Aled’s life is a song and dance

All this from the man who admits he didn't dance at his own wedding.

"I thought they were having a laugh when I was first asked to do Strictly Come Dancing. You know I'm the man who didn't dance on his wedding day. I hid in the bar!" he admits.

Although Aled was voted off the show last Saturday his enthusiasm is still abundant. "SCD has been a fantastic opportunity for me to learn a new craft," he says.

Professional and personal achievements are very close to Aled's heart. He was the boy soprano the nation loved.

Famous for his song Walking in the Air although contrary to popular belief it is not him singing on the The Snowman film soundtrack Aled's albums sold in their millions. His eight-year career took him all over the world. Then at 16, his voice broke.

"My mum was crying, my manager was crying, everyone seemed to be crying about it but me!" he says. Now a 30-something husband and proud father to two-year-old Emelia, Aled has a new career as an adult.

"When you have had a successful career as a youngster and you come back and release an album, you're waiting for people to knock it. The relief of knowing it was a success was such a thrill," he says.

His two albums have hit the top of the classical charts and he has become a favourite presenter and performer in the BBC's Songs of Praise.

He presents programmes for BBC Radio Wales and Classic FM. Last year he toured for the first time and he's back again this week at Fairfield Concert Hall.

His tour has been squeezed in around all the promotional hype and dancing lessons for SCD.

All those rolling rumba and cheeky cha cha cha moves have not been in vain. Aled is now 21lbs lighter and he reckons the exercise has been the making of him.

He has had so much on his plate how did he fit it all in?

"The dancing has made me a lot more confident and it's also improved the voice no end. I find it's a doddle on stage now. It's made me a lot more confident. It must be all the strict Russian teaching I've had. After the first day of training my legs were so stiff I couldn't move," he laughs.

Aled has managed shed his image as the angelic choirboy and does not see it as a burden.

"I'm proud of what I did as a child. I wouldn't have come back as a singer if the feeling and emotion I had as a child had not come back to me. I didn't want to be little Aled Jones who used to sing a bit and who now is pretty hopeless at everything," he says honestly.

His current tour is perfect for the season and promotes the new Aled Jones: The Christmas Album. He has managed to take familiar material and make it fresh and inspiring. Once again it comes from the heart.

"I thought about it a lot and discussed it with my producer, Robert Prizemen, for ages and ages, more than we had spoken about my previous two albums, because we are aware that people see a Christmas album as a kind of artistic filler. And that's certainly not what this is," he says.

"From birth I've listened to and sung church music and it gets into you. I have done so many other kinds of music, but the minute I returned to this sort of music something clicked inside me. I'm not thinking about the words, the music, anything; it's as if I'm transported to a different place," he adds.

He describes his version of Away in a Manger as "mind blowing" which indicates his passion for a project that combines traditional and modern carols.

He likes to be regarded as spiritual, as someone who has made sacred music inspiring and fun without falling into the trap of becoming pious an antidote perhaps to his steamy dance routines on the telly!

Although he scolds Bruce Forsythe for having used the "Waltzing in the Air" quip too many times, secretly I think Aled is thrilled with this new string to his bow.

Maybe all that dance training can be put to use in a West End musical.

Meanwhile catch him at Fairfield this Friday (December 10) at 8pm. Tickets are £18.50. Call 020 8688 9291.