Jill Sobule, groundbreaking folk-pop singer and activist, dead at 66By Jared RichardsDouble JTopic:Folk Music51m ago51 minutes agoFri 2 May 2025 at 3:34amThe American folk-pop singer was best known for her 1990s hits 'I Kissed A Girl' and 'Supermodel'. (Debra L Rothenberg/Getty Images)abc.net.au/news/jill-sobule-dead-obituary-i-kissed-a-girl/105243812Link copiedShareShare articleJill Sobule, the acclaimed singer-songwriter and LGBTQ+ trailblazer best known for 90s hits 'I Kissed A Girl' and 'Supermodel', has died in a Minneapolis house fire. She was 66.Born in Denver in 1959, Sobule released her first album in 1990, but found mainstream success with her self-titled second album, which featured 'I Kissed A Girl'.Jill Sobule in 1995. (Jim Steinfeldt/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)The folk-pop track is often cited as a milestone for queer representation, as one of the first openly LGBT-themed songs to crack the US Billboard Top 20. It details two women connecting after they are fed up with their boyfriends — a ground-breaking but casual depiction of sexual fluidity presented as sweet, not salacious.Loading YouTube contentSobule, who was bisexual, told Ohio newspaper Toledo Blade in 2024 that she was proud of the long lasting impact of 'I Kissed A Girl'."Everyday, I get an email or comment where someone says, 'Thank you for that song. That meant a lot to me when I was a kid.' And that's pretty great," she said.Souble appearing on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno in May 1995, alongside actors James Woods and David Duchovny. (Margaret Norton/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images)The song resurfaced in 2008 following pop-star Katy Perry releasing a track by the same name, which was compared unfavourably to Sobule's by music critics, though Sobule said she had no "ill will" towards Perry.Her other signature song, 'Supermodel', featured prominently in 90s cult classic film Clueless — both it and 'I Kissed A Girl' were hits in Australia, each landing in triple j's Hottest 100 of 1995.In a statement, her manager John Porter said:"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."Ken Hertz, her longtime attorney, said [in a statement/on social media]: "Jill wasn't just a client. She was family to us. She showed up for every birth, every birthday, and every holiday. She performed at our daughter's wedding, and I was her 'tech' when she performed by Zoom from our living room (while living with us) during the pandemic."Loading YouTube contentSobule's three-decade career includes 12 albums, most recently 2018's Nostalgia Kills. Citing label pressure to replicate her self-titled album's success, Sobule turned away from major labels in the late 1990s, and was one of the first artists to crowd-fund a release with 2009's California Years."There was always a conflict between art and commerce for me," she told Double J's Dan Condon in 2017. "And art always seemed to win."I didn't have that kind of naked raw ambition, I just wanted to make good music. I just wanted to be an artist.""I didn't follow any trends": Jill Sobule reflects on staying trueIn 2017, Jill Sobule chatted to Dan Condon about her career's many turns, from performing on Hey Hey! to protesting through music. Sobule was politically active and her music tackled topics such as anorexia, capital punishment and the rise of Donald Trump, with singer campaigning for Bernie Sanders in the 2016 Democratic primaries. She also worked on various theatrical and television projects, including the theme for Nickelodeon show 'Unfabulous'.Souble perfomed at multiple rallies for Bernie Sanders in 2016. (Jim Steinfeldt/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)Her most recent project was off-Broadway autobiographical musical F*ck 7th Grade, which was a New York Times Critics Pick and was nominated for outstanding musical at New York's Drama Desk Awards in 2023.An original cast recording is set for release on June 6 as well as a 30th-anniversary vinyl reissue of Jill Sobule. Sobule was set to perform songs from the musical and her own catalogue on May 2 in Denver.Instead, an informal memorial will be held in the same venue, with a formal ceremony to come.Posted 51m ago51 minutes agoFri 2 May 2025 at 3:34amShare optionsCopy linkFacebookX (formerly Twitter)Top StoriesLittle-known entity comparing Dutton to Trump spends more than $400,000 on political Meta adsTopic:Australian Federal ElectionsPhoto shows A man in front of a billboard which says "the parties are the problem"Home owners far outnumber first-time buyers, so pollies ‘do the math’Topic:Property PricesPhoto shows A man outside his Qld home standing next to the fence at the front of the house'Stranded': Motorists describe chaos caused by scrap metal truck debrisTopic:Road Accidents and IncidentsPhoto shows A metal shard embedded in a tyreWhere the election will be won and lost — or left hangingTopic:Australian Federal ElectionsPhoto shows A stylised map shows Australia's 150 federal electorates as clusters of hexagons.Why Melbourne’s inner north has Labor worriedTopic:Federal GovernmentRelated storiesKylie honoured for outstanding contribution to Australian musicTopic:MusicPhoto shows Kylie Minogue singing on stageRuby Gill didn't realise she was queer until she wrote this songTopic:MusicPhoto shows Ruby Gill sits at a piano stool facing out, her arms wrapped around herself. 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