Recommendations of the editorial team
Jill Sobule, singer-songwriter and author of the songs “I Kissed a Girl” and “Supermodel”, is dead. As her management confirms, the American musician died early Thursday morning (May 1st) in her home in Woodbury, a suburb of Minneapolis. She was 66 years old.
“Jill Sobule was a nature violence and human rights activist whose music is inextricably linked to our culture,” explained her manager John Porter in a press release. “I had so much fun working with her. I lost a client and a friend today. I hope that her music, memory and legacy will live on and inspire others.”
A pioneer with attitude
Sobule became known in 1995 with “I Kissed A Girl”, who was the first open queer song in the US charts and climbed in 20th place on the Billboard Modern Rock Charts-many years ahead of Katy Perry’s same name, albeit significantly differently stored in terms of content. Her second big number, “Supermodel”, found her way into the pop culture canon through her prominent placement in the cult film “Clueless”.
Born in Denver, Colorado in 1959, Sobule started her musical career in 1990 with the debut Things here Eair produced by Todd round. Five years later, her self -titled album followed, which gave her the breakthrough with “I Kissed a Girl” and “Supermodel” – and at the same time remained commercially successful to this day.
Despite the mainstream success, Jill Sobule consistently searched for artistic freedom in the following years. In albums such as Happy Town (1997) and Pink Pearl (2000), she always addressed anorectic disorders, religious fanaticism, depression and LGBTQ+identities-always with a sharp look, a lot of humor and the necessary gentleness in songwriting. When her label Atlantic Records dropped her despite good reviews, she became the early pioneer of crowdfunding in the music business.
From pop to theater
In addition to a total of twelve published albums, Jill Sobule also wrote music for theater and film. Her most recent project: The autobiographically shaped musical “F*ck 7th grade”, which was awarded a drama desk award nomination and is now supposed to appear posthumously as a cast recording on June 6th. At the same time, a vinyl zreissue of her 1995 album will be released.
In an interview with the “Playbill Magazine” Remembered Sobule in 2023 of her own youth: “In the 6th grade I was a wild catch. I was a rebel, I played electric guitar,” she said. “Suddenly the 7th grade came, and my friends started to put on make -up. I didn’t feel like it anymore. I knew early on that I was different, that I was in love with my friends. And that it wasn’t ‘right’.” She added that although she was surprised by the success of the show, “but” but always thought that it could work. After all, we all hated the 7th grade! Who doesn’t want to curse that? “