OSMONDS LEGEND:

Singer Merrill endured death threats, frame-ups and attacks by crazed fans

- BY SUE CRAWFORD

HEY were the clean-cut megastars of the 70s - and at the height of the hysteria that surrounded them, The Osmonds had to be smuggled around London in ambulances, fire engines and even bin lorries to keep them safe from fans.

So intense was “Osmondmania” that when the quintet of singing Mormon brothers from Utah, USA, flew into Heathrow in 1973, a viewing balcony at the airport collapsed after a crowd surge by some of the 10,000 waiting fans.

And Merrill Osmond, 72, who has just released his autobiography, Black Bear - My Life Story, says Utah cops armed the group after a fan threatened to decapitate him.

Merrill, the lead singer on hits including Love Me for a Reason, said: "There were death threats and there was a guy who wanted my head for his wall.

"He was an eccentric fan. Thank goodness his wife tipped off the cops before he got to the hotel. We had security on tour, but when we got back home it got weird.

"Because of the continuous death threats, we were made policemen.

"Whenever I got a ticket on the road, I usually outranked the police officer that was stopping me.

"We carried weapons. We had to be armed to protect ourselves."

The Osmonds were also warned that an American terrorist group, the Symbionese Liberation Army, was after them.

Merrill said: "The threat was that if we didn't stop entertaining by a certain day, we would be executed.