My interview with the Puppini Sisters

Marcella Puppini, Stephanie O’Brien and Kate Mullins formed The Puppini Sisters in September 2004. They remind me of watching the Andrews Sisters or those sisters on Lawrence Welk! Dressed with 1940’s glamour, The Puppini Sisters are accomplished musicians who met at London’s Trinity College of Music, with everything from piano to saxophone to harp on their combined resumes.

Their latest CD, The Rise & Fall Of Ruby Woo is a collection of highly original songs written by the trio, including “I Can’t Believe I’m Not A Millionaire” and “Jilted,” as well as extraordinary covers of tunes by artists ranging from Barry Manilow to Beyoncé. The Puppinis’ trademark watertight harmonies are still present, as is their love of and respect for music from a bygone era.

I spoke to Marcella Puppini while she was in Paris last month.



Beth Fredericks: So I’m speaking to Ms. Marcella Puppini. And Marcella, I have had a blast listening to your CD.

Marcella Puppini: Good to hear that.

Beth Fredericks: So this morning I’m looking forward to just hearing a little bit more about the sisters. You know, when I think about when I grew up, of course, there were the Andrew Sisters, they were real sisters.

Marcella Puppini: Yeah.

Beth Fredericks: And tell us a little bit, how did you become the Puppini Sisters?

Marcella Puppini: Well, in a way it was – the name Puppini Sister, of course the tribute to the Andrew Sisters and I remember once hearing about a band and I don’t remember who they were but I remember, I think it was a country duo that – that were sisters and I think one of them died and then somebody else joined in and they still remained sisters, so I thought, okay, so it has been done before that – so there’s a band where the sisters aren’t actual real sisters.

Marcella Puppini: So that – I remember that as well and that – I thought that it was fabulous. So – and the band was essentially my idea and then having been to music college and having sung a lot – in a lot of harmony groups, once I missed – one I left college in 2003, graduated from – got my music degree, I really missed being in harmony and I really wanted to do that again and I decided I wanted to put together a group and then I saw the movie Triplets of Belleville. Which is – I don’t know if you’ve seen it –

Beth Fredericks: Yes, I have seen it, it’s great.

Marcella Puppini: Yeah, it fabulous isn’t it?

Beth Fredericks: Yes.

Marcella Puppini: So in this animation movie there’s some – you see the three sis – the three singing sister, triplets in fact. When they’re young and you see them again when they’re older, who’s doing the Vaudeville cabaret. That they used to do when they were young. And I thought it was amazing. I thought it’s – it had all the elements that I enjoy, it had great music, great fashion, and a fun sense of performance, and that’s what I wanted to recapture.

Beth Fredericks: Well, it’s wonderful. You know, it – with the Lennon Sisters and the Andrew Sisters, there’s just – there is a dynamic that I do feel so much in your singing with the other sisters But you guys have this special dynamic too and I just wonder how did you meet the sisters or how has developed over time or how do you guys really have that bond that comes through so much in your songs?

Marcella Puppini: Well I think – well that is – that’s great to hear by the way, that’s really always nice to hear. When we – since we started, we have spent a lot of time together.

Marcella Puppini: We hang out together, we argue, we have fun, we also share, from the start, the reason that brought us together and maybe decide to do it was them – was that I could see that they – they had the same sense of fun that I have when it comes to performing and they have a sense of humor, they enjoy dressing up and they enjoy eating nice food and we do all these things together and the more time we spend together the more this bond cements itself.

Beth Fredericks: Yes, and you can really – I swear, I can really feel it. I mean your music is very – I don’t know. It’s very soulful and it just comes through that you guys are having fun and really loving being together.

Marcella Puppini: Ah, it’s good that it shows. We know what our relationship is like.

Beth Fredericks: So we’ve also, like, you know, I noticed to that with groups like the Lennon Sisters or the Andrew Sisters, they’re also multi-talented people and it seems like you guys are too, so I watched your video, you know, we’ll put your video up on Eons too for people to see the “Jilted” video, which I thought was awesome, so you guys are like, now you’re – you know you have fashion design in your background. Seems like you can do some theater and some acting through the video. And how about that sort of multi-talent – Marcella, tell me a little bit about how you grew up and you know what was it like growing up that you would then become, you know, a pretty talented artistic person.

Marcella Puppini: Well, I think it’s because I grew up – I grew up in quite an old fashioned family. And I’m older than the other sisters. I’m not gonna tell you exactly how old I am, but I’m old enough to have done two degrees.

Marcella Puppini: My first one was in fashion, and the second one was in music and to have worked in fashion for a little while. So when I was growing up in Italy, my parents didn’t believe in us watching television or doing much other than spending time with my siblings. I have a sister and a brother. and using the big garden that we had when I growing up, so we had to find ways of entertaining ourselves, me and my siblings. And really what all that we did was play music together and sing together and just – and find and do little stories together and just find ways of entertaining ourselves that were creative.

Beth Fredericks: How about – you know what I’m talking to you, I can hear your accent pretty much, but when I hear you guys sing, you sound actually quite very American, you know, there are no accents. How does that happen?

Marcella Puppini: That is not really something that we are aware of. It just – I suppose it’s because we’ve listened to so much American music and so much jazz and obviously the Andrew Sisters and Belleville Sisters that it just – I suppose the inflections come from having listened. Also because we have – we had to spend so much time figuring out how the sister groups got their bands together. So I suppose we might have listened a little bit too hard and got all the inflections as well.

Beth Fredericks: And the – how about do – you are performing an awful lot, mostly, I did see that you were in the States some last summer, but now you’re very much in Europe and even in the Middle East. What was it like to perform at the Dubai Jazz Festival?

Marcella Puppini: It was – it was really incredible. Dubai is such a weird and wonderful place. It’s like the Las Vegas of the Middle East and it – it’s certainly different from anything that we know in Europe. And the hospitality that we got over there was unbelievable. We got treated like royalty. The place is so luxurious anyway and all there is beach, hotels, and big buildings. There’s no sidewalks, no special places other than hotels really. It’s quite different.

Beth Fredericks: So you were in an Arab country, did you guys have to dress a little differently for your act?

Marcella Puppini: No, we didn’t actually, because it’s not – out of all Arab countries, I think that – I don’t know what the rest of the country is like, but Dubai is a very westernized city really. There’s lots and lots of expats.

Beth Fredericks: I see. And so they probably wanted to see your really authentic show.

Marcella Puppini: Yeah. Yeah. And everybody – I didn’t – I might have seen two women wearing full covered up – in some covered up mode, but otherwise, everybody was dressed, you know, very western way, but Westerners and Middle Eastern people. So it was just – it was not – I mean I’ve been to other Arab countries that were much more – well, you could see you had to dress and behave a certain way.

Beth Fredericks: So speaking of fashion, do you have an impact on what you guys where and your costumes and clothing that you wear while you’re singing?

Marcella Puppini: Yeah, yeah. I mean from the start, I always said – had a vision of how we were supposed to look and the girls were much more – they were girls. They were much more into like today’s MTV kind of fashion. And then things now have developed to a point where they now have the same references I have, but they didn’t - like in the beginning, they weren’t so sure about wearing red lipstick.

Marcella Puppini: And now they can’t live without it. So, yeah.

Beth Fredericks: So I’ve been cued in a little bit about Ruby Woo. I haven’t actually seen it at the cosmetic counter yet, but tell me a little bit about how did The Rise and Fall of Ruby Woo come about?

Marcella Puppini: Well, Ruby Woo, as you know, is a lipstick. It’s the shade of outrageous red that we like to wear on stage and off and the title of the album, it’s a – basically the re – we thought that Ruby Woo personified a certain style of woman and it’s the lipstick of choice of all the burlesque performers in England and America I presume. A lot of alternative performances as well like circus and a lot of Rockabilly people, it’s just basically people that aren’t part of today’s MTV culture, really. And people that are a little bit different and that like to be on the alternative circuit here. And The Rise and Fall of Ruby Woo is basically – it charts – there’s a various pits and troughs of this woman’s everyday life and pretty much what’s happening to us.

Beth Fredericks: Well, listen, a little red lipstick, a wonderful outfit, some fabulous music, it really sounds to me like you guys are doing what we talk about on Eons which is really living life to the fullest and it sounds like you guys are really on a roll and having a blast.

Marcella Puppini: We really are and you know I couldn’t have – I couldn’t have hoped for more in way because I left one career to start another and I’ve – I’m so happy about this, that it happened, ‘cause here I am doing everything I love. I’m in Paris right now. We’re traveling and seeing things that we wouldn’t – that normal people probably wouldn’t see in a lifetime. I say normal people, but a lot of people wouldn’t see in a lifetime. And it’s just fantastic.

Beth Fredericks: You know, the Lennon Sisters have celebrated their 50th anniversary.

Marcella Puppini: Oh wow.

Beth Fredericks: Can you imagine this going on – for how long have you guys been doing this?

Marcella Puppini: Only three and a half.

Beth Fredericks: Right.

Marcella Puppini: We have a ways to go.

Beth Fredericks: You’ve got a long, I think very bright future ahead of you.

Marcella Puppini: I hope so. We certainly love what we’re doing.

Beth Fredericks: Well, we’re gonna stream the music, we’re gonna post up the video and we’re gonna get all of our U.S. members to turn on to the Puppini Sisters, which I think they’re just gonna love. So, Marcella, thank you so much for spending some time with us today.

Marcella Puppini: Thank you.

Beth Fredericks: Have a blast in Paris and we’ll catch you all when you come on back over the pond a little bit, right?

Marcella Puppini: Yeah, which hopefully, fingers crossed, is not gonna be too long before we do.

Beth Fredericks: Wonderful. Thanks a lot Marcella.

Marcella Puppini: Thank you.