IT WOULDN’T feel like Christmas if you didn’t have Aled Jones’ Walking In The Air playing in the background as you cooked your festive feast.
As it celebrates it’s fortieth anniversary this year, we reveal how his 1985 hit song has proved VERY lucrative for the classical crooner – and helped him become a secret millionaire.
Before finding fame Aled found his voice when he joined the Bangor Cathedral choir at the age of nine and became lead soloist within two years.
The singer then became a child superstar when – aged just 14 – he covered Walking In The Air from the film The Snowman, with his version reaching No5 in the UK charts in 1985.
In contrast by the time his voice broke at 16, Aled had already sold an astonishing six million albums and bintanog for the Pope, The Queen and the Prince and Princess of Wales.
Thanks to his lucrative Christmas song, and his career that followed, Aled has an estimated worth of around £10m, according to reports.
SNOWMAN SECRET
Although Aled is best known for singing Walking In The Air, many fans may not know that he didn’t actually sing it in The Snowman movie that is shown every Christmas.
Based on the book by the late Raymond Briggs, the short animated film is aired on Channel 4 every Christmas Eve.
But despite everyone always associating Aled with the famous song, he didn’t sing the original song from the movie.
It was in fact a St Paul’s Cathedral choirboy called Peter Auty who, despite his name appearing in the film’s credits every year, doesn’t get the acclaim for the song.
Peter was given a one-off £300 fee for the performance.
In an unearthered interview, the real Walking In the Air singer talked about how he feels about Aled getting all the praise.
Speaking to the BBC, he said: “At the time it, didn’t really bother me that everyone thought it was Aled.
“I was quite happy to be anonymous, but I think my mum and dad were quite miffed on my behalf.”
‘LUCRATIVE’ SONG
Despite not singing the song from the actual Snowman film, multi-millionaire Aled has since made a fortune after he covered it three years after the film’s release.
His bank balance has been boosted by the royalties he receives each year from the song.
Previously asked if he gets a windfall each Christmas, he told The Telegraph: “I did a bit. That came around every year followed by the royalty cheques each January.”
Asked if this was his “most profitable work” over the years, the singer replied: “I wouldn’t say that. There have been concerts that have paid more but I suppose over all the years, year-in, year-out, it has been lucrative.”
Speaking about how much money the song made, the man who wrote Walking In the Air echoed this.
“A lot. No one could possibly have known what The Snowman would go on to do,” Howard Blake also told The Telegraph.
“It slowly took off in the 80s but a really big step came in 1983 when Sony decided to release an album based on this children’s cartoon. It was almost unheard of.”
“It was followed in 1985 by Aled Jones’s cover version, which really took off.
Speaking about how much the song has made him, Howard added: “It has given me a very good income, meaning I can really now write what I like.”
TV AND RADIO FAME
Over the years, Aled has boosted his bank balance through his TV work, which includes his long stint on the BBC’s Songs of Praise.
The Welshman also hosted ITV’s Daybreak, and was a contestant on the 2004 edition of Strictly Come Dancing.
He has also become a popular and highly successful broadcaster, presenting radio shows on Classic FM, Radio 2 and Radio 3.
Aled also isn’t the only member of his family who is enjoying fame and fortune.
His daughter is actress Emilia Jones who was in the Oscar winning film, CODA .
The rising star is enjoying huge success in the States right now after starring alongside Glen Powell and Colman Domingo in the Running Man remake.
Aled previously opened up about his daughter’s success, and said on Good Morning Britain: “Emilia is in LA. She’s such a hard worker and did it all off her own back.
“It’s been great for me to watch from the background.
“She loves what she’s doing and is great at it.
“She’s so level headed, she does it for the work and loves being on set.”
