Cherubic choirboy who became the wholesome face of television
HE was the cherubic child star whose cover version of Walking In The Air reached Number 5 in the charts in 1985 and, ever since, Aled Jones has been the poster boy for the wholesome side of show business.
He was just 14 when he performed on Top Of The Pops – blond and babyfaced in blue sweatshirt and sensible slacks. But he was also supremely confident, incredibly talented and extraordinarily ambitious.
Over the next two years, he recorded 16 gold and platinum albums – mostly religious and traditional songs – and sold more than six million copies.
He performed for everyone from the Queen (more than eight times) to Pope John Paul II, he sang for Charles and Diana in their sitting room in Kensington Palace and for Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson at their wedding.
He travelled the world – performing before vast crowds at the Hollywood Bowl, and in Japan and Australia.
He was also the subject of an Emmy award-winning documentary, has collaborated with Mike Oldfield and Leonard Bernstein, has relaxed on Sir Richard Branson’s yacht and, in 1986, published his first biography.
Then, aged 16, his perfect treble broke and everything came to a juddering halt. But instead of going off the rails, he reinvented himself. He took up tennis (he reached county standard), acting (he made his stage debut in How Green Was My Valley in September 1990) and studied at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School and the Royal Academy of Music.
After that, he did it all. But always with a seemingly whiter-than-white charm – appearing as the lead in countless musicals, touring with his new baritone album and recording two singles with the late Sir Terry Wogan for Children in Need.
Just as things were beginning to fade, he popped up on Strictly Come Dancing in 2004, and suddenly was back in the limelight – touring, producing a further 13 albums, and publishing books including Aled’s Forty Favourite Hymns and Favourite Christmas Carols, as well as two more autobiographies. Aled, an only child, was bought up in Llandegfan, Wales. His mother, Nesta, was a primary school teacher and father Derek, an engineer – neither of them were remotely musical. Aled didn’t speak English until he was six and was just nine when he joined the choir of Bangor Cathedral.
Within two years he was lead soloist (though never head chorister) and was winning soloist competitions.
But his big break came after Hefina Orwig Evans, a member of the congregation, wrote to local record company Sain, eulogising him. They promptly signed him. In 1985, Aled’s Walking In The Air was the soundtrack to Christmas.
Over the years, everything he did turned to gold. His appeal never seemed to fade. Until perhaps now.
He presents his own shows on BBC Radio 2, Radio 3 and Radio Wales – although he has agreed not to appear on the BBC until the allegation is investigated. He was awarded an MBE in 2013 and last year, his album One Voice – in which he duets with his younger self – outsold Zayn Malik from One Direction’s debut album, for goodness sake.
He has been married to Claire Fossett since 2001, and has two children, Emilia, 15, an actress who has appeared in Doctor Who and Wolf Hall, and Lucas, 11.
He is said to be happily married, but occasionally, he has struggled to square reality with his family-friendly image, saying: ‘People tend to think I was a squeaky-clean cherub’ and instead insisting he is just ‘very normal’.