Morriston choir in tune for Howard Jones
He might be best-known for synthy pop, but the ancient form of massed singing has stayed with him since childhood, and it's a sound he was keen to revisit for his latest disc.
Howard unveils Ordinary Heroes at St David's Hall, Cardiff, with Morriston Orpheus Choir, tomorrow.
A pretty pure affair with no overdubs, just a vocal, a guitar part and a string quartet, the disc was done and dusted.
But something was missing, recalls Howard. "It was going to be the sound of a well-recorded band and a string quartet.
"I'd done the vocal and piano and I could just hear the choir coming in."
The album focuses on the closing of past chapters of life, and that perhaps gave his own childhood memories a nudge.
"When I was 11 I saw the Morriston choir at a chapel in Cardiff, and I have had this sound in my head since then.
"I remember the Welsh hymns, like Calon Lan."
Howard's mother is Treboeth-born and bred, and both his parents speak the language.
As well as tying up a loose end from his childhood, Ordinary Heroes deals with family life scenarios familiar to many.
"There is a song about my daughter leaving for university and those mixed emotions.
"Ordinary Heroes is about people's courage in everyday life. The courage you need when your kid is five and you take them to the school for the first time.
"You can't fall apart in front of everybody. And your children need courage too."
Though classically-trained, Howard says the pop world always sparkled brightest for him, even in its trashiest guise — Eurovision.
"I was always in love with pop. The first piece that hit me was Puppet On a String, from Sandie Shaw in Eurovision.
"I heard it on TV when I was nine and I went over to the piano and started playing the melody."
Mastering that baroque- flavoured tune by ear opened up a world of possibilities in his nine-year-old imagination and 20 years later he recorded a new version for Sandy.
"She hated Puppet on a String because it pigeon-holed her.
"But because it was so pivotal in my life I wanted to pay her back with a version of the song that is totally different.''
Unlikely collaborations are getting to be a feature of Howard's career.
Listen to Howard Jones
2001 saw him on the road with Ringo's All Starr Band, a convergence of the decades, which brought together the '60s icon, one of the great voices of the '70s, Ian Hunter, '80s star Howard and Greg Lake and Sheila E.
"Was there a sense that we were bringing music to the table from our own perspective, dependant upon our timeline?
"Those things apply but there is one overriding thought: If one of The Beatles asks you to be in their band, you say yes!
"I remember having the police block off the roads so we could get to the hotel in the centre of Boston because of Ringo.
"He was like the president.
''I realised I would never experience that again!"
Tomorrow's show brings another collaboration Howard is jazzed about, with Morriston Orpheus opening the show, then joining him later in the set.
"Their's is a life of singing twice a week, every week — incredible dedication to music.
"I feel loved and appreciated by them and it's mutual," he added.
Tickets: 029 2087 8444. £55, £35, £29.50, £24.50, £15.
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