Â鶹Éç

Aled Jones biography

Aled Jones

Last updated: 05 November 2009

In the mid 1980s Aled Jones, the boy treble with the pudding bowl haircut, was seemingly ubiquitous.

Aled was born on 29 December 1970 in Llandegfan, Anglesey. He joined the Bangor Cathedral Choir aged nine, and won many national singing competitions and Eisteddfodau.

He was first recorded by the Welsh company Sain, who were alerted to his talents by a member of the Bangor Cathedral congregation. An invitation followed from Â鶹Éç Wales to sing the Angel in Handel's oratorio Jephtha with the Â鶹Éç Welsh Symphony Orchestra and Chorus. Following the broadcast on Â鶹Éç Two, Â鶹Éç Wales was commissioned to make three TV specials for Christmas and Easter with Aled and the Chorus on location in Israel. Watched by over 18 million viewers, highlights were issued in 1985 on VHS and on record and many other TV appearances followed.

In July 1985, the Â鶹Éç issued his rendition of Memory from Andrew Lloyd Webber's Cats. It wasn't a huge success, but his recording of Walking In The Air was a top five smash.

The song became forever associated with Christmas, due to being featured in the evergreen Raymond Briggs animation The Snowman. It made Aled a huge international star, although it wasn't his voice on the film but that of Peter Auty. He appeared on Top Of The Pops, performed with legendary composer/conductor Leonard Bernstein and sang with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra in front of 27,000 people. Less fortunate was the occasion when he forgot the words to Memory while singing for the Queen - an occasion which reportedly caused him nightmares for some years afterwards.

While Aled wasn't able to repeat the phenomenal popular success of Walking In The Air, he released a number of albums between 1985 and 87 - mostly containing religious music and traditional songs - which earned him numerous gold and platinum discs. He even became the first person ever to have two classical albums in the pop charts simultaneously.

And then he disappeared from the public eye. The problem was, as is so often the case, hormones. For unlike that other famous Welsh angel, Charlotte Church, Aled had to overcome the adolescent problem of the broken voice. Opera star Stuart Burrows advised him to not sing for five years once his voice broke, but still Aled found it hard to stop.

He became a county level tennis player, and studied at the Royal Academy of Music where he joined jazz-funk band A2Z. He went on to gain entry at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, where he trained as an actor. It led to appearances in productions of Twelfth Night and Joseph And His Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat.

He has become a regular presenter/performer on Songs Of Praise and presents his own shows on Â鶹Éç Radio 2, Radio 3 and Radio Wales. And, to the delight of many, he's returned to recording music. In 2002 he signed a five album deal with Universal, the first of which, Aled, went platinum and the second, Higher, achieved gold within weeks.

In addition to all his recording and presenting commitments, Aled has found time to write his autobiography, fit in solo touring and compete in Strictly Come Dancing, in which he came fourth in 2004.

Aled's subsequent recordings include ,The Christmas Album and You Raise Me Up: The Best Of Aled Jones, in which he re-recorded Walking In The Air with himself as a treble - bringing his career full-circle.

In 2010 Aled issued another Christmas album, Aled's Christmas Gift and a book about his favourite Christmas carols.


Bookmark this page:

Â鶹Éç Music

Sheet music

Classical

All the latest classical news and reviews on Â鶹Éç Music.

Messageboard

Microphone

Have your say

Discuss your musical matters on our messageboard.

Â鶹Éç Music

Sheet music

Classical

All the latest classical news and reviews on Â鶹Éç Music.

Â鶹Éç iD

Â鶹Éç navigation

Â鶹Éç © 2014 The Â鶹Éç is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read more.

This page is best viewed in an up-to-date web browser with style sheets (CSS) enabled. While you will be able to view the content of this page in your current browser, you will not be able to get the full visual experience. Please consider upgrading your browser software or enabling style sheets (CSS) if you are able to do so.