Marti Pellow of Wet Wet Wet at King's Lynn Alive Corn Exchange on November 13 with Pellow Talk show

Pop legend Marti Pellow is bringing his Pellow Talk show to Lynn’s Alive Corn Exchange on Sunday, November 13.

The former frontman of Wet Wet Wet says of the intimate show: “Think of it as coming back to my place for a night of stories and songs.”

The Lynn News presents an interview chat with Marti about his show.

It’s 10.30pm and Marti Pellow is sitting in his dressing room. He’s just received another standing ovation – the 13th one in the 13 dates of his new Pellow Talk tour. Every date has been sold out. Marti is off stage.

“Did they enjoy it?” he asks.

His tour manager nods: “Marti, they loved it.”

Pellow Talk is a tour that accompanies Marti Pellow’s eagerly-awaited autobiography of the same name.

It’s been quite a ride for the kid who grew up in Scotland’s Clydebank. For ten remarkable years, he was at the top of the charts. The band won a BRIT Award and secured 12 platinum discs for their first five albums – including five for their debut, Popped In Souled Out.

Pellow turned his hand to musical theatre, conquering London’s West End before razzle dazzling on Broadway as Billy Flynn, in Chicago. A series of solo records followed, including the brilliant 2021 release, Stargazer.

And now, in Pellow Talk, he’s brought that life together in a show which starts on the dock of the Clyde, where he’d skim stones across the water while sitting with his beloved father.

“I’d always shied away from doing an autobiography,” he says. “I wasn’t sure people would want that. And I wasn’t sure how I’d tell some of the stories that are difficult to tell.”

And yet Pellow Talk flows. It’s funny – Pellow’s memories of being an awkward teenager at the school disco are worth the admission price alone, while his remembrance of a show gone wrong in London also brings the house down.

It’s touching when he talks about the loss of his parents - audience members are in tears - or his successful fight against substance abuse.

“People seem to like it,” he says, with typical modesty. “I’m just glad that it connects.”

Pellow Talk is intrinsically honest. It tells the stories the behind the stories. The boy, the child, the songwriter and the man all live within the pages of the book – and play out in the show.

“As a kid, I’d sit beside the train tracks and watch the carriages whizz by. As a teen, I got high with my mates and ran with the dogs.

“As a young man, I played to 100,000 people in my own hometown. When it all crashed down, I painstakingly rebuilt the life I’d always wanted just as my father, a master craftsman, fashioned beautiful buildings.

“I spent a lifetime on TV programmes but the guy on the box was never real. Those shows were a vehicle to entertain; a conveyor belt of flat-pack soundbites.

“They commodified the pop star in the charts, gift-wrapping him neatly and tying him with a bow. People might have watched and thought ‘I know you.’ But my inner monologue would have said: ‘Aye. You don’t. It’s a coat. An essence. A character.’

“Pellow Talk is the one time where I go beyond. I’ve immersed, escaping the pre-packed formats that say so much while saying so little. I’ve stepped out of character, breaking down the fourth wall and finally - finally - stopped playing a role. I’m still the guy with the smile, but that smile doesn’t always signify happiness.”

Pellow grew up on Top of the Pops. He’d watch bands like Slade, Sweet, T-Rex and David Bowie. They inspired his love for music.

“I always loved doing Top of the Pops. The first time we did it was great. We’d finally made it to the programme that had featured Sweet, Slade and David Bowie.”

Soon, his band was the biggest in the UK. And then, he enjoyed a record-breaking hit with Love Is All Around.

When the song became more popular than anyone had imagined it would, spending an incredible 16-weeks at number one, the band decided to delete it. They wanted to focus on the music, rather than breaking records. Such stories are told with candour, and hilarity, during his stage show.

It’s a love letter, too, to his home and his family.

“I don’t think I’d change anything,” he added.

“I’m on a win-win-win track. I’ve been blessed to have a career where I’ve been able to follow my passion and create an art form.”