“I was more nervous than the bride,” says singer and presenter Aled Jones of his first wedding as a registrar.

Decades after he rose to fame as a choirboy, Walking in the air and having recorded more than 40 albums that sold millions of copies, the Welshman is now qualified to conduct weddings, baptisms and funerals.

He said he was inspired to start training after discovering that his songs are among the most requested at funerals.

“It really affected me,” he told Lucy Owen on BBC Radio Wales.

“While recording Songs of Praise I was told that my version of You Raise Me Up is the most requested piece in British crematoria.

“I couldn’t believe that people would choose my voice for something so important. And so I felt like I had to learn how to do that, to learn more about it.

“So I learned about funerals first, and then came the weddings, the baptisms and everything that went with it.”

The 53-year-old singer from Llandegfan, Anglesey, has not yet officiated at a funeral, but his first few weddings were “joyful” and nerve-wracking.

“It was horrible, honestly, I was shaking. I’m used to singing in front of thousands of people, but when I stood there, I think there were only 26 people, and you know, all eyes were on me, until the bride arrived, thank God, and then I just did my thing.”

One couple even enjoyed a performance by Aled during their ceremony.

“I’ve done a number of weddings and they were such joyful events.”

But he hasn’t given up his day job. From September he’ll be touring the UK on his Full Circle tour, performing songs from his One Voice albums, on which he duets with recordings of himself singing as a choirboy.

The idea for the albums came about by chance.

“I was having dinner with Mum and Dad in North Wales, and Dad casually said, ‘Hey, there’s an old album of yours in the music cabinet.’

“There was an old tape that we had been given when my voice broke, that had never been recorded. It had been there for 25 years.

“It was just so weird”

“I took it back to London and threw it in a drawer. And about three or four years later I thought, you know what, I’m going to listen to it.

“I was in the car after a gig with my musical director and started playing the song and singing along with little Aled. It was just so weird.

“We went into the studio with our first album, not knowing what was going to happen. It became my biggest selling album ever, I think it was number three on the pop charts and stuff like that.

“But there aren’t any left in the closet, so you know, there won’t be any more One Voice albums.”

After decades of singing, presenting and writing, Aled admits his new career path as a celebrant is somewhat unexpected.

“It’s weird, isn’t it? Life takes you down strange paths sometimes.”

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