Pellow to take Broadway

Former Wet Wet Wet star Marti Pellow is poised to take the United States by storm after landing a starring role in the hit musical Chicago on Broadway.

Pellow played sleazy lawyer Billy Flynn in the West End version last year, and American producers were so impressed that they decided to sign him up.

He will be following in the footsteps of Denise Van Outen, who was the toast of Broadway when she appeared in Chicago as Roxie Hart.

The musical is currently more popular than ever after the success of the big screen version starring Richard Gere, Catherine Zeta Jones and Renee Zellweger.

Pellow, 37, who begins a five-week run on the New York stage on March 17, said: "If you'd told me six months ago that my name would be up in lights on Broadway, I'd never have believed it.

"It's an amazing opportunity for me and I'm just over the moon. I can't wait to get over there and start rehearsing."

The Glasgow-born star is not a total unknown in the US - the residents of Memphis, Tennessee, hold an annual Marti Pellow Day in honour of the fact that he used to live there.

Pellow enjoyed massive success with Wet Wet Wet in the 1980s and 1990s. The group had 12 top 10 hits and three number ones including Love Is All Around, which topped the charts for 15 weeks in 1994.

But in 1999 he shocked fans by revealing he was battling heroin addiction. He went into rehabilitation and went on to launch a solo comeback career.