Four decades ago four young men appeared on TV in what was meant to be a one-off shot at the big time - but The Osmonds are still going strong. JEMMA DOBSON spoke to Merrill Osmond about how he has coped with a lifetime in the spotlight. . .

MERRILL Osmond was barely four years old when he found stardom and his solo career still very much alive.

But now -- at 51 -- he is again teaming up with the other Osmonds and some fellow '70s heart-throbs -- including David Cassidy, Les McKeown's Bay City Rollers and David Essex -- for their Once In A Lifetime tour next June.

Merrill will be on stage once again with Wayne, Jay and Jimmy ,who have not performed together in this line-up since the '80s.

Merrill added: "We're just gonna keep doing it until we get it right. I'm really excited about the different names coming. It should be a blast."

The star says he cannot remember life before being in the public eye.

"I was so young when we started and it was so weird the way that happened. I mean, Jay was still in diapers. It's hard to remember what it was like and I have no idea what my life would be like if we had never gone on that show."

Merrill doesn't know what it is like to walk down the street without people staring at him but, despite that, he has kept his feet firmly on the ground -- and he thanks his family for that.

He said: "We are so close that we always support each other. That's what life is all about. Never take anyone or anything for granted."

But Merrill said he had managed once to spent an afternoon as a "normal" guy on one of his visits to England during the '70s -- at the peak of his career.

"I was in London and all the security and police were being really protective and wouldn't let me leave the building where I was staying. I wanted to go out but they said I would be mobbed. So I ended up dressing as a bobby for the afternoon and going out with them. It was so amusing to see. No-one looked at me and when they did they looked straight through me. It's a good job no-one needed police assistance while we were out, though."

The Osmonds have kept a fanbase throughout the decades since the start of their careers in 1962 and Merrill said he had been thanked by fans for staying around.

"People have said to me that in a world where everything changes so much and goes so mad and evil, we have kept them sane and kept things real by never changing our ways."

The Osmonds altered their sound slightly from pop to a more country image in the '80s but the fans are very much the same as they always were.

Merrill said: "We still have screaming girls around us, although a lot of our music is now appreciated with a standing ovation from the more mature women of the world.

"I would say my favourite fans are the English. They go crazy and they are so passionate -- more than any other country in the world."