Jill Sobule, hitmaker of ’90s anthems like ‘I Kissed A Girl’ and Clueless soundtrack contribution ‘Supermodel’, has died in a house fire. She was 66 years old.
Her death was confirmed by her manager in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter, who said she was staying with some friends in a Minneapolis suburb.
The fire broke out early Thursday (1 May) morning. The cause of the fire has yet to be shared.
Sobule’s manager John Porter said in a statement: “Jill Sobule was a force of nature and human rights advocate whose music is woven into our culture. I was having so much fun working with her. I lost a client and a friend today. I hope her music, memory and legacy continue to live on and inspire others.”
Jill Sobule was best known for her 1995 hit ‘I Kissed A Girl’ - which is widely regarded as the first song with an openly gay-theme to break into the Billboard top 20 charts.
Over the course of her 30-year career, Sobule released 12 albums, which covered various social issues, including LGBTQ+ issues, the death penalty, anorexia and reproductive rights.
She performed with such icons as Neil Young, Billy Bragg and Cyndi Lauper, and also inducted Neil Diamond into the Songwriter’s Hall of Fame.
She was also seen as a pioneer of the crowdfunding movement: in 2008, she became one of the first artists to record and release an album through fan contributions.
“The old kind of paradigm, where you’ve always waited for other people to do things, you’d have your manager and your agent,” she said at the time. “You’d wait for the big record company to give you money to do things and they tell you what to do. This is so great. I want to do everything like this."
In 2022, she co-wrote and performed in the autobiographical musical Fuck 7th Grade, which has had four runs in three years.
She is survived by her brother and sister-in-law, James and Mary Ellen Sobule, along with her nephews and cousins.
