Pearl and the Puppets was a band from

Kirkintilloch Kirkintilloch (; sco, Kirkintulloch; gd, Cair Cheann Tulaich) is a town and former barony burgh in East Dunbartonshire, Scotland. It lies on the Forth and Clyde Canal and on the south side of Strathkelvin, about northeast of central Glasgow. ...

East Dunbartonshire East Dunbartonshire ( sco, Aest Dunbartanshire; gd, Siorrachd Dhùn Bhreatainn an Ear) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. It borders the north of Glasgow and contains many of the affluent areas to the north of the city, including Bear ...

in Scotland. The band comprised singer-songwriter Katie Sutherland (vocals/guitar), Blair McMillan (drums), Gordon Turner (guitar), Scott Clark (bass) and Michael Abubakar (keyboard). Sutherland's voice has been described as being similar to that of

Regina Spektor Regina Ilyinichna Spektor (russian: Регинa Ильинична Спектор, ; born February 18, 1980) is a Russian–born American singer, songwriter, and pianist. After self-releasing her first three records and gaining popularity in ...

and

Dolores O'Riordan Dolores Mary Eileen O'Riordan ( ; 6 September 1971 – 15 January 2018) was an Irish musician, singer and songwriter. She was best known as the lead vocalist and lyricist for the alternative rock band the Cranberries. One of the most recogniza ...

Musical career

Pearl and the Puppets were signed to the

Universal Republic Republic Records is a New York City–based American record label owned by Universal Music Group (UMG). It was founded by Avery Lipman and Monte Lipman as an independent label in 1995, and was acquired by UMG in 2000. Republic was initially an ...

record label and headlined the Solus Tent at the

Wickerman Festival The Wickerman Festival was an annual music festival held near Auchencairn in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. Dubbed "Scotland's Alternative Music festival", its motto was "The Wickerman Festival – it's better than it needs to be!" It began ...

, in

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

Appearances

Pearl and the Puppets supported

Elton John Sir Elton Hercules John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947) is a British singer, pianist and composer. Commonly nicknamed the "Rocket Man" after his 1972 hit single of the same name, John has led a commercially successful career a ...

at Glasgow's SECC on 10 June 2009. In the run-up to the appearance, on Friday 5 June 2009 Pearl appeared on STV's The Hour show promoting her upcoming gigs. On 31 December 2009, Pearl and the Puppets played on

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, p ...

Hogmanay Live ''BBC Scotland's Hogmanay'' is BBC Scotland BBC Scotland (Scottish Gaelic: ''BBC Alba'') is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcaster in Scotland. It is one of the four BBC national regions, together with the BBC English R ...

and went on to perform on the main stage at RockNess in Inverness-shire in June 2010 as well as a number of other summer festivals. On 23 August 2010 they supported The Hoosiers at the HMV Picture House in Edinburgh. They appeared at the SECC, Glasgow, on 19 November 2010 as part of the Children in Need appeal. On 2 December 2011, Katie Sutherland announced that she will no longer release music under the Pearl & The Puppets name, but under her own name.

Featured songs

In 2008, the band's song "Because I Do" was featured on a

Vodafone Vodafone Group Public limited company, plc () is a British Multinational corporation, multinational Telephone company, telecommunications company. Its registered office and Headquarters, global headquarters are in Newbury, Berkshire, England. It ...

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Their song "Make Me Smile" was featured in a

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advertisement in the US and an

Orange Orange most often refers to: *Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis'' ** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower *Orange (colour), from the color of an orange, occurs between red and yellow in the visible spectrum * ...

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in March 2010.

References

External links

Review

Evening Times Feature

{{DEFAULTSORT:Puppets, Pearl and the Scottish folk music groups Scottish indie rock groups British indie pop groups Musicians from Kirkintilloch