[ ClassicalX ] Aled Ringing in the season

Celebrities are often closely associated with their latest jobs, so we think of Victoria Beckham as a fashion fiend and Daniel Craig as a brooding 007.

It's a rare celeb that becomes synonymous with a season but this is where singer turned TV presenter Aled Jones is the exception to the rule.

Aled has become a traditional favourite for Christmas festivities ever since he covered Walking In The Air, from the animated film The Snowman, in 1982. The song reached number five in the charts and became an instant festive classic.

Now 37, Aled still hasn't tired of the season of goodwill -- and he's still a great fan of Walking In The Air and The Snowman. "I think it's a fantastic cartoon and it's in my set when I do Christmas concerts,'' he says. "There was a time, when I was at college, where if I went into a department store and it was playing I'd feel a bit embarrassed -- well, very embarrassed -- but now, not at all. I'd be a fool if I didn't say that there was a time where it helped keep my name in the public eye.''

Aled's passion for singing is still just as strong as when he was 12 and this Christmas he's hoping to gain a higher chart position when he sings with Terry Wogan on Little Drummer Boy to raise money for Children In Need.

He's also back on TV with a special show, Aled Jones' Ultimate Christmas Carols. "Basically it's a celebration of carols we all know and love. The carols are all performed and there's a section with the history of all the carols and how they've been used to effect through time."

While we're all familiar with Silent Night, Aled raises the song to another level of emotion when he explains when it was sung in the trenches during the bloody battles of the First World War. "There was a truce and the British troops heard the German troops singing Silent Night from the trenches and in return they sang Good King Wenceslas back,'' he says. "You think to yourself, this is phenomenal, the fact that this is the last piece of music these soldiers would have probably heard and sang."

While filming the show Aled and his team visited Assisi in Italy where St Francis lived. "It's thought that that's where the beginning of the popular carol originated. They used to be terribly complicated, but thanks to St Francis they changed. He recommended to the songwriters they make pieces of music that the common person could sing.''

Now that Aled has kids of his own, his enthusiasm for Christmas has grown even more. "We don't walk around singing Walking In The Air all the time, but I took my daughter along to see the ballet version of The Snowman last year for the first time and it was amazing. Otherwise they're just like all children. At the moment they are really looking forward to Christmas. They are already in the zone.''

Aled Jones' Ultimate Christmas Carols is on ITV1 on Wednesday December 24

Source: Dublin Herald