves with good people. We were this little family from Utah caught up in this crazy business, but my parents believed that if we surrounded ourselves with the best then we would become the best.

Most of my friends now are older because they are the people who looked after me when I was younger; I didn't have a lot of my own friends.

Now I'm living a normal childhood through my own beautiful children. I wouldn't trade anything that I've been through, though. Mel and I reconnected again a few years ago on a tour called "The Once In A Lifetime Tour". We followed it up with "The Once In A Lifetime Tour Revisited"!

For the upcoming tour, I thought it would be fun to work together again. Mel said that he'd help and the next thing we know we were back in business together again. He's very funny and my brothers and I love being around him. He's very solid, very disciplined, very in control. He's one of the good guys in showbiz.

Mel Bush, 69, is a concert promoter and music manager, who put on concerts for Led Zeppelin, David Bowie, Elton John and The Osmonds. He lives in London.

When I was 14 years old, I started up my own music promotion company. The first serious concerts I put on were a series of nights with Led Zeppelin at Earl's Court. It was 1975 and the Osmonds were absolutely huge so I thought I'd better get them over.

I remember Donnie arrived on stage on a zip wire from one of the upper balconies; it was such a spectacle at the time, no one was really doing stuff like that. Little Jimmy was there as well; he must have been not much more than 10 years old but I loved working with them all. I never felt like I had to look after him, as they were such a family unit but I felt protective. He was so young and there were so many demands on his time.

About five years ago we did another big tour, along with David Essex and the Bay City Rollers – and it was such fun to all be together again. Even though he was obviously a lot older I sort of felt that not that much had changed. They were all so professional and such a joy to work with.

Jimmy has remained the same person – he's got a great sense of humour and you can have a laugh with him. I'll be touring with them again next year. There's still such a huge demand to see these guys. Of course, the audience is a bit older now, just as the acts are. Jimmy and his brothers provide a certain type of entertainment that you find less and less these days.

The Osmonds' final UK tour comes to the UK in March 2012 for 50 dates. Osmond.com