He was the angelic-looking choirboy who won the nation’s hearts with his 1985 version of Walking In The Air from the animated film The Snowman.
But 40 years on, it appears Aled Jones’ halo has slipped.
For the Songs Of Praise host has been accused of miming to one of his previous recordings rather than singing live on the programme as promised.
The festive furore erupted over the religious show’s Christmas Celebration, first broadcast on December 21.
It featured carols and seasonal favourites with performances from guests including former Spandau Ballet frontman Tony Hadley.
And Jones, a devout Christian and one of Songs Of Praise’s regular hosts, opens the show by saying: ‘I’ll be performing one of our best-loved carols.’
After the other stars and the 800-strong congregation, led by the Manchester Inspirational Voices gospel choir, sing live, he steps forward to perform Silent Night.
Jones says: ‘Now I’d love to share with you one of our most beautiful carols.
Jones was miming to a recording of the carol ‘Silent Night’, which he released in 2010
‘It takes us right to the heart of the Nativity – capturing the moment when Jesus was born. I hope you enjoy it.’
Holding the microphone close to his mouth, he gives the appearance of singing.
When he receives a round of applause, he thanks the congregation.
But it now seems that Jones was miming to a recording of the carol which he released in 2010.
The truth was discovered by musician Fil Henley, who presents a YouTube show titled Wings Of Pegasus.
Mr Henley was immediately suspicious, noting that while Hadley’s singing produced accidental ‘plosive’ sounds on the microphone, Jones’ did not.
And the pianist who accompanied Jones didn’t always play in time with the music.
Mr Henley ran the recording through pitch monitoring software, which showed the notes were unfeasibly precise, as if tweaked by computerised ‘auto-tune’, or ‘post pitch correction’.
The truth was discovered by musician Fil Henley, who presents a YouTube show titled Wings Of Pegasus
Pitch-tracing graphs from Jones’ 2010 CD also precisely matched the BBC rendition, still available on iPlayer, which was filmed at Victoria Hall, a Methodist church in Bolton.
Mr Henley told his followers: ‘This ‘live performance’ is just putting on the CD and pretending to sing.
‘People are watching, thinking it’s a live performance.
‘At no point does it say, ‘Aled lip-synchs to his 2010 release Silent Night’. It is being sold as something it isn’t.
‘Aled can definitely sing. This is why it’s so weird that there’s all of this pretence going on.’
A spokesman for CTVC, the production company which makes Songs Of Praise for the BBC, admitted: ‘For logistical reasons, Aled did lip-synch to Silent Night.’
The BBC refused to comment but the show’s listing on iPlayer was later altered to remove the phrase ‘Aled has chosen to sing one of his favourite carols, Silent Night’.
Last night, a BBC source said: ‘No one here even knew Aled was miming until [the Daily Mail] got in touch.’
Jones was contacted for comment.
