Marti Pellow
Marti Pellow ( maiden name Mark McLachlan - Pellow was the maiden name of his mother, born March 23, 1965 in Clydebank , Scotland ) is a Scottish soul and pop singer and the lead singer of the Scottish band Wet Wet Wet , with whom he had his first hits in 1987. Since leaving Wet Wet Wet in 1999, he has also been successful as a solo artist, especially in Great Britain.
Personal
Marti Pellow grew up in the working-class Clydebanks district outside of Glasgow. As a boy he sold newspapers to the workers who poured from the shipyards into the surrounding pubs. His mother's soul record collection inspired him to sing. He attended Clydebank High School, where he started making music in 1977 with his schoolmates and later wet-wet-wet bandmates Graeme Clark, Tommy Cunningham and Neil Mitchell.
He left Wet Wet Wet in May 1999 a few months after he became aware of his drug addiction. He was found unconscious in a London hotel in late February. His fiancée - ex-Miss Scotland Eileen Catterson - then announced that he had been addicted to heroin for three years . This news came as a complete surprise to the public. “He was the decent kid with the nice grin. When people found out he was doing drugs, they were shocked, especially because there had never been any rumors, ”said a Scottish tabloid reporter. Pellow then successfully participated in a drug rehab program.
Solo career
In 2001 he released his solo debut album Smile and the singles Close to you and I've been around the world . The album was co-produced by Willie Mitchell , with whom Wet Wet Wet had already recorded the 1988 album The Memphis Sessions . As on the later albums, Chris Difford from Squeeze acted as text writer . That same year, Pellow was made Honorary Citizenship of the City of Memphis , Tennessee .
From June 10 to November 16, 2002 he successfully sang the role of Billy Flynn in the musical Chicago in London's West End and then in 2004 on Broadway. Between February 2003 and March 2005 he performed in various locations in Great Britain - including Glasgow, Oxford and Edinburgh - and also in Dublin and Tokyo in Chicago . He also released his second solo album, Marti Pellow sings the hits of Wet Wet Wet and Smile , for which he re-recorded songs from Wet Wet Wet and his first solo album.
In 2003 an album with cover songs was released - Between the Covers . Neil Young's "A Lot of Love" was released as a single. In October of that year he met his bandmates from Wet Wet Wet at his mother's funeral, which led to the band announcing their reunion at a press conference in early 2004.
In October 2006 he released Moonlight over Memphis , an album he recorded at his own expense. He worked here again with the legendary soul producer Willie Mitchell in Memphis. For this album he brought together musicians who were over seventy or even eighty years old and who had worked with soul greats such as Otis Redding and Al Green .
Between February and July 2007 Marti Pellow presented himself as a jazz singer. He made several appearances in jazz clubs and at jazz festivals, including the famous Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club and The Pigalle Club in London, Cheltenham Jazz Festival and "Ronnie Scott's in the Park" in Woburn. These appearances were followed in April 2008 by the release of his jazz album Sentimental Me with well-known jazz songs that he had already sung at the aforementioned appearances and a song he wrote himself, as well as an accompanying UK tour.
From late August 2008 to early May 2009, he played the lead role in the remake of Sir Cameron Mackintosh's musical The Witches of Eastwick (The Witches of Eastwick).
Discography
Albums
| year | title |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 DE
|
 UK
|
|||
| 2001 | Smile |
DE71 (1 week) DE |
UK7th  (9 weeks)UK |
|
| 2002 | Marti Pellow sings the hits of Wet Wet Wet & Smile | - |
UK34 (11 weeks)UK |
|
| 2003 | Between the covers | - |
UK66 (2 weeks) UK |
|
| 2006 | Moonlight over Memphis | - |
UK27 (3 weeks) UK |
|
| 2011 | Love to love | - |
UK27 (5 weeks) UK |
|
| 2013 | Hope | - |
UK60 (1 week) UK |
|
| 2017 | Mysterious | - |
UK54 (1 week) UK |
|
more publishments
- 2008: Sentimental Me
- 2010: Devil and the Monkey
- 2014: Boulevard of Life
- 2015: Love to Love - Volume 2
Singles
| year | Title album |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
DE
|
UK
|
|||
| 2001 | Close to you smile |
- |
UK9 (9 weeks) UK |
|
| I've Been Around the World Smile |
- |
UK28 (4 weeks) UK |
||
| 2003 | A Lot of Love Between the Covers |
- |
UK59 (2 weeks) UK |
|
more publishments
- 2006: Come Back Home
- 2006: It's All About
- 2008: Take a Letter Miss Jones
- 2010: Devil and the Monkey
- 2011: Don't Know Much
- 2014: Goodbye My Sweet Lady
- 2017: Mysterious
- 2017: Sound of My Breaking Heart
Individual evidence
- ^ Dry dry dry , Guardian, October 28, 2000
- ^ Pellow is Chicago-bound , BBC News, March 21, 2002
- ↑ Chicago Star Pellow Chats About Long-Awaited Broadway Debut, Aug. 3 , playbill.com, Aug. 3 , 2004
- ↑ Horny Devil Marti Is On A Witch Hunt , Sunday Mail, January 6, 2008
- ^ The Witches of Eastwick ( Memento December 7, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ a b Chart sources: DE
Web links
- Marti Pellow in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Marti Pellow at Myspace
- Official website
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Pellow, Marti |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | McLachlan, Mark |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Scottish singer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | March 23, 1965 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Clydebank , Scotland |