Marcella Puppini

Marcella Puppini (born in Bologna, Italy) is a singer and song-writer. She is the founder of The Puppini Sisters, a musical trio specializing in 1940s-style close harmony vocal music.

Biography

Marcella Puppini started playing the piano at age 5, and hoped to become an opera singer. At the age of 18, having completed her A levels in Classics (Ancient Greek, Latin, Italian Literature and Art History), Puppini moved to London to study at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design. Having graduated in fashion, Puppini went on to become Accessories Production Manager at Vivienne Westwood Studios, but kept her side career as a singer in clubs all around London.

Her first band, a punky outfit called Dead Sex Kitten, never really took off, but by now Puppini was guesting on several other projects including Rich B’s club hit Revolution, as well as making her own name in the Jazz and Cabaret scene both in the UK and in Italy.

In 1999 she left the fashion world and embarked on a degree course at Trinity College of Music, where she graduated in jazz Performance and Composition.

In 2004, Marcella Puppini created a new group called the Puppini Sisters: a quirky and glamorous close-harmony trio inspired by the sister groups of the ‘30s and ‘40s and a penchant for reworking pop classics in 1940s swing style – as well as penning witty and unusual original material. The Puppini Sisters debut album, Betcha Bottom Dollar (UCJ, 2006), was awarded a Gold disc in the UK.

While touring with the Puppini Sisters, Puppini 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.

While recording and touring with The Puppini Sisters, who were awarded a Gold disc in the UK in 2007, Marcella founded Marcella and The Forget Me Nots, described as an all-girl Post-Apocalyptic Cabaret orchestra, with influences ranging from Kurt Weill and Jacques Brel to Baroque Opera and Prog Rock.

The 8-strong orchestra first debuted in 2008 at The Chelsea Theatre’s Sacred Season of Performance Art - for which they created a site-specific show based on stories collected from Chelsea residents, and soon the band were appearing at London Underground venues, such as The Last Days of Decadence, Corsica and Bistrotheque, and at Arts festivals such as Queer Up North.

The band’s first official release came out in January 2010 as part of Twisted Cabaret, a part-audio, part-video compilation curated by French label Volvox. Among the video content will be the clip for ‘Monster Mae’, a blood-spattered extravaganza directed by regular collaborator Alex de Campi (the woman behind Amanda Palmer’s controversial ‘Leeds United’) that mixes live performance with high-camp photography of shocking demises.

Sources

• Stephen Holden, A Trio Winks at the 1940s and Nods at Today’s Tunes, New York Times, May 31, 2007.
• David Whetstone, It's back to future for sisters "With their 40s fashions and lethal lipstick, the Puppini Sisters are going back to the future", The Newcastle Journal, October 24, 2006. Accessed via subscription 18 May 2008.
• Catherine P. Lewis, The Puppini Sisters "Betcha Bottom Dollar" Verve, Washington Post, August 24, 2007, page WE09.
• Helen Brown, Pop CDs of the week: The Puppini Sisters, The Daily Telegraph, July 29, 2006.
• Stephen Brooks, They're Not Related, but Sister, Can They Swing, Washington Post, August 30, 2007, page C07.
• Misha Berson, Pardon me boy, do you like to jive?, Seattle Times, August 21, 2007.
• Sisters make chart history, The Birmingham Mail, August 11, 2006. Accessed via subscription 18 May 2008.
• Vicky Addinall, Sister act "Marcella Puppini, founder of vivacious 1940s-inspired girl group The Puppini Sisters talks to Vicky Addinall about her passion for Portobello, The Cobden Club and Ruby Woo", Grove Magazine (London), April 2008.
• Alan Pedder and Mario Onnis, Wears The Trousers, Nov 2009, Wears The Trousers, 2010, a girl-group odyssey #1: marcella & the forget me nots

External links

• Marcella Puppini official web site

Persondata
Name	Puppini, Marcella
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death