MATTHEW LINDSAY
Think of Wet Wet Wet and the first thing that comes to mind is likely to be Marti Pellow, a twinkle in his eyes, ‘big, cheesy grin’ and a blueeyed soul voice. In the popular imagination, Marti Pellow is Wet Wet Wet. So when the singer quit in the middle of 2017, panic swept through the band.
First there was anger, not personal, just professional, says the band’s drummer Tommy Cunningham. Tours had been tentatively proposed, including Australia, according to bassist and songwriter Graeme Clark. For keyboard player Neil Mitchell, the news came as a bolt from the blue: “I didn’t actually speak to Marti. We did four or five shows, finished in Edinburgh, then went home. After that, his manager phoned the band manager – he has his own theatrical manager – who told us Marti wanted to leave. Marti didn’t give us any inclination that was the case. He is his own man, doesn’t give much away. But we got a shock and I didn’t really expect it.”