I know,i know! Quality X-mas track-c'mon,have a view.

[Antaletriangle]

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=aR1Ln-ctn5E
Peter Auty - His best known solo performance, was undoubtedly in 1982 when he recorded "Walking in the Air" for Howard Blake's soundtrack to The Snowman, a highly successful animated film.The original voice behind Christmas animation film The Snowman has finally been recognised - after choirboy Aled Jones claimed the credit for 20 years.
Viewers had thought Aled - now a familiar presenter of Songs of Praise - was the vocal talent behind the Walking In The Air song, which has delighted families annually since 1982.

But the youthful Welsh singer was chosen by composer Howard Blake to release a re-recorded version of the song - a huge hit that catapulted Aled to fame.

Chorister Peter Auty, who sang the version used in the animation for just £300 and was left out from the closing credits in the rush to finish the film, was reinstated by producers Monday.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/2560349.stm
Snowman singer finds voice at last



Aled Jones' version topped the UK singles chart

The original voice behind Christmas animation film The Snowman has finally been recognised - after choirboy Aled Jones claimed the credit for 20 years.
Viewers had thought Aled - now a familiar presenter of Songs of Praise - was the vocal talent behind the Walking In The Air song, which has delighted families annually since 1982.

But the youthful Welsh singer was chosen by composer Howard Blake to release a re-recorded version of the song - a huge hit that catapulted Aled to fame.

Chorister Peter Auty, who sang the version used in the animation for just £300 and was left out from the closing credits in the rush to finish the film, was reinstated by producers Monday.

Snow joke

The animation of Raymond Briggs' picture book tells the heart-warming tale of the relationship between a young boy and his friend, the Snowman, who takes him on a magical journey across the North Pole skies.

Commissioned from Snowman Enterprises by embryonic Channel 4 in 1982, it was entirely reliant on music scored by Blake, including haunting Walking In The Air.


The Snowman delighted families annually

Aled Jones was asked to record the song as a Christmas single in 1985, appearing on Top Of The Pops, and shot to an overnight fame as a child prodigy.

Mr Auty re-emerged as an tenor with a series of opera companies including Glyndebourne.

But he was never credited for The Snowman.

Producers have now created a new introduction to the film to mark its 20th anniversary, and have finally written the wrong.

'Quite miffed'

"It's great to have my name on the film after all these years. I'm really pleased people will now recognise it was me," Mr Auty 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."

A spokeswoman for Mr Jones said: "Aled sang it later on and it got confused in people's minds. They assumed Aled sang it in the film too."

Both singers will feature in a documentary about the film, Snow Business, airing on Channel 4 over Christmas.

Producer John Coates said: "We thought it was about time to set the record straight."


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/ar...-history-.html
He was close to a breakdown when composer Howard Blake had the idea for Walking In The Air. The rest is history...By Amanda Cable
Last updated at 12:02 AM on 20th December 2008
Comments (0) Add to My Stories Howard Blake loves to tell the story of the time he caught a taxi to the airport. His composition, Walking In The Air, from the animated TV film The Snowman, which was sung by Aled Jones, was topping the Christmas charts.

Howard chortles as he recalls, 'The radio in the taxi was playing The Snowman, and I asked the driver to turn it down. He said, " Listen mate, this is the best tune you'll ever hear. You should sit back and listen. You might learn about good music."

'So I sat back and said rather smugly. "Well, actually, I wrote this song. The driver turned around and said, "Oh, yeah? And I'm Father Christmas."'
Howard Blake came up with the score for Walking In The Air on a secluded beach in Cornwall, not long after a near-breakdown


With that, Howard throws back his head and roars with laughter. With his boyish face and twinkling eyes, he is not what one might expect from an eminent composer who has just turned 70. In fact, his birthday was marked by a special concert and topping the bill - with an angelic rendition of Walking In The Air - was Howard's ten-year-old son, Robert.
The enchanting story of a boy and his snowman who comes alive, is now a firmly established Christmas classic. A 26-minute animated film, first shown on Channel 4 on Christmas Eve 1982, it has become the staple diet of TV repeats every December.
While the story is heartwarming in itself, it is Howard's haunting score, and, in particular, the music and lyrics of the theme song Walking In The air, which give the film such hope and joy. Incredibly, the song was first composed when Howard was in the depths of despair.

Born to working class parents in Brighton, by the time Howard was six he had taught himself to read and play music and, at 18, he won a scholarship to the Royal College of Music.

After scraping a living as a session musician, his break came in 1968 when he was asked to compose incidental music for some of the Tara King episodes of the hugely successful cult TV series The Avengers.

'Everyone wanted me to write for The Avengers, and after that I was offered other TV shows, films and commercials, and my income suddenly leapt. I took it all on and, in the middle of it all, I got married. My wife, Mavis, didn't want to live in a pokey little flat, so we bought a lease on a house in Knightsbridge, next to Harrods.

'It was grand, imposing, impressive - and I hated it. I would find myself walking around this huge house, feeling totally displaced, and I couldn't compose a note. It was a kind of breakdown. I thought, "I can't keep going like this". It was total burnout, and I'd had enough - to the point that I didn't even care if I lived or died anymore.
'I knew I had to get away. It would mean career suicide, but I just didn't care. I said to my wife, "I've got to work out what I'm going to do, and I need to find somewhere totally silent." I packed the car, and left her on the doorstep, asking, "What do I tell people?"

Howard Blake with his son Robert, who sang the classic song at a concert to mark his father's 70th birthday
'I didn't have a clue where I was going, but I finally ended up in a tiny fishing village in Cornwall. The beach, was deserted because it was late February, and next to it was an empty holiday camp. In the corner was a small wooden chalet, all on it's own, and I thought, "That's where I need to be."

'The only heating was a single electric bar heater, but, walking into this freezing hut, in total isolation, was the first time I felt calm in months. I started reading, took up yoga and finally began to write music again.
'One day, as I walked along the deserted beach, six notes just came to my head. I jotted them down on a scrap of paper - which I still own. This was the beginning of the tune of Walking In The Air.'

Those few notes and the dog-eared scrap of paper stayed with Howard for 11 years, as he returned to London and rebuilt his life and career. His marriage collapsed - but he was composing the orchestral, choral and ballet scores he'd always dreamed of.
'But those few notes of my un-named melody kept coming back to haunt me,' he says. 'I couldn't get them out of my head - I needed to find a home for the song.'
Then, by chance, in 1982, Howard met film producer John Coates, who was working on a new animated film. This was The Snowman - based on the children's picture book by Raymond Briggs - but he needed a score to accompany it.

Howard says, 'I knew this was where my song should go.' It was only when the music was finished, that Howard decided to write lyrics to his lead melody. 'I got up one morning and thought, "I'll hire a deckchair in the park for the day and write some words.

'I didn't actually have a clue what I was going to write, but, as I stepped from the doorstep onto the pavement, and then from the pavement down onto the road, I suddenly thought about stepping into the air... walking in the air. I thought, "That's great - I've never heard anyone say that phrase." So I paid a fiver for my deckchair, and sat writing for the whole day.'
Aled Jones, who recorded Walking In The Air for a TV Commercial after the original singer's voice broke
Although many people believe that Aled Jones sang the film's theme song, it was actually recorded by Peter Auty, a 12-year-old choir boy from St Paul's Cathedral. It was only five years later, when a toy company asked to use the tune for a TV commercial, that Howard decided to re-record it.

'I rang Peter, and a deep voice answered the phone,' he says. 'His voice had broken, so he couldn't be my soloist. We didn't know who to choose, but I had seen a boy from Wales sing on the BBC's Songs Of Praise. I found out his name - and that was how The Snowman made Aled's career.'
Fifty-six and divorced with two children, Howard, now established as one of Britain's most successful composers, was to find his life changed unexpectedly. 'To be honest, I was totally fulfilled,' he says. 'I never expected I would ever fall in love again.

'It happened by chance. I went to have my picture taken for the cover of my CD, and the photographer had two Swedish friends staying. One was Diane, who was just 23. We got on so well, and I fell in love with her very quickly. She is my soulmate.'
When Robert came along, Howard was terrified of being an older father - but, he needn't have worried. 'I didn't have much to do with my older children after my divorce, so it's been wonderful to grow so close to Robert. I dance around the room to music with him. It was only when he was six that I heard him singing in the bath and realised he had a beautiful voice.'
In fact, Robert won a place with the world-renowned Stockholm Cathedral Boys Choir, and has performed several times on national television. When a concert was planned to celebrate Howard's 70th birthday, Robert was chosen as the soloist.

'I can't imagine a better way to celebrate my birthday than seeing my own boy on stage, singing my song,' he says. 'Yes, it did bring tears to my eyes. The whole evening was magical. And it snowed that night - for the first time in 70 years in London in October.'
Diane and Robert live in Stockholm, and Howard sees them every few weeks. 'We live apart,' he says, 'because Diane has her own career as a corporate lawyer, but we are such a close family unit.

'I can't wait for them to come to London for Christmas. Last year, we all went to midnight mass and the Bishop of Kensington started his sermon by saying, "There is more to Christmas than Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer and The Snowman".' With that, Howard starts to chuckle again - a musical genius who likes nothing more than to laugh.

The Snowman is at the Peacock Theatre, London; sadlerswells.com