Pete Wylie (born Peter James Wylie, Liverpool, England, 22 March 1958) is a British singer/songwriter and guitarist, best known as the leader of the band variously known as Wah!, Wah! Heat, Shambeko! Say Wah!, JF Wah!, The Mighty Wah! and Wah! the Mongrel. He was credited by Melody Maker with coining "rockism", a post-punk term used to describe anything considered too 'old guard'.
He began his career in 1977, with lead vocalist Ian McCulloch and bassist Julian Cope, with whom formed the band Crucial Three, who lasted from May to June the same year. In September, he and Cope formed another band alongside Pete Burns, The Mystery Girls, but they lasted until September. In December 1977, he joined The Spitfire Boys, who dissolved the same month. Wylie and other two of the band, Pete Griffiths and Peter Clarke, formed the same month, the Nova Mob, alongside Julian Cope. The band lasted until May 1978, and Wylie waited until September to form another band, The Opium Eaters, along Peter Clarke named as Budgie, Paul Rutherford and Ian Broudie. In December, he formed another band, Crash Course, dissolved in January 1979.
Active from 1979, Wylie and company garnered critical acclaim throughout 1980 for the singles "Better Scream" and "Seven Minutes to Midnight" (both as Wah! Heat), the latter being single of the week in the NME, Sounds and Melody Maker during spring 1980, and the 1981 Warner Bros album Nah = Poo! - The Art of Bluff (as Wah!). Their biggest hit single was "The Story of the Blues", which was released in late 1982, and reached Number 3 in the UK Singles Chart.