Jill Sobule, who raised eyebrows with her cheeky 1995 anthem "I Kissed a Girl," has died. According to her publicist David Elkin and manager John Porter, the 66-year-old singer-songwriter died in a house fire in Woodbury, a suburb of St. Paul, Minnesota on Thursday.
A statement issued by the Woodbury Public Safety Department on Facebook said when first responders arrived at the home early in the morning, it was engulfed in flames. A woman in her 60s was found dead inside the property. The authorities are investigating the cause of the fire.
Sobule was staying with friends in Minn. before heading to her hometown of Denver to perform songs from her autobiographical coming-of-age musical F*ck 7th Grade on Friday. Instead, the venue in which she was scheduled to perform, Swallow Hill Music, has arranged an informal gathering in her memory.
"Jill Sobule was a force of nature whose music is woven into our culture," said Porter. "I hope her music, memory and legacy continue to live on and inspire others."
Comedian and actor Margaret Cho, who directed and appeared in the video for Sobule's 2009 track "San Francisco," and was a friend of the musician, shared her response to the artist's death in an Instagram post on Thursday. "This is not real to me," Cho said. "I am in shock and cannot process this."
Sobule's confessional songs sparkled with irony and humor and often told stories. Her hit "Supermodel" appeared in the 1995 movie Clueless and she even once wrote a song at the behest of NPR. Her guitar-accompanied performance of "Philosophy 101" on All Things Considered in 2009 included the lyrics: " I am who I am today / Philosophy 101 / Before class, we'd all get high / Philosophy 101 / We think therefore we are / I'm thinking here on NPR."
But the single that Sobule is most remembered for is "I Kissed A Girl." Recounting with tongue-in-cheek humor a tryst between two women, the single reached 67 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was one of the first openly gay anthems. In a 2021 interview with the Philadelphia Gay News, Sobule, who identified as bisexual, reminisced about her first big meeting with record executives for her self-titled album in 1995. "They said, 'We've already had Tracy Chapman and Melissa Etheridge. Thank God we finally have a straight, female singer-songwriter.' It freaked me out," she said. In a 2018 interview with NPR, she added, " Still to this day, I get people who are saying, you know, 'that song meant a lot to me growing up in Alabama.'"
"Jill Sobule wasn't just a trailblazer in music—she was a beacon for queer artists," said Sarah Kate Ellis, GLAAD President & CEO in an online statement. "Long before it was safe or common, Jill was writing and singing about sexuality and identity with raw honesty and wit. At a time when doing so could have cost her everything, she chose truth. That courage helped pave the way for today's artists like Brandi Carlile, Tegan and Sara, Lil Nas X, Sam Smith, Adam Lambert, and so many others who now stand proud and open in their music."
Sobule never achieved the same level of commercial success after "I Kissed a Girl" and "Supermodel."
After she was dropped by various record labels, including MCA and Atlantic, and a couple of indie labels she worked with went bankrupt, Sobule became an early pioneer of crowdfunded music when she decided to go to fans for help with producing her music. Sobule raised close to $89,000 to fund her album California Years.
Born in Denver, Sobule first started playing the drums at the age of five. " I was in love with Ringo Starr," she told NPR in a 2018 interview. "And then somehow my parents convinced me that the guitar was a much nicer instrument." She took to the instrument quickly. " I was a shredder from right from the beginning," she said.
It was during a trip with friends to Spain that she was invited to play in a nightclub after its owner heard her busking in the streets. She dropped out of college and started playing music professionally. Sobule launched her recording career in 1990, with the release of the album Things Here Are Different.
Sobule released 12 albums over the course of her career and was outspoken on a variety of social issues such as anorexia, the MAGA movement and gay and reproductive rights.
According to a statement shared by her management, Sobule is survived by her brother and sister-in-law, nephews, and cousins.
A formal memorial celebrating Sobule's life and legacy is scheduled for later this summer.
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