They were founded in 2004 by Italian-born Marcella Puppini (her real name), who recruited Kate Mullins and Rosanna Schura. Schura was later replaced by Stephanie O'Brien, and O'Brien was subsequently replaced briefly by Terrianne Passingham and then by Emma Smith. Their regular backing band consists of Blake Wilner (guitar), Henrik Jensen (double bass) and Peter Ibbetson (drums). Their albums to date are Betcha Bottom Dollar (2006), The Rise and Fall of Ruby Woo (2007), Christmas with The Puppini Sisters (2010), Hollywood (2011), The Best of The Puppini Sisters (2015), The High Life (2016), and Dance, Dance, Dance (2020). Besides providing guest vocals in two of Michael Bublé's albums, they also made covers of Kay Starr's "Side By Side" and "Playmates" by The Fontane Sisters for the Kit Kittredge: An American Girl soundtrack in 2008.
Starting with The High Life, the group decided to go completely independent as they felt that the constant Executive Meddling with their old record label got in the way of their creativity.
Trope Like a Puppini:
- Blonde, Brunette, Redhead: Marcella (brunette), Kate (blonde), and Rosanna/Stephanie/Terrianne/Emma (all redheads).
- Break the Cutie: "And She Sang" tells of an innocent young woman who believes in fairy tales, and the new man in her life. He basically has some fun with her, and then leaves without a trace. That's when the music suddenly changes from witty and magical to a loud instrumental breakdown. Then, as the music calms down again, it feels a little sadder, signifying that the woman is merely a shadow of her former self.
- Christmas Songs: The Sisters’ third album was a collection of Christmas songs, including covers of such classics as “Santa Baby”, “White Christmas”, and “Winter Wonderland”.
- Growing A Spine: The last verse of “Jilted” is about learning from the experience of being, well, jilted, and resolving not to be such a doormat in future.
- In the Style of: While covering more recent songs in the style of The Andrews Sisters is not the sole point of the band, they do it quite frequently (and very competently).
- Lyrical Dissonance: Some of their songs, especially the modern covers, have moderately dark themes that clash with the sweet girl-trio harmonies, if the listener is paying attention.
- Non-Indicative Name: The Puppinis aren't biologically related; their joint stage name is more of a tribute to The Andrews Sisters and other close-harmony girl groups.
- Retraux: The Puppinis adopt a meticulously recreated 1940s image, in terms of both musical style and fashion, while still covering some more recent songs and using modern recording technology.
- Stylistic Suck: The Puppinis made a well-arranged cover of "Spooky," but the video is loaded with homages to old, poorly-made horror films, complete with bad effects and silly screaming expressions.
- Yandere: "Don't Sit Under the Apple Tree" paints a picture of a crazy girl who, if she sees her man cheating, will react very, very badly.
