Aled Jones on his Christmas album, a hectic schedule and being a proud dad

ALED JONES is sure even his most diehard fans will find something they haven’t heard before on his latest album – as he hadn’t either!

One Voice At Christmas is the follow-up to his hit One Voice album.

When it came out in April, it went straight into the UK album chart at No 3, as well as staying at the top of the Classical Chart for 14 weeks.

It featured a series of duets that mixed new recordings from Aled with his boy soprano days.

The new release follows a similar principle, obviously with a festive slant, and Aled insists it is very much original-sounding material.

“It was an age ago that I recorded these songs,” Aled told iN10.

“I did so much as a kid. Spitting Image used to have a sketch of me with someone saying it was 10 minutes before my voice broke and someone else saying that’d be time for 17 albums.

“It really was like that. I’d go from one studio to the next, just recording and recording.

“So I never listed to this music. Now, recording carols such as In The Bleak Mindwinter and Little Road To Bethlehem, I’m hearing versions I’d never heard before.

“I was coming to them fresh and thinking, ‘Hey, young Aled actually sounds quite good’.

The new album features a new setting of It Came Upon A Midnight Clear, composed by Howard Goodall, plus a collaboration on Silent Night with guitarist John Williams, who Aled coaxed out of retirement.

Especially poignant is a duet with the late Terry Wogan on Little Drummer Boy, a single the pairing had previously released for charity.

Naturally the 13 tracks include Walking In The Air, rearranged for 2016 by Howard Blake.

It was, of course, singing that for The Snowman that catapulted Aled to global fame.

But while families across the land made sitting down to watch The Snowman a must-do part of their Christmas, Aled says that’s actually never been the case at home with his wife Claire and their two kids, Emilia, 14, and Lucas, 11.

“I definitely wouldn’t cringe if it was on as it’s an amazing cartoon,” confides Aled. “I’m so lucky to have my name associated with something of such quality.

“But we don’t sit down as a family and watch it.

“I don’t know that I’ve ever sat down and watched it with the gang, although I’m sure they’ve seen it over and over on their own.”

The new version of Walking In The Air will be the one heard in the stage version of The Snowman that recently opened at the Peacock Theatre in London.

The album is merely one facet of Aled’s incredibly busy life.

Just listening to him run down the list of projects is enough to make you feel like you need a sit down and a reviving cuppa.

He flew to Shanghai a few weeks ago for a concert and there are his regular slots on Classic FM. His Weekend show returns to ITV on Saturdays and Sundays in March, 2017, before which there’s another BBC series and his other TV work such as Songs Of Praise.

There will also be tours, but he insists he is careful about his work/life balance.

“For about 10 years I was away all the time. There was Escape To The Country, Cash In The Attic, Songs Of Praise, so much stuff.

“It’s my job, but now I’m so happy that with Weekend I’m in London a lot more.

“And if I’m less than two hours away doing a concert then I’ll always come home.

“I think I’ve got the balance completely right now as I’m home most nights.”

Aled isn’t the only one in the family with a showbiz career to consider these days.

Daughter Emilia had a small part in one of the Pirates Of The Caribbean films and more recently she’s made movies with David Tennant and Kit Harrington and shared a stage with Amanda Holden in Shrek: The Musical.

But despite being a child star himself, Aled says he hasn’t been offering her any advice.

“She goes from one film to another,” he adds.

“I was very aware though, that I didn’t want my name plastered all over her career, so I’m just a proud dad, really.”