Aled Jones collaborated with the songwriter responsible for penning the theme tune for ‘The Vicar of Dibley’ on his new album.
The 45-year-old star released ‘One Voice at Christmas’ on Friday (25.11.16) and the LP contains new carol ‘It Came Upon a Midnight Clear’ composed by Howard Goodall, who as well as writing the intro music for Dawn French’s acclaimed comedy also provided TV themes for sitcoms ‘2point4 Children’, ‘Red Dwarf’ and ‘The Catherine Tate Show’.
As well as the carol, Aled can also be heard duetting with his younger self on his signature song ‘Walking In The Air’ – which he originally recorded when he was just 12 for the 1982 animated film ‘The Snowman – which has been updated by original songwriter Howard Blake and he admits it was fantastic to work with the two talented Howards.
Speaking exclusively to BANG Showbiz, he said: "Howard Goodall, who wrote the theme to ‘The Vicar of Dibley’, he’s written a brand new carol for me, which is fantastic. And Howard Blake has written a brand new duet for ‘Walking In The Air’ – we managed to find my original vocal to ‘Walking In The Air’ and we’ve managed to go in the studio and have me sing it as a man with my boy voice and recorded a totally unique duet of it. It was very different recording ‘Walking In The Air’ as a man because Howard’s written a totally new arrangement, it covers three octaves so there’s lots of falsetto and lots of low notes as well. It’s come out beautifully and it’s going to be used for ‘The Snowman’ stage show as well."
The new LP – released on the Classic FM label – is inspired by Aled’s last ‘One Voice’, which is comprised of classical and folk songs performed by him as a duet with recordings of himself that were made when he was 15 years old.
Aled was thrilled to get the chance to do the same with ‘Walking In The Air’ because it is the piece of music that catapulted him to fame and gave him his career.
He said: "The last album featured me duetting with my younger self, and the amazing thing is that this album was found in one of mum and dad’s cupboards. I never thought it would be as successful as it was as it was album 31 for me. It spent 15 weeks at number one in the classic charts. On the back of it everyone will always think of me as part of Christmas because of ‘The Snowman’ so we decided to do the same thing. This is music from the very beginning of my boy voice. These are recordings of the first tracks I ever made which were only ever sold in Wales … There’s something quite satisfying about singing with my younger voice, it’s really the first time I’ve listened to it properly, when I was a kid … With this album I actually listened to my boy voice and it’s been nice to go full circle and think, ‘Yeah, that little boy was quite good.’ Now I get to appreciate it and get the chance to work with myself which is unique."
‘One Voice at Christmas’ also includes a number of popular festive songs including ‘O Holy Night’, ‘O Come, O Come, Emmanuel’ and ‘Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas’.
Aled Jones records new Christmas carol with Vicar of Dibley theme songwriter
