She had Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian and German Indonesian ancestry from her maternal grandmother, who was descended from the Grabosch family.
Her father worked at the Bukit Unggul Cinchona Factory, which caused the family to move periodically throughout his childhood.
[1] Her recording career began in 1990, when Poppy was 18 years old—influenced by Ella Fitzgerald, Peggy Lee, Patsy Cline, Joan Baez, Jackie DeShannon, Rita Hayworth and Anni-Frid Lyngstad of ABBA—she released her debut single, "Terlalu Pagi".
In 1991, she released the singles "Fantasia Bulan Madu" and "Suci Dalam Debu" alongside Malaysian singer Saleem Iklim [ms].
She had been suffering from poor health prior to the performance, but agreed to hold the concert to avoid disappointing those who planned to attend.