The Saturday Show on BBC Radio Scotland<\/a>, he said his motivation to keep going was rooted in his childhood, and a family that worked hard and had big dreams.<\/p>\n“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.<\/p>\n
“My brother was born, I was born, and you park those dreams up.”<\/p>\n
Singing was something he got from his mum.<\/p>\n
“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.”<\/p>\n
Now, with decades of success behind him and a loyal fan base, Pellow is embracing everything that comes next.<\/p>\n
“If I still continue to do it and have a fan base who are supportive, then I think it’s about challenging yourself.”<\/p>\n
As he puts it, “A real job would kill me.”<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/1760610732_866_grey-placeholder.png\")
![\"PA](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/1cf208d0-aab2-11f0-8051-295629adf78e.jpg.webp.webp\")
PA Media<\/p>\n
Performing at the Christmas special of Strictly Come Dancing in 2006<\/p>\n
He’s been a band frontman, a solo artist and a musical theatre star in productions including Chicago, Chess and The Witches of Eastwick.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
The band formed in1982, comprising Clydebank High School pals Tommy Cunningham, Neil Mitchell and Graeme Clark.<\/p>\n
“I think that youth and arrogance is a heady mixture,” Pellow said.<\/p>\n
“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.<\/p>\n
“And I think that’s where it is, self-belief and hopefully a plan and having a God-given talent that you can nurture.”<\/p>\n
After every achievement, the group would set a new dream and push the limits.<\/p>\n
“When I was sitting on the banks of the river, I was watching those ships sail out the River Clyde.<\/p>\n
“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.<\/p>\n
“Well, I didn’t get there by building ships. I got there by building songs, and that’s what took me round the world.”<\/p>\n
His parents were supportive, but could only help him up to a point.<\/p>\n
He said: “My dad was scared because he didn’t know a man who could get me on Top of the Pops.”<\/p>\n
![\"Getty](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/60422df0-ab3d-11f0-b2a1-6f537f66f9aa.jpg.webp.webp\")
Getty Images<\/p>\n
Wet Wet Wet formed in 1987 in Clydebank, outside Glasgow<\/p>\n
Wet Wet Wet sold more than 15 million records and enjoyed a celebrity lifestyle.<\/p>\n
But like many bands, relationships fell into difficulty and Pellow hit his own troubles.<\/p>\n
The smiling superstar faced a battle with addiction.<\/p>\n
“Well, I think that you can imagine what fame is, right?,” he told BBC Scotland.<\/p>\n
“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.<\/p>\n
“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.<\/p>\n
“That room’s a wee bit spiky to navigate.”<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
“Some people deal with it good, some people don’t.”<\/p>\n
The Marti Pellow story continues with his 30th anniversary tour which begins in Bournemouth next week, and a new album The Game.<\/p>\n
As if all that was not enough, he vows to keep going, albeit with an appreciation of the opportunity.<\/p>\n
“Sometimes I’ll sit, because I can sit and look out the window for hours.<\/p>\n
“And I’ll think to myself, ‘I’d love to do that, I’d love to do that.<\/p>\n
“Then you understand about the circle of life.<\/p>\n
“And I think: I need two lives.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty Images No sign of slowing down: Pellow on stage at Radio 2 In The Park in Chelmsford…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":221676,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[64,63,134,136],"class_list":["post-221675","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-entertainment","tag-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221675","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=221675"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221675\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/221676"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=221675"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=221675"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=221675"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Getty](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/9d4140f0-aa8f-11f0-b2a1-6f537f66f9aa.jpg.webp.webp\")
Getty Images<\/p>\n