Jill Sobule, the singer-songwriter behind songs “Supermodel” and “I Kissed a Girl,” has died at the age of 66.
Her team announced that the musician had died in a house fire in Woodbury, Minnesota, early this morning. “Jill Sobule was a force of nature and human rights advocate whose music is woven into our culture,” said manager John Porter in a press release. “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.”
Sobule’s 1995 single “I Kissed a Girl” made history as the first openly gay song to reach the Top 20 on Billboard‘s Modern Rock chart (it also made it to Number 67 on the Hot 100). Throughout her life, Sobule reflected on the song’s significance for the time in which it was released. “[When] I got my record deal and I was sitting in a conference room getting ready to have the first big meeting … 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 told the Philadelphia Gay News in 2021. “When ‘Kissed a Girl’ came out, I didn’t even think it was going to make it onto the record, but it came out and was treated like a novelty. For me, I wanted it out because it was the kind of song I wish I’d heard when I was young.”
Her single “Supermodel” separately made waves as part of the Nineties cult-classic film Clueless, which starred Alicia Silverstone and Paul Rudd. “[That] wasn’t my song, but I made it my own. I added that bridge to the song … I had to add some weird Dadaist gravitas to it,” Sobule told The Toledo Blade in an interview this March. (“Supermodel” was written by a team of professional songwriters for the film.)
The singer released 12 albums throughout her career, and she took on a range of social issues in her music, including anorexia, reproductive rights, and intolerance. More recently, in 2022, she co-wrote and performed an autobiographical musical titled Fuck 7th Grade, which had four runs in three years. The original cast recording of the show is set to arrive this June 6, along with a 30th anniversary vinyl of Sobule’s self-titled 1995 album, which featured both “I Kissed a Girl” and “Supermodel.”
In a 2023 Playbill interview about the musical, Sobule reflected on turning her adolescent life experiences into an off-Broadway show. “In sixth grade, I was this tomboy, I was a badass, I was the electric guitar player,” she said. “Suddenly, seventh grade happened, and my friends started wearing makeup, and I didn’t feel like I fit in. I knew early on that there was something different about me — that I had crushes on my friends, and that wasn’t the ‘right thing.’” She added that while she was surprised by the show’s success, “In the back of my mind, I always thought this could take off. After all, we all hated seventh grade! Who doesn’t want to curse it out?”
After the news of her death, those who knew Sobule offered tributes. “I was fortunate enough to get to know Jill beyond a professional relationship,” said her agent, Craig Grossman, in a statement. “No one made me laugh more. Her spirit and energy shall be greatly missed within the music community and beyond.”
Gail Ann Dorsey, who was a longtime bassist for David Bowie, remembered Sobule in a heartfelt post shared to social media. “Jill’s words, her music, her boundless creativity, her unique, bold, artistic integrity… her admirable bravery and commitment to freedom of speech and expression live on as a beacon of joy and hope always,” wrote the musician.
The singer will be honored during an “informal gathering” hosted by a local radio station where she was originally set to perform her show Jill Sobule Presents: Songs From F*ck 7th Grade & More. A formal memorial is being planned for this summer, according to a release.
