‘A real job would kill me’ | UK News

In the 80s and 90s, Marti Pellow owned the cheekiest smile in pop music.

Those won over by that smile might find it hard to believe the former Wet Wet Wet frontman turned 60 this year.

But the smile – and the music – is still very much all around for the chart-topping Scot.

He is about to kick off a nationwide arena tour celebrating the 30th anniversary of his biggest hit Love is All Around.

Age seems to be just a number for the singer these days.

“Most people get to their 60s and are thinking, ‘Feet up, golf course, holidays,'” he says.

“Fair play to people who enjoy that. But my vocation and my passion – it happens to be my job.”

For Pellow, turning 60 isn’t about winding down.

“When I put my feet on the ground, I’m like, ‘What am I going to do today? What do I want to do today?’ And that’s a humbling experience in one hand and a gift to have.”

Speaking to The Saturday Show on Radio Scotland, he said his motivation to keep going was rooted in his childhood, and a family that worked hard and had big dreams.

“My dad was in the building trade,” he said. “My mum was a cleaner in a school. But my mum had aspirations to be a singer back in the day. Then real life got in the way.

“My brother was born, I was born, and you park those dreams up.”

Singing was something he got from his mum.

“I believe that when I was a wee boy watching my mum singing, that I was programmed there and then that I would become a singer, because I connected with her and through the gift of song.”

Now, with decades of success behind him and a loyal fan base, Pellow is embracing everything that comes next.

“If I still continue to do it and have a fan base who are supportive, then I think it’s about challenging yourself.”

As he puts it, “A real job would kill me.”

He’s been a band frontman, a solo artist and a musical theatre star in productions including Chicago, Chess and The Witches of Eastwick.

Pellow now performs without the other members of Wet Wet Wet, having toured off and on with them over the years, but splitting permanently in 2017.

The band formed in1982, comprising Clydebank High School pals Tommy Cunningham, Neil Mitchell and Graeme Clark.

“I think that youth and arrogance is a heady mixture,” Pellow said.

“If you have a dream or a vision and you get one other person that’s subscribed to it… two, it’s a hard one, three and four and five – then it’s a power of the collective and it starts to work.

“And I think that’s where it is, self-belief and hopefully a plan and having a God-given talent that you can nurture.”

After every achievement, the group would set a new dream and push the limits.

“When I was sitting on the banks of the river, I was watching those ships sail out the River Clyde.

“I’d look at the back of those ships and it would say, Sao Paolo, or Argentina, or Brazil and I think, I wonder if I’ll ever get there.

“Well, I didn’t get there by building ships. I got there by building songs, and that’s what took me round the world.”

His parents were supportive, but could only help him up to a point.

He said: “My dad was scared because he didn’t know a man who could get me on Top of the Pops.”

Wet Wet Wet sold more than 15 million records and enjoyed a celebrity lifestyle.

But like many bands, relationships fell into difficulty and Pellow hit his own troubles.

The smiling superstar faced a battle with addiction.

“Well, I think that you can imagine what fame is, right?,” he told Scotland.

“I always thought it was like looking in to a beautiful room and everything’s soft and everything’s warm in there and everybody’s having a great time.

“It’s not until you get in the room that you realise that the chair isn’t as comfortable as what you think it is.

“That room’s a wee bit spiky to navigate.”

He added: “Living in the basement, suddenly you find yourself in a penthouse and you can’t get off at any level to kind of take in how it’s happening to you.

“Some people deal with it good, some people don’t.”

The Marti Pellow story continues with his 30th anniversary tour which begins in Bournemouth next week, and a new album The Game.

As if all that was not enough, he vows to keep going, albeit with an appreciation of the opportunity.

“Sometimes I’ll sit, because I can sit and look out the window for hours.

“And I’ll think to myself, ‘I’d love to do that, I’d love to do that.

“Then you understand about the circle of life.

“And I think: I need two lives.”