Wet Wet Wet

Wet Wet Wet stand among the most commercially dominant British acts spanning the 1980s and 1990s, yet their legacy centers chiefly on the global reach of “Love Is All Around,” the Troggs cover they supplied for the Four Weddings and a Funeral soundtrack.

The quartet came together in Glasgow in 1982, borrowing its name from a Scritti Politti track. Schoolmates Marti Pellow on vocals, drummer Tommy Cunningham, bassist Graeme Clark, and guitarist Neil Mitchell formed the core lineup, while Graeme Duffin joined early recording sessions as an additional guitarist and eventually functioned as the group’s unofficial fifth member. Their debut single, “Wishing I Was Lucky,” surfaced in early 1987 and climbed to number six on the British chart, setting the stage for the September release of Popped In Souled Out. That album itself proved a major seller and yielded further hits in “Sweet Little Mystery,” “Temptation,” and “Angel Eyes (Home and Away).”

In 1988 the band issued The Memphis Sessions, a set recorded before their debut yet held back until its success justified release. The same year they secured their first British number one with a charity version of the Beatles’ “With a Little Help from My Friends.” Their proper follow-up, Holding Back the River, arrived in 1989 and nearly matched the debut’s impact, steering the sound toward polished pop while incorporating occasional blues accents. “Sweet Surrender” fared well, though subsequent singles “Broke Away,” “Hold Back the River,” and “Stay with Me Heartache” made limited chart impression.

High on the Happy Side, an album of radio-friendly ballads, returned the band to the upper reaches of the chart in 1992 on the strength of “Goodnight Girl.” Two years later their contribution to the Four Weddings and a Funeral soundtrack, the same “Love Is All Around” cover, spent fifteen weeks at number one in Britain and propelled the greatest-hits collection End of Part One to strong sales. Picture This followed in 1995 and sold respectably without generating major singles. By the time 10 appeared in 1997, internal fractures had surfaced: Cunningham had already departed to launch Sleeping Giants, and Pellow soon left to pursue solo work, though the remaining members kept the band active.

Pellow’s first solo album, Smile, emerged on Mercury in 2001. He rejoined in 2004 for the jangly, country-infused single “All I Want,” issued alongside Wet Wet Wet: The Greatest Hits. Three years later the group delivered Timeless, whose artwork Klaus Voorman designed as a playful nod to his 1966 Revolver sleeve; the record also contained “Weightless,” their first U.K. Top Ten single in more than a decade. In 2012 they reconvened for a one-off celebration at Glasgow Green marking the twenty-fifth anniversary of Popped In Souled Out, an event that prompted a major arena tour of greatest-hits material the following year. Pellow stepped away once more in 2017 to focus on solo projects and was succeeded by former Liberty X vocalist Kevin Simm. Under Simm’s leadership the band released The Journey in 2021, their first collection of new songs in over ten years.