By the time he'd turned 16, Welsh choirboy Aled Jones had sung for the Pope and the Queen.

And single-handedly steered classical music into the pop charts ... selling 6 million albums worldwide.

Then his magnificent voice broke and the boy wonder slipped out of the public spotlight.

Now 32 and a baritone, he has resumed his recording career, with Australian audiences finally having the pleasure of seeing Aled Jones sing live for the first time.

Tracy Bowden reports.

ALED JONES: Singing is everything to me, it is what I do, it is when I am my most happy.

It's when I feel my most peaceful, my most at one with God, if you like.

And it is what I've done all my life, since I was two years old, where I used to be in the bath harmonising with water coming out of the tap and stuff like that ... very freaky child ... it is just what I've always done.

NEWSCASTER: Aled Jones from Anglesey has gone straight in at number 25 in the album charts.

TRACY BOWDEN: Back in the 1980s he was the world's most famous choirboy, with the crystal clear voice of an angel.

TRACY BOWDEN: Aled Jones, the boy soprano from the Isle of Anglesey in northern Wales, took classical music into the top 40, selling 6 million albums worldwide.

TV PRESENTER: Here's a 'Top of the Pops' debut for a 14-year-old, Aled Jones, 'Walking in the Air'.

TRACY BOWDEN: How much of it was talent, how much right time, right place?

ALED JONES: Completely right place, right time, I think.

You wear a cassock and surplice, ruffle and everyone goes, "Ahh", so half the battle is won already.

I had an OK voice, there's loads of boy sopranos who sing really well.

The great thing about my career, if you like, as a boy is that I was always in control of it, my parents never pushed me to do a single job.

They were both overwhelmed by it, as overwhelmed I was, if you like.

TRACY BOWDEN: But one thing Aled Jones couldn't control was his hormones.

When he turned 16, there was only one topic of conversation.

ALED JONES: I was bored with it, every day I'd be going on TV or radio in Britain and I'd get the same question, "Why hasn't your voice broken, are you a freak?"

I was tiny.

That's why my voice didn't change.

TRACY BOWDEN: When that glorious voice did break, the teenage veteran moved out of the public spotlight.

He went to drama school, performed in musicals and hosted music and religious programmes on radio and TV.

Now Aled Jones is 32.

15 years after his last album as a child, and married with his own child, he's back doing what comes so naturally.

How would you describe your voice now compared to voice of that little boy?

ALED JONES: I get asked this quite a lot.

There is no difference in the voice apart from now it is deeper.

There is a track on one of the albums I do, 'Oh Holy Nights', where I duet with myself as a boy and you can tell it is the same person singing, it's just the voice is deeper.

TRACY BOWDEN: And that voice, now a high baritone, is still changing.

ALED JONES: The voice is getting stronger, it is getting higher so it is exciting really.

It is not something I push at.

I've started having singing lessons again.

I haven't had singing lessons since I was 19 and it is just developing.

TRACY BOWDEN: Aled Jones's style of religious and uplifting songs has once again taken him to the top of the charts.

And now he's preparing to perform for the first time in Australia.

ALED JONES: I don't go out with a huge symphony orchestra, We do do the Handel-style lilting songs, we do the hymns and the quiet pieces as well.

I do pieces with just a harp, for instance.

And that's great, because it's a lullaby I sing to my daughter -- supposed to put her to sleep, yeah right.

Some hope.

She just sits there laughing.

She thinks Dad's voice is hilarious.

TRACY BOWDEN: What is it about the Welsh and singing?

ALED JONES: We can't play rugby.

They can now, they're not bad.

They're much better, thankfully.

I don't know, really.

I think, at school we're encouraged to sing, or recite or dance or whatever.

It's a nation that loves the arts really.

TRACY BOWDEN: And for Aled Jones, recording success is even sweeter the second time around.

ALED JONES: As a boy you don't really realise what you're doing.

But I keep touching wood and just thinking, "I'm so lucky to be doing this".

I just can't quite believe it.

I'm just loving every minute.

http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2003/s1003764.htm

Susie xx