Marti Pellow from Wet Wet Wet in Stockton

Former Wet Wet Wet singer Marti Pellow is about to go out on his Greatest Hits tour which visits the newly refurbished Stockton Globe. I asked the singer about his career to date and his visit to the North East.

What can we expect on your new tour?

“It does what it says on the tin really – it is the greatest hits tour. I could do a lot of stuff that people might not be as familiar with but this tour is all about entertaining not educating people with my newer songs. People tend to want to hear songs that they are familiar with, the songs might not have been written by me but if it’s a good song and people know it then I’ll sing it. I kind of enjoy being a story teller and a lot of the songs I sing do tell a story.”

Why do you think that the 80’s were such a good period for music?

“I think we were just getting our heads around what happened in the sixties in the eighties, if you listen to a lot of those eighties songs it was all about the production and sound, the synthesiser was one of the musical instruments that made a big difference to the sound of many of those songs.

“With Wet Wet Wet we tried to use timeless instruments and write songs that you could play on a piano or guitar.”

Are you a lot happier now than you were in the past?

“I think that through the whole of my life I have been a positive person. Hindsight can be a good thing but life deals you with many cards. I think over the years I have become more aware of the circle of life and now I feel more connected to deal with the problems that happen in my life and I still have a passion for what I do. Ultimately though it is all about having that quality of life.”

Was success as good as you imagined it to be?

“When you are younger you have this idea in your head about how you think fame will be but when you do get success it is not always what you thought it would be. From the outside the room might appear to be warm and cosy but when you go in it can be spiky and cold. Real life catches up on you very early and the door can close very quickly.”

Do you enjoy being a singer or an actor the most?

“Being a singer and a songwriter is my main passion but acting and being on the stage was a challenge, I have done so many different things such as pantomime, Chicago, Witches of Eastwick, Chess…so many, it’s like having a bag of tricks, I get to use a different tool each time.”

What has been your biggest achievement in your career so far?

“When you start off you have this wish and a dream then it becomes reality, that in itself is an achievement. When people come up to me in the street and tell that they got married to Love Is All Around or when we first fell in love Goodnight Girl was our song, things like that are a great achievement to me.”

Do you listen to any of today’s artists?

“I am really excited about a new artist from Scotland called Joesef he has a great voice and I think is a wonderful singer/songwriter. Discovering new music has changed so much since Wet Wet Wet began, social media has made a huge difference, you have so much new music you can discover at the touch of a button- it really is mind blowing!!

You are playing the newly renovated Stockton Globe on this tour, are you excited?

“I am! I understand that it has been closed for many years and the facelift that they have given it looks fantastic, it should be a wonderful place to play and I am looking forward to it very much, I understand that a lot of big acts have played at The Globe such as The Rolling Stones and The Beatles.”

“I did some shows over the summer and it was good to see smiles on people’s faces again, they do put a spring in my step, I can feel their energy and that rubs off on me.”

Marti Pellow plays The Globe in Stockton on 24 November, 

Read more by Graham Clark