Aled Jones
If you were asked to conjure up an image of Aled Jones you'd see a small boy with a cute haircut, possibly wearing surplice and ruffs. Maybe you'd hear him sing Walking in the Air in the pure soprano that still echoes in the nation's collective memory.
At the time, in the mid-eighties, the entire country seemed fascinated in the wait for Aled's treble to break. Fortunately for Aled, whose professional career began at 12, nature's in-built deadline came relatively late at 16. He was in the middle of recording an album when he literally called it a day. Or more precisely, he just never came back from lunch.
The great operatic star Stuart Burrows advised him not to sing for five years once his voice broke. It was advice Aled found difficult to take. He knew he had to be careful, but he could not stop singing at home to himself, it was second nature, although publicly he stayed quiet.
For the next few years he concentrated on tennis, becoming a county level player, visiting Japan where they belatedly caught on to his talent, and studying. He went to the Royal Academy of Music, far too young he now realises. It was no use studying voice when his voice was not ready, even though he won the first year award and the friends of Alice award. Though it did mark his first public outing as a singer in college jazz-funk band A2Z.
A starring role in a regional production of How Green Was My Valley while still at the academy inspired thoughts of a new direction. But when Aled was cast by the same director in a new adaptation of Dickens' Martin Chuzzlewitt he came unstuck, realising his limitations as an actor.
Thus he auditioned and gained entry to the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, a thrilling experience which gave him the confidence he needed. Six weeks after leaving Bristol he was cast by Andrew Lloyd Webber in a production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, a role he performed to rave reviews culminating in a summer season in Blackpool.
But there were few lead parts in musical theatre for one still in his mid-twenties and Aled drifted artistically. He recorded a CD of songs by composers Anthony Drew and George Stiles called The Ugly Duckling: The Aesthetically Challenged Farmyard Fowl which formed the basis of a musical revue directed by National Theatre director Wendy Toy.
He toured in a production of Hard Times, and began a career as a highly successful TV and radio presenter. He regularly presents a nightly magazine programme as well as hosting his own talent show for S4C, Channel 4 Wales and devised a music and chat show for BBC Wales with guests the calibre of Dame Judi Dench and Sue Lawley.
But still under used was that singing voice. The main reason was because Aled himself was not ready. His voice was and is still maturing. Then a year or two ago the circle was completed and everything began to make sense once more.
The location was Bangor Cathedral where he was invited to present and sing on Songs of Praise. It was here as a nine year old that he first auditioned for the choirmaster. Not for singing, but to demonstrate whether he could pitch a note as he wanted to be taught piano. The choirmaster knew immediately he had before him a special talent. Aled got his piano lessons, and a place in the choir.
A true son of Wales, Aled Jones was born on December 29, 1970, in Llandegfan, Anglesey. An only child he was bilingual in English and Welsh. He remembers first singing aged about two while standing on his grandmother's table to her piano accompaniment. That day he'd had an operation for an ingrowing eyelash and both his eyes were swollen like flies eyes. His mother came home, saw him, and fainted.
At school he was entered for eisteddfodau, local and national singing competitions, which he invariably won. A lady in the congregation at Bangor Cathedral was so taken she took the initiative to write to a local record company about his talent. There followed two albums, one of which found it's way into the hands of a BBC producer who invited Aled to sing live on TV and radio with the BBC Welsh Symphony Orchestra conducted by Sir Neville Mariner. There then followed three BBC television programmes watched by over 18 million viewers and a series of accompanying albums which all achieved gold status.
Aled's astounding career had begun. There were highs like performing with Leonard Bernstein, composer of West Side Story, who on their first meeting put Aled in a headlock and said, "And you little man, you've got a fantastic voice".
Bernstein treated Aled like a son. There was the low of forgetting the words to Memory while performing in front of the Queen. Something he still has nightmares about. Then there was the high of performing at the wedding of Bob Geldof and Paula Yates.
He sang Walking in the Air, a Top Ten hit, on Top of the Pops. He released 16 albums all of which went platinum or gold, and sold six million albums worldwide.
He performed with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra in front of 27,000 people at the Hollywood Bowl where the Johnny Carson Show offered to devote a show to him. Aled turned it down, he was 15 and wanted to get back to his girlfriend and football.
The eighties were a more easy going period for a child star in a less intensely marketed music business. Aled was the original classical crossover artist. But exploitation wasn't in his vocabulary. Aled's parents allowed him to lead a normal life, that's why he is so balanced today.
For him Songs of Praise is like coming home. The public have sensed that too. Suddenly he is recognised again, his hand shaken by strangers. He is now a regular presenter, often performing a song. "Songs of Praise has been the beginning of everything again. It has an audience of eight million. People had been writing in sackloads to the BBC wanting me to sing more," says Aled. "I love doing the programme. I feel happier doing this sort of music. It's what I've always done."
Aled's concert career goes from strength to strength, a reflection of his ever-growing popularity. In 2002 he performed no more than 20 concerts. In 2003 that rose to 35 and 2004 will see him perform in more than 70, including an extensive tour during November.
Aled's record sales speak for themselves, in 2003 'Higher' went gold within weeks, and 'Aled', released in 2002, achieved platinum sales status. In November 2004 Aled will release his first Christmas Album since making his comeback. It will be, in Aled's words, a "mind-blowing" collection of his favourite Christmas music.