Jimmy, 55, was taken to hospital after appearing in a panto in Birmingham. But brother Merrill, 65, has revealed that neither he nor Jimmy's other brothers know how sick he is. "He's hurting pretty bad but he's getting better every day," said Merrill. "He's in the States but the doctors won't even let the family in on it yet.
"The severity of it - none of us know.
It's the way his family wants it."
Merrill said his youngest brother - who hit No1 in 1972 with solo single Long Haired Lover From Liverpool aged nine - did not want visitors.
"Jimmy has been through a lot and he just wants to be all by himself right now," he explained. "We're all giving him that space. It's just his wife and children with him right now."
From a close Mormon family in Utah, The Osmonds - Alan, Wayne, Merrill, Jay, Donny and Jimmy - sold 100 million albums, with 1970s hits like
