HE'S almost here. The man with the whitest, brightest smile, the (still) dark, glossy hair, the velvety voice and the largest army of 40-something fans who have loved him since the early 1970s, is back in town.

Donny Osmond is appearing at the MEN Arena on Saturday night and . . . hang on . . . just before you reach for the 'phone, clutching your credit card, it is a sell-out. And it has been for months so, sorry, you won't be one of the sea of purple hat wearers to hear the 45-year-old croon The Twelfth of Never, Puppy Love or Sweet and Innocent.

It's his first time back in Manchester since the band played the old Free Trade Hall back in the 70s when the very same fans, probably sporting the very same purple floppy, brimmed, hats (it's a Donny thing), went bananas for the Mormon brothers.

Having shot to fame on the Andy Williams show, The Osmonds soon became teen idols, especially Donny, who, with his toothy grin, captured the heart of almost every adolescent girl in the western world.

The group even had their own TV cartoon show which hit the screens in September 1972 and, aside from the brothers' popularity, Donny's solo career went from strength to strength. Ballads like Puppy Love, Too Young and Young Love sent teenage girls into raptures and the Cathy & Claire page in Jackie magazine was always inundated with pleas of . . . "I love Donny, but he doesn't even know I exist. . . pleeeease help me".

But the years have rolled on and those tearful girls now have tearful girls of their own who pine for Justin Timberlake, Westlife and Blue.

Yet on Saturday night, housework and kids will be left firmly at home while they don their purple hats, scream a welcome to their Donny and slip back to 1972 when their only problems were discussed with the all-knowing Cathy & Claire.

DONNY FACTFILE

Born Donald Clark Osmond on Ogden, Utah on December 9, 1957

Joined his brothers, Alan, Wayne, Merrill and Jay to sing on the popular weekly Andy Williams show in 1963

First US chart hit was One Bad Apple which charted for five weeks in 1971. Osmond mania had begun

July 1972, Donny's Puppy Love debuts the UK charts. Tops charts in its second week, holding number 1 slot for five weeks

Sadly, porky little Jimmy Osmond tops UK charts with Long Haired Lover From Liverpool for five weeks in December 1972-- it becomes the year's biggest selling single, shifting over 985,000 copies

Donny duets with sister, Marie but things quieten down in the 80s amid stories that he suffered from stage fright.

He appears to rave reviews as the titular character in Joseph in the Technicolour Dreamcoat in the 90s and, following appearances on UK talk shows, his comeback is secured.