The Osmond magic lives on

PROVO — The Osmond magic lives on.

Brandon Osmond, a Utah Valley University student from Provo, was announced Thursday night as winner of "Showcase," MormonTimes.com's online music video contest.

At a concert at the Covey Center for the Performing Arts where the six finalists sang, Osmond, son of Donny and Debbie Osmond, was awarded $5,000 for getting the most votes in the contest. Second place went to Nicole Sheahan, a student at Brigham Young University from Montana, who won $2,000; third went to Truman — the brother duo of Chad and Ben Truman, students at BYU from Nashville, Tenn., who received $1,000.

Brandon Osmond seemed stunned at being named the winner. Just before he sang his encore song, he said, "I didn't know I was supposed to have three songs ... I've only written two." So he sang "Thine Own Son," one of the two he had sung during the concert. His other one was "Bring Me Home."

During an interview after the concert, Osmond said he would definitely write more songs. "I want to and I'm going to."

A junior at UVU majoring in photography, Osmond said, "Photography may be my job and (music) may be my hobby." Or maybe the other way around.

Osmond said he entered "Showcase" at the urging of his mother-in-law, Marcia Hansen. He said she saw the notice of the contest and said, "You can do this."

He dedicated "Bring Me Home" to his wife, Shelby, for whom the song was written while they were still dating. "I entered the contest because of her and her mother," he said.

While growing up, he said, "We were surrounded by music, but I never got the opportunity to sing like this. I hated the piano, and I can't read music. It's just chords."

Sheahan said, "I'm most grateful for all the support" she received from "Showcase" voters. "My Facebook friends were the most supportive."

She said the inspiration for "Almost," one of the two songs she performed, was "a few dates with a guy gone wrong." And for "Invisible Facts," her inspiration was "a blind man that I met who taught me so much about faith."

The Truman brothers said they've been playing music since they were little.

"A lot of people said it wasn't possible to make it in the music business," Ben Truman said. But their father, Dan Truman of the group Diamond Rio, told them it was possible.

"We love performing together as brothers," Ben said.

The other finalists who performed were Ryan Innes, Amy Van Wagenen and Barry Hansen.
E-mail: rwalsh@desnews.com

Also contributing: David Schneider and Chanae Wilson