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Marti Pellow: "I took over from Patrick Swayze – I grew up in Clydebank!"

14 December 2023, 15:21 | Updated: 15 December 2023, 08:50

By Sian Hamer

From Wet Wet Wet and a solo singing career to West End and Broadway stages, Marti Pellow has had an 'eclectic' career.

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The Glaswegian singer joined Wet Wet Wet in 1982 while training to be a painter and decorator, singing the lead vocals on the band's biggest hits, including 'Love is All Around', 'Sweet Little Mystery' and 'Goodnight Girl'.

Then, In 1997, the band split. The band reformed in 2004, but it was 2017 when Marti announced he was leaving the band to concentrate on his solo work.

Next year, Pellow will embark on his Popped in Souled Out Tour, visiting arenas across the UK and delighting audiences with some of his biggest hits.

Marti caught up with Smooth's Angie Greaves about the upcoming tour and his career, and you can watch the full interview on Global Player here.

Marti Pellow announces Popped in Souled Out tour

The singer spoke about his Wet Wet Wet success – especially the band's cover of 'Love Is All Around', which soundtracked the 1994 film Four Weddings and a Funeral.

"[It] was a song that was recorded in a day," Marti told Angie. "Most of my number ones are songs that come to me very quickly. You're not precious about it. You're not thinking, you're just doing.

"We knew it picked us," Pellow said about the hit. "I remember seeing Richard Curtis... he sent us several songs and we thought, I'll do that one because I'd been familiar with the Troggs anyway."

As well as a passion for music, Marti also discovered he had a love for the musical stage, too.

Photocall for the Evita Musical at the Dominion Theatre, London. Marti Pellow as Che and Madalena Alberto as Eva. Picture: Alamy

"I never saw that coming," the singer said. "I remember my opening night in Broadway and I'm thinking, what's going on here?"

He added: "I think I took over for Patrick Swayze. When did that come in? I mean, I'm growing up in Clydebank, and there I am, I'm like 'Thank you, Mr Swayze. I've got this covered.'

"There I am, Broadway opening night, wearing a tuxedo, surrounded by scantily clad women, and you're like, do you need to ask me to do that again?

"Whether it was working with Tim Rice or Andrew Lloyd Webber or doing Blood Brothers... Yeah, I've got a good career and it's eclectic."

Marti Pellow on fulfilling his mum's dreams

Marti also touched upon his early career and the music that inspired him: "We were raised on a lot of lovers' rock, reggae, sunsplash."

Pellow continued: "We loved a lot of soul music, obviously, because our first album, the Memphis Sessions, we did with Willie Mitchell and Carla Thomas and Ann Peebles. And we were only like 19.

"I remember knocking on the door and Bobby Womack opened the door and we all say, 'I'm here to see Mr. Mitchell'. We'd saved up some money from a gyro. and I said, 'We want to work with Wally Mitchell.'

"And Wally Mitchell took us in and he said, 'Let me hear you sing, son'. So I sang and he said, 'I like your voice'. And that became a relationship that I'm now working with his sons and made an album with them.

Tickets for Marti Pellow's Popped in Souled Out Tour are on sale now from here.