The Puppini Sisters

The Puppini Sisters
The Puppini Sisters at an open-air concert during the City of London Festival in 2008
Background information
Origin	London, England
Genres	A cappella, pop, jazz, Close harmony, Swing
Years active	2004–present
Labels	UCJ (UK), Verve (U.S.)
Website	ThePuppiniSisters.com
Members
Marcella Puppini Stephanie O'Brien Kate Mullins

The Puppini Sisters are a close harmony vocal trio composed of Italian Marcella Puppini and English Stephanie O'Brien and Kate Mullins. Although the three are not related, they chose their name in tribute to The Andrews Sisters. Puppini first studied fashion design at St. Martins School of Art, and later music at Trinity College of Music in London where she met O'Brien and Mullins. The trio is backed by a three-piece band featuring Blake Wilner on guitar and Henrik Jensen on double bass.

Critic Arion Berger described them as part of "Retro's futuristic vanguard" and characterized their sound as "swing-punk". The group has sought to be associated with a burlesque revival.

History

The group was founded in 2004 by Marcella Puppini after she was inspired by the animated film Les Triplettes de Belleville (2003). In 2005 they were signed by UCJ (Universal Classics and Jazz). The Puppini Sisters' debut single, "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy", is a cover of the hit single by The Andrews Sisters. The Puppini Sisters' second album, The Rise and Fall of Ruby Woo includes original compositions by Puppini, O'Brien and Mullins.

The Puppini Sisters television appearances include This Morning, Loose Women, The Alan Titchmarsh Show, Big Brother's Little Brother, Hell's Kitchen, CBeebies' Space Pirates, The View (on ABC), and 2011's A Michael Bublé Christmas on NBC. The group also appeared in the 2009 Jonathan Creek New Year's special "The Grinning Man", performing their 2007 single "Spooky". The trio was also featured on the soundtracks for the US TV series Greys Anatomy and Chuck.

The group performed at Glastonbury Festival 2009 on 27 June. as well as performing at Goodwood Vintage Festival on 15 August.

Influences

According to their MySpace page, acts that have influenced the Puppini Sisters include The Andrews Sisters, The Boswell Sisters, Marlene Dietrich, Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, Kate Bush, Mike Flowers, Joan Crawford, The Smiths, and Tom Waits.

According to Marcella Puppini, the group sings about modern and risqué subjects in a quaintly old-fashioned way. This comes from their interest in 1940s songs such as "Hold Tight (Want Some Seafood Mama)" that have sexual undertones despite their overtly innocent lyrics.

Awards

The Puppini Sisters won a Gold Disc for international sales of their first CD, Betcha Bottom Dollar, in 2007.

The Puppini Sisters website won the 2008 Cream of Yorkshire awards "Gold Award" for best website. The digital advertising agency twentysix won the top award the "overall Grand Prix award" for its design of a website for Universal Music showcasing the group.

Discography

Singles

• "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy" (2006)
• "Jingle Bells/Silent Night (Little Match Seller)" (December 2006) iTunes-only release
• "Spooky" (2007)
• "Crazy in Love" (2007)
• "Jilted" (2008)
• "Apart of Me" with The Real Tuesday Weld (2008)
• "Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend" (2011)

Videos

• "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy" (2006)
• "Spooky" (2007)
• "Apart of Me" with The Real Tuesday Weld directed by Alex de Campi (2007)
• "Jilted" directed by Alex de Campi (2008)
• "(I Can't Believe I'm Not a) Millionaire" directed by Alex de Campi (2008)
• "Diamond's Are A Girl's Best Friend" directed by Alex de Campi (2011)

Albums

• Betcha Bottom Dollar (July 31, 2006 U.K., May 1, 2007 U.S., March 2008 France). According to the official website the album reached number two on the U.S. Jazz Charts and number nine on the U.S. new artist chart
• The Rise and Fall of Ruby Woo (October 1, 2007 U.K.), (February 2008 U.S., January 2009 France) featuring classic covers, 1940s style reworkings of contemporary music, and a selection of original compositions. According to Billboard's official website, the album peaked at number 5 in the US Jazz Charts in 2008.
• Christmas with the Puppini Sisters (October 5, 2010 USA), reworkings of classic Christmas songs on Verve Records
• Hollywood (Autumn 2011 France), (December 26, 2011 UK), Hollywood musical themed tracks and one original Universal

Compilations

• Could It Be Magic appears on Magicians OST Universal (2007)
• Crazy in Love on Swing Style - Swing Beats for Dancing Feets Compiled and mixed by Gulbahar Kultur, Lola's World (2008), 100 Hits - Voices DEM (2009), Radio Modern - The ABC of Swing, Bop'n'Roll EMI Belgium (2010)
• In The Mood appears on Actrices OST Milan Music (2008)
• It Don't Mean A Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing) appears on Jazzism 1 from Jazzism Magazine (2008)
• I Will Survive appears on Tom Middleton Presents Crazy Covers 2 UCJ (2007), Bolero Fashion Sound compiled by Olivier Rohrbach Universal (2007), Jazziz 8: Women compilation by Jazziz Magazine (2007), You're Beautiful - 40 Inspiring Songs UCJ (2007), Smile Style 2 compilation by DJ Weritos Lounge Wave Music (2009), Peppermint Candy UMTV (2011)
• Jilted appears on Back To Soul - New Soul Queens and Legendary Divas UCJ (2008)
• Jingle Bells appears on A Classic Christmas UCJ (2006), Now That's What I Call Xmas Virgin (2006), Now This Is Christmas 2008 UCJ (2008), Wonderland, Spectrum Audio (2008), Now That's What I Call Christmas! 3 UCJ (2009), Christmas With The Stars Spectrum Audio (2010), Merry Christmas Everybody Spectrum Audio (2010), Now That's What I Call Xmas EMI UK (2010)
• Libertango appears on Lost Vagueness OST Universal (2007)
• Mele Kalikimaka appears on Christmas Tales 2010 Raar FM (2010)
• Mr Sandman appears on The Jazz Album 2006 UCJ (2006)
• Panic appears on Jazz For Dinner UCJ (2006), Party Jazz UMGI (2010)
• Side By Side appears on Kit Kittredge: An American Girl OST compilation from film of the same name by New Line Records (2008)
• Spooky appears on 100 Hits - Voices DEM (2009)
• Sway appears on The Jazz Album 2006 UCJ (2006), 100 Hits - Voices DEM (2009), TSF Jazz 1999-2009 10 Ans Nova (2009)
• Tu Vuo Fa L' Americano appears on The Very Best of Latin Jazz UCJ (2007), New York New York Compact Disc Club (2008)
• We Have All The Time In The World appears on You Raise Me Up 2008 UCJ (2008)

Collaboration

Christmas 2011 saw the release of "Jingle Bells" recorded with Michael Bublé for his end of year album. They also recorded "Frosty the Snowman" with Buble on the same album, as a bonus track on the Deluxe Edition.

The group recorded a close harmony version of the song "Apart of Me", by Stephen Coates of The Real Tuesday Weld, and acted in the video for the song, playing "a corpse, murdering waitresses, worms and chickens". Two versions of the song exist, one being that which was used for the video and the other is a track on The Real Tuesday Weld 2008 CD The London Book of the Dead.

The group used period costumes designed by Vivienne Westwood in their video for "Jilted", an original song written by Marcella Puppini (not to be confused with the 1954 Theresa Brewer country number).

Further reading

• Heawood, S (2007-09-29). "Meet the sisters of swing". Music (The Times). http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/music/article2529113.ece. Retrieved 2007-10-03.  (login required)

Live reviews

• Verrico, Lisa (2007-10-05). "The Puppini Sisters". Music (The Times). http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/music/live_reviews/article2591615.ece. Retrieved 2007-10-08.  (login required)
• Hasted, N (2009-01-06). "The Puppini Sisters, Queen Elizabeth Hall, London". Music (The Independent). http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/reviews/the-puppini-sisters-queen-elizabeth-hall-london-1227740.html. Retrieved 2009-01-15. 

External links

• Official website
• National Public Radio (U.S.) interview
• Audio interview at BBC Wiltshire