.::MARZO 2009::.

The Puppini Sisters

A Triple Threat Sensation

by LindAnn Lo schiavo

Multi-talented Marcella Puppini masterminded a singing sensation after a fashion. From a young age, the ambitious Italian native was drawn to the spotlight. The idea of performing was a thirst she had to quench. Being applauded onstage, after all, is not unlike both indulging and mastering desire. 

Born in Bologna , Marcella aspired to be an opera singer and began piano lessons early on.  By the time she was 18 — — and fully grounded in Latin, Greek, Italian literature, and art history — — Marcella relocated to London . She attended Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, where she prepared herself for a career in ready-to-wear apparel. Being behind the curtain at a fashion show is, of course, another way of looking out into all those lights. By day, she worked for designer Vivienne Westwood; on weekends, she was featured in cabarets around London and in Italy .  Then ten years ago, she left the garment trade and enrolled at Trinity College of Music, returning to her first love by earning a music degree.

In September 2004, Marcella started a group with two Trinity classmates, Stephanie O'Brien and Kate Mullins, both native Brits.  Brunette Puppini, an accordionist, describes herself as “the quirky Italian with a slightly morbid side.”   A laugh-lover from East London , Mullins jokes, “I am a feisty peroxide blonde with a penchant for using stilettos as weapons.”   Beautiful O’Brien, a harpist, claims she is “the pouty redhead who can out-camp the whole of SoHo .”  Despite varied musical tastes, the friends shared an attraction to the allure of 1940s chic and wanted to explore that sound for their act.  “I got together with Stephanie and Kate, and all three of us are so different in our tastes and what we’ve been listening to,” Puppini said in an interview.  “Kate was a heavy metal fan, and Stephanie loves classical music and 1970s disco hits, and I am into dark, alternative cabaret. I even had a gay club hit, a few years back. So here were completely different influences. However, we all studied jazz, and we all groove to nostalgia and old Hollywood . It just seemed to be the perfect threesome to start a venture like this together.”  After seeing the 2003 award-winning animated film “ Belleville Rendez-vous” [called “The Triplets of Belleville” in the USA ], which featured cartoon-like Andrews Sisters-type women, the trio’s image was solidified.  Puppini added, “I really relished the opportunity to dress up all the time.”

The Puppini Sisters launched themselves as a musical trio specializing in 1940s-style close harmony vocals. Campy and glamorously garbed in Vivienne Westwood's cinched waist styles, this triple treat soon became the darlings of the fashionistas, gay club-goers, and neo-burlesque hipsters in Great Britain . It wasn’t long before the Puppinis were booked up.  “Suddenly, we were getting asked to play everywhere,” recalled Puppini.  “And in every scene: the gay scene, the emerging burlesque scene, the fashion scene."   

Kate Mullins confided how that “popularity” was cleverly stage-managed. “We were determined to get this one particular gig at a really grand gay night in South London ,” the 24-year-old vocalist recalled.  “The club is extremely highbrow and definitely selective.”  The ladies knew that one gay favorite was Kate Bush's macabre hit “ Wuthering Heights .”  It fell to Marcella's husband, who pitched The Puppini Sisters to the club's promoter, to finagle a coveted onstage slot in the show.  In an attempt to win favor, he promised the management that his wife's group had recently crafted a unique take of “ Wuthering Heights .”  Kate Mullins revealed, “He was completely lying!  We actually had two weeks to write the arrangement, learn it, and choreograph it for this highly discerning gay crowd.  Happily, the club-goers adored it.”

After seven months of appearances and a handful of cover tunes, a meeting with an A&R executive scored them a coveted contract with Verve Records.  “He had been going around trying to find the new Jamie Cullum, or something like that,” recounted Mullins, “and there we were in our matching pedal pushers.  We got up and started doing our three-part harmonic rendition of “ Wuthering Heights ” and he loved it and signed us right there.”

In 2006, their debut album "Betcha Bottom Dollar" sold over 100,000 copies and won awards in Great Britain . Mainly a collection of classic swing numbers and some 1980s covers, this album soared on the jazz charts in America and Europe . Though satisfied with their first chart-busting success, the “sisterhood” acknowledged that they had still been developing an identity.  They were only singing together eighteen months when they cut a record. Said Mullins, “The first album was us still very much in our infancy, learning our craft. Yes, it opened doors because we were imitating a style that is very popular and nostalgic and people love the idea of it. Unfortunately, it also put us in that Andrews-Sisters-tribute-band hole.”  Puppini added, “It would have been good to have had some of our own material on the first album to establish what we do.”    O'Brien pointed out they had made progress since then:  “We now have our own modern lyrical content that we are singing.  At last, we are singing about us.”

Their second CD release, “The Rise and Fall of Ruby Woo” (named after the red MAC lipstick preferred by Robert Smith) furthered the Puppini sound from a reproduction of 1940s style to something more original, witty, and playful. Although the close-harmony vocal technique is still the backbone of their musical identity, their second album reached beyond retro swing tunes to some melodic pop and even a touch of disco.

One of their break-out hits from “Ruby Woo” is “Jilted,” a cheeky sob story penned by Marcella Puppini with her flair and fly-away wit. One of the most entertaining videos on YouTube is their Super16 shoot for “Jilted,” brilliantly directed by Alex de Campi. The group used period piece costumes based on a painting of Madame de Pompadour designed by Vivienne Westwood in this colorful footage.

On June 12, 2007 , for their first American television appearance on “The View,” the group performed “Tu Vuo Fa L'Americano” with Marcella on the accordion and back-up musicians. Around the same time, the Puppini Sisters were performing a two-week engagement in the Oak Room at the Algonquin Hotel in New York City , where audience members included Frankie Avalon, Rex Reed, and Danny Aiello.  
While touring with the Puppini Sisters, Marcella found herself irresistibly drawn towards the alternative Performance Art scene. It was there that she began meeting like-minded people, such as Marisa Carnesky (who invited her to perform on her Ghost Train in 2005), The Whoopee Club (with whom she worked as musical Director on several productions), and Duckie.

In 2007, Marcella Puppini formed The Forget-me-nots, an all girl orchestra fronted by Marcella on vocals, composition, piano, and accordion, and comprising an unusual ensemble of string quartet, bass clarinet, trombone and percussion. The Forget-Me-Nots’ soundscape is a dark and mysterious mouthful of Baroque Opera and Weimar Cabaret with a Punk aftertaste. With her orchestra, Marcella brags that she has created an aural spectacle akin to a rather sinister chaise-longue, with the visual impact of a Tim Burton daydream. When it comes to imagination, it seems the impossible doesn't enter.