‘Our dad dancing went viral...’
‘We are both real and down to earth and feel so lucky we are still doing what we love’
RUSSELL WATSON and ALED JONES, two of the country’s heavyweight classical artists, are back together on a new album. Russell, known as the ‘People’s Tenor’, first sang with former teenage chorister Aled on BBC’s
SongsofPraise nine years ago – now they are enjoying success selling millions of records as a duo. Here, they open up about dad dancing, their special ‘relationship’ and singing everywhere from working men’s clubs to the Vatican...
How and when did you two decide to work together?
RUSSELL: Aled and I have known each other for 20 years. He sent me a text last year, sarcastically congratulating me on being the UK’s best-selling classical artist. I texted him back saying we should do something together, and then it all moved really quickly. I have to say I’m so happy and grateful that we did, because I never thought I would ever make another album.
How do you get on together offstage – any arguments?
RUSSELL: Our friendship, or as Aled calls it, our ‘relationship’, is brilliant. Offstage we muck about even more than we do onstage. But there has never been a bad word between us, ever. I love working with Aled. ALED: He’s right. We do get along really well. I think it’s because we are both real and down to earth and feel so lucky we are still doing what we love. We are family men and dedicated to our kids and wives. Neither of us have been interested in the red-carpet brigade going to celebrity parties – we’d rather spend the night with our kids and dogs.
You’ve become quite a comedy duo during your tour. Do you ever get the giggles onstage?
RUSSELL: Yes, we do. I’ve only got to see Aled lift an eyebrow and I lose it. There was also some dad dancing that got caught on camera recently with me doing some awful moves which went viral. ALED: The music comes first but when you have 3,000 people who have paid to come and see you, I also think it’s right to give them some laughter.
Were you surprised by the success of the first album you made together last year?
RUSSELL: Absolutely, yes. Especially these days because
you put an album out and it’s in the lap of the gods as there is so much competition out there. What pleased me more is that myself and Aled have enjoyed so much success as solo artists, I never expected to have a hit record again.
You have both enjoyed incredible solo careers – what’s been the high point?
RUSSELL: There were so many things going on in my early career. I performed at the opening ceremony of the Commonwealth Games in Manchester, I sang for Pope John Paul ll, performed for the Emperor of Japan and then had dinner with him and talked about nothing but football. It’s at those times I think to myself – how did I get from singing in working men’s clubs to here? ALED: I suppose the highlight for me was being 14 years old and invited to sing for Princess Diana and Prince Charles in Kensington Palace – that takes some beating. I sat there with my mum and my piano teacher from Wales and we‘d never seen anything like it. Afterwards they took me to dinner at the Dorchester Hotel in London and I didn’t know which knife and fork to use. I did get to know Princess Diana much better over the years. I was very fond of her. We even had the same hairdresser.
Russell, next year marks 30 years since you first performed professionally, doesn’t it?
RUSSELL: Yes, it does. It’s quite something to have lasted so long in this industry, and to still be able to make albums that sell is fantastic. I’m lucky and very grateful. It’s not luck either – you must work hard and have the energy to survive in this industry.
Aled, do you remember when you started your career singing in the choir at Bangor Cathedral?
ALED: I do, yes. Then I got a record contract and I ended up recording 16 albums before I was 16 years old. I was a little machine. There was no pressure on me in those days simply because nobody had ever done it. The classical music world was very small back then.
Russell, in 2007 you nearly lost your life from a brain tumour. How is your health now?
RUSSELL: I’m feeling good right now. I still have to take a huge cocktail of drugs every day – and I will have to for the rest of my life. If I stopped taking them, I’d be dead. It’s my appreciation of life that has changed. The fact that I survived two very serious operations made me see my life so differently. When I awoke from my second operation my two girls were standing at the foot of my bed – I just broke down in tears. So, I never forget that feeling. I’m a very lucky man.