Marti Pellow

Hailing from Scotland, Marti Pellow first gained prominence in the late 1980s as lead vocalist for Wet Wet Wet. The pop outfit’s glossy mix of soft rock and blue-eyed soul generated a string of successes that extended well into the following decade. Their commercial high point arrived with a chart-topping rendition of the Troggs’ “Love Is All Around,” an international hit boosted by its placement in the film Four Weddings and a Funeral. Starting with the gold-certified Smile in 2000, Pellow embarked on a varied solo path that encompassed pop, R&B, jazz, and showtunes. At the same time he maintained a steady presence on stage, taking lead roles in productions such as Chicago, Chess, and Evita and making occasional television appearances. When Wet Wet Wet regrouped in the mid-2000s, Pellow again served as frontman on their 2007 album Timeless and continued touring with the band between his own projects until leaving in 2017. After issuing the collaborative Mysterious, he focused on live performances of his material and brought out his eleventh record, Stargazer, at the start of 2021.

Born Mark McLachlan in Clydebank, Scotland, on March 23, 1965, Pellow was seventeen when he helped form Wet Wet Wet alongside Neil Mitchell, Graeme Clark, Tommy Cunningham, and Graeme Duffin. After signing with PolyGram in 1985, the group notched their debut hit two years later with “Wishing I Was Lucky” and reached their first U.K. number one in 1988 via a cover of the Beatles’ “With a Little Help from My Friends” recorded for the ChildLine charity. Further successes such as “Sweet Surrender” and “Goodnight Girl” paved the way for a 1994 version of the Troggs’ “Love Is All Around,” prominently featured in the romantic comedy Four Weddings and a Funeral and then holding the British summit for fourteen straight weeks. Although 1997’s 10 performed strongly, internal tensions surfaced; Pellow, then battling heroin addiction, departed in 1999.

Once sober, he began collaborating with Squeeze’s Chris Difford, who contributed lyrics to several new solo compositions. Pellow made his solo bow with 2001’s Smile, which yielded the modest hits “Close to You” and “I’ve Been Around the World,” and followed it with the 2002 collection Marti Pellow Sings the Hits of Wet Wet Wet & Smile that included fresh takes on his former band’s songs. Another eclectic covers set, Between the Covers, appeared in late 2003, and the next year he took the role of attorney Billy Flynn in a West End staging of Chicago. In 2004 Wet Wet Wet declared a reunion tour and cut the new track “All I Want” for a forthcoming greatest-hits package. At the conclusion of that tour Pellow joined forces with soul producer Willie Mitchell for the 2006 solo album Moonlight Over Memphis. Throughout 2007 he stayed active with the release of Wet Wet Wet’s eighth album Timeless, a guest spot on the BBC contest Just the Two of Us, and a jazz project that surfaced the following year as Sentimental Me. Also in 2008 he portrayed the Arbiter in a Royal Albert Hall presentation of Chess, later issued in both audio and video formats as Chess in Concert.

Pellow sustained his momentum into the next decade with 2010’s Devil and the Monkey. His lush, orchestral seventh album, 2011’s Love to Love, returned him to the British Top 40 while he starred in a touring production of Jekyll and Hyde. Keeping up a steady output, he completed two further records—2013’s Hope and 2014’s Boulevard of Life—while taking the part of Che Guevara in a major Evita revival. For the richly funky 2017 album Mysterious he assembled an all-star cast at Ocean Way studios in Los Angeles, working with percussionist Lenny Castro, guitarist Dean Parks, drummer Herman Matthews, bassist Freddie Washington, and the Tower of Power horns. The subsequent year he marked three decades in music with the Private Collection Tour, revisiting his catalog across sold-out U.K. dates. Live work continued into 2019, including a Glastonbury appearance, before the COVID-19 pandemic halted concerts throughout 2020. Remaining connected with fans, Pellow streamed classic songs and covers from his spare room, raised funds for local charities, and began work on his eleventh studio album, Stargazer, which arrived early in 2021.