CELEBRITY
LOCAL LEGEND BACK TO FIND SINGING SENSATIONS OF THE FUTURE Bangor-born singing sensation Aled Jones is on home turf this May for a mini tour celebrating choral singing. The 46-year-old captured the hearts of the nation singing Walking In The Air, from the 80s smash-hit animated film The Snowman, and has remained popular ever since. Aled talks to Shire Magazine about what he is hoping to find as he searches the nation for choirs to join him onstage…
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led Jones will be visiting William Aston Hall in Wrexham for one night only this month as part of an exclusive five-venue tour and the one-time schoolboy soprano will be joined on stage by local choirs who have been applying in their hundreds to sing alongside him. Adults, children, professionals and amateurs have all been clamouring for the once-ina-lifetime opportunity and Aled says the standard of those competing to enter has been impressive: ‘’I’m really excited about hitting the road again and singing in these fabulous venues. I’m a firm believer that we have the greatest choral tradition here in the UK and I’m really excited to be sharing the stage and singing with some of our greatest choirs.’ Hoping to discover future singing stars, the former child prodigy is planning to encourage talented performers to take to the stage and carve out their own careers in the spotlight. Discovered as a child, Aled was one of the world’s most successful boy sopranos after making his professional debut aged just 12 performing the role of the Angel in Handel’s Oratorio Jeptha on BBC2 and BBC Radio 3.
By the time Walking In The Air was released in 1985 he had already produced 12 albums and in the decades since he’s released 31, selling over eight million records to date. 2016 was another yet amazing success for Aled who released One Voice, an album that went on to take number three in the album chart and held the top spot in the classical album chart for 14 weeks, making him the best-selling classical artist of the year. Born and bred in Bangor, and only speaking Welsh until he was six, Aled is particularly looking forward to returning to his native North Wales on Monday 8th May, for the Wrexham concert. Now a regular on TV, presenting Songs Of Praise and the ITV Weekend series, Aled has a popular weekly radio slot on Classic FM. One genre he vows not to be lured into is reality television, despite an enjoyable spell on Strictly Come Dancing in 2004. Happy to take part in the series as he learnt a new skill, got fit and had fun, he maintains that will be his one and only concession so fans won’t be seeing him in the jungle or ski jumping anytime soon! Go to www.seetickets.com
A L E D ’ S J O U R N E Y: F R O M C H O I R B OY TO H O U S E H O L D N A M E 1970 Born in Bangor 1979 Joined the choir of Bangor Cathedral 1981 Became lead soloist 1982 Won the Cerdd Dant solo competitions for competitors under 12 at the Urdd Eisteddfod. 1985 Reached number 5 in the charts with the cover version of Walking In The Air 1985 Was the subject of BBC documentary The Treble 1986 Career paused as voice
broke but first autobiography published 1990 Acting debut at the Royal Theatre, Northampton 1995 Took lead role in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat 1996-1997 Toured in a large production of Hard Times 2004 Became a contestant on series 2 of BBC1’s Strictly Come Dancing, making it to week seven and into the Christmas Special
2005 Launched second autobiography 2006 Presented Good Morning Sunday on BBC Radio 2 2008 Played the lead role of Caracatus Potts in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang 2010 Took over from Sarah Kennedy presenting on BBC Radio 2 2011 Began presenting Escape to the Country for BBC
2012 Replaced Adrian Chiles as regular presenter of ITV’s Daybreak programme 2013 Awarded the MBE for his services to music and broadcasting 2014 Began presenting the Weekend morning television show 2014 Nominated as an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music
May/June 2017 | SHIRE MAGAZINE 57
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