Marti Pellow

Marti Pellow (born March 23, 1965 in Clydebank, near Glasgow, Scotland) is the lead singer of the Scottish pop group Wet Wet Wet. He enjoyed success with the group throughout the late 1980s and 1990s. However, in 1997 drummer Tommy Cummingham left the band and its success waned immediately. Pellow was by this time suffering from addiction to heroin. He famously quoted, on finally beating the drug, "It was textbook. I couldn't function without it. But there's no romantic side to heroin - it's no good." In May 1999, Marti left Wet Wet Wet in order to embark on a solo career. November that year saw Marti on his first solo tour. On 4 June 2001, he released his first single, Close To You, followed a few weeks later by his first solo album, Smile. A further single, I've Been Around The World, was released that November; towards the end of the year he had a seven-date tour (the Smile Tour) around Britain. In 2002, Marti hosted and sang in Girls' Night Out, one of a week of shows in aid of the Teenage Cancer Trust, at the Royal Albert Hall. This led to him being offered the part of Billy Flynn, the lawyer in the play Chicago in London's West End.