The singer-songwriter Jill Sobule, best known for the singles “Supermodel” and “I Kissed a Girl,” is remembered as a “force of nature” whose work dealt with heavy-hitting issues, after she was killed in a Minnesota house fire Thursday. She was 66.
Sobule’s death was confirmed to The Associated Press by her publicist, who said she died a day before she was set to perform in her native Denver, where there will now be an informal memorial in her honor.
“Jill Sobule was a force of nature and human rights advocate whose music is woven into our culture,” her manager said in a statement to AP. “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.”
According to her website, Sobule released 12 albums during her lifetime, starting with “Things Here Are Different” in 1990 and ending with 2018’s “Nostalgia Kills.” Her work took on hot-button topics like the death penalty, LGBTQ issues, reproduction and anorexia nervosa “with her trademark wit and aplomb.”
“I Kissed a Girl” — off Sobule’s 1995 self-titled album and long pre-dating Katy Perry’s 2008 song of the same name — peaked at No. 67 on the Billboard Hot 100. Sobule’s website identifies the track as the first-ever openly queer-themed Billboard Top 20 record. Her song, “Supermodel,” landed on the “Clueless” soundtrack.
Sobule wrote and starred in the autobiographical off-Broadway musical, “F–k 7th Grade,” which premiered in 2022. The New York Times Critic Pick came back in 2023 as well as this most recent winter.
It’s not clear what led to the Woodbury, Minn. blaze that killed Sobule.
She is survived by her brother and sister-in-law, as well as nephews and cousins.
With News Wire Services
