The singing Traffic Cone on the telly sounded exactly like Aled Jones to Russell Watson’s expert ear. He would know the voice of his friend of 20 years anywhere.
And he was a bit miffed Aled had not confided in him about his stint on ITV ’s The Masked Singer earlier this year.
“Here we go, he’s still not over that,” mutters Aled, braced for the clearly well-worn accusations.
Russell usually likes to leave the talking to his chirpier pal, but now he’s on a roll. “I asked him, is that you? ‘No, absolutely not’,” he parrots.
“I sent him back the message, ‘That’s 100% you, I know your voice anywhere,’ and he wrote back and said, ‘No, I’ve never even watched the show’.
“Then there was one week I said, ‘That is you, I completely utterly know that’s you, I know that sound in your voice, no one else has it, stop telling lies’.
“And he wrote back, ‘I have it on good authority it’s Alfie Boe.’”
Our three-way Zoom call erupts loudly. The pair, who first met in 2001 at the Albert Hall and have since made two albums together, are clearly genuinely mates and genuinely good fun.
Somehow, I suspected self-proclaimed “grumpy old man” tenor Russell would have a dry wit but Aled’s a surprise. (Sorry, Aled)
Russell, 55, admits he initially harboured the same assumptions about the former child star chorister.
“I was expecting someone quite well-spoken and a little bit snobby,” he says.
“And he was nothing like that, he was the complete polar opposite – loads of fun, very nice and friendly.”
“Thanks, mate,” says Aled, 51. You sense his skin is thick.
Ever diplomatic, he adds: “I remember being blown away by Russell’s voice because it was so massive.
"I knew we would get on because we were so similar. We are both from backgrounds where work was paramount, neither of us got into it for the fame, we did it because we love singing and are willing to put in the hours.”
Aled’s teenage stardom was born out of recording The Snowman soundtrack in 1985 – although, little-known fact, he did not sing on the 1982 animation.
Russell’s late arrival to showbiz came with his debut album The Voice in 2001 after working as a bolt cutter in Salford and singing in men’s clubs.
But both working- class lads had to graft for their careers.
Aled’s early taste of fame ended when his voice broke and his bread and butter became cathedral singing.
He says: “Even though Russ went the working men’s club route, and I went the cathedral choir route, it’s kind of similar in a way. You are still singing every day.”
If one good thing came out of The Masked Singer for the Songs of Praise and Classic FM host, it’s that his pal now bombards him with photos of traffic cones, not snowmen.
But that won’t last.
The pair, Russell based in Cheshire, Aled in London, are reuniting again this summer for the first time in three years to record album Christmas With Aled and Russell then a tour from November.
And for the first time Aled is recording Walking in the Air as a duo.
Cue ribbing. “Wherever Russ goes he likes taking pictures with a snowman and sending them to me because he thinks it’s really funny,” sighs Aled.
Russell’s in stitches.
“I was walking round Harrods and there was this massive display of The Snowman, a 6ft one and tiny ones,” he says. “So I picked up 20 and cradled them in my arms.”
“It was my fourth that day,” says Aled.
Nevertheless, he is looking forward to sharing his biggest hit.
“I have sung it with boy sopranos but this is the first time I have recorded it with anyone else. If there was anyone I’d do it with, it would be Russ,” Aled says.
Russ admits it means a lot to him, too. “That piece of music is one of my fondest associations with Christmas. It makes me warm inside and a little bit tearful,” he says.
“I’m more than happy to sing it, especially with my mate.”
The pair seem to agree on most things but especially how important it is to work with someone you trust (Masked Singer aside).
Neither have had a smooth ride.
Aled, from Bangor, North Wales, his dad an engineer in an aluminium smelter, his mum a primary school teacher, has had to carry prejudgments that came with his early success all his adult career.
While Russell, whose dad was a welder at a steelworks and whose mum worked in Woolworths, battled for a long time to win recognition, only to suffer two massive setbacks.
In 2006, he was diagnosed with a benign pituitary tumour, and the next year, near fatally, it regrew and caused bleeding in the brain.
“We have been there for each other in the difficult times in our lives, Aled has been supportive,” says Russell.
Starring in a touring production of Chicago eight times a week, he insists he is in great health.
Russell said early after the second illness he was told it was unlikely he would be able to perform to previous levels.
“But I chose the other option. I’m not saying everyone could do that, but you don’t get from doing 12-hour night shifts in a backstreet factory to being one of the best- selling classical acts on the planet without being a driven lunatic,” he says.
“I want to succeed no matter what has come before me. Thankfully and luckily I have been able to achieve the things I wanted to achieve.”
Russell’s looking forward to having the singing Traffic Cone back by his side, though. “I get to see my mate again,” he says, warmly.
“We’ll have a blast,” adds Aled, clearing his phone memory for an avalanche of snowmen.
* Tickets for the Christmas With Aled and Russell UK tour are on sale now at axs.com. You can also pre-order the new album of the same name from aledandrussell.com now before it's released later this year.
