NOT so long ago, Aled Jones must have thought that he would never shake off his old image of the blond, bow-tied, angelic-looking choirboy singing Walking In The Air.

Then he swapped his everyday clothes for sparkly wrap-around shirts and shiny trousers on BBC1's Strictly Come Dancing, in which he came third last year.

Nowadays, people don't rib the Anglesey singer about The Snowman any more and younger people who don't remember him as a boy soprano have started to approach him for his autograph.

Being thrown into the spotlight as a pint-sized star doesn't seem to have had any negative effect on Aled, who never went down the drink and drugs road.

Now he presents on radio and television and performs 100 concerts a year. Recently he performed in a tsunami relief concert at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff.

His career has taken him from boy soprano to theatrical musical lead to radio and TV presenter and baritone, a progression that's changed his own perception of himself. He said: "A few years ago I would have been a presenter who sang, but now I'm definitely a singer who presents."

Aled: The Autobiography by Aled Jones with Darren Henley is published by Virgin, priced £18.99