Jill Sobule, the singer-songwriter behind the original queer anthem “I Kissed a Girl” and the cult hit “Supermodel” from the Clueless soundtrack, has died. She was 66 years old.
Sobule passed away early Thursday morning in a house fire in Woodbury, Minnesota. The tragic news was confirmed by her publicist, David Elkin.
According to the Public Safety Department in Woodbury, firefighters responded to a house engulfed in flames around 5:30 a.m. The homeowners reported that one person might still be inside.
Firefighters later discovered the body of a woman in her 60s, who the Woodbury Police Department later confirmed to be Sobule. The cause of the fire is currently under investigation.
At the time of her death, Sobule was in Minnesota staying with friends as she rehearsed for her autobiographical one-woman musical, “F*ck7thGrade.” She had been scheduled to perform songs from the show on Friday at Swallow Hill Music in her hometown, Denver. Instead, a free informal gathering will be held in her honor.
Sobule rose to fame with her 1995 self-titled album, which featured “I Kissed a Girl,” a bold song for its time that told the story of a woman kissing a female friend.
The track made history by becoming the first openly gay-themed song to break into the Billboard Top 20 on the Modern Rock Tracks chart. It also reached No. 67 on the Hot 100 singles chart.
She later recalled how risky it was to be an openly queer musician back then. “It was dicey,” Sobule once said. But the song’s mainstream success helped pave the way for LGBTQ+ voices in popular music.
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From the same album came “Supermodel,” a rebellious rock anthem famously featured on the Clueless soundtrack. Though Sobule didn’t write the track, it became one of her best-known hits.
“People call me a one-hit wonder,” Sobule joked in a 2022 New York Times interview. “And I say, ‘Wait a second — I’m a two-hit wonder!’”
While her later albums didn’t achieve the same commercial success, they earned critical acclaim and built a loyal fanbase for their unique, genre-defying style.
Born Jill Susan Sobule on January 16, 1959, in Denver, she was the daughter of Marvin Lee Sobule, a veterinarian, and Elaine (Kramish) Sobule, a musician.
She often spoke of growing up feeling like an outsider, joking that her only queer role models as a kid were Miss Jane Hathaway from The Beverly Hillbillies and her gym teacher, “who looked like Pete Rose.”
In later years, Sobule channeled those experiences into “F*ck7thGrade,” her musical about being an awkward, misunderstood middle schooler navigating crushes and bullies. She took up guitar in the eighth grade and eventually dropped out of school to pursue music.
Sobule released her debut album, “Things Here Are Different,” in 1990. A single from that record, “Too Cool to Fall in Love,” received some radio play, but it was her second album in 1995 that propelled her career.
In 2008, her signature hit returned to headlines when Katy Perry released a song of the same title, “I Kissed a Girl.” Sobule openly admitted to feeling a little “jealous” of the massive success of Perry’s version.
“I don’t feel precious about the title, but I’ve gotten tons of emails from annoyed fans,” she told Entertainment Weekly. She did, however, admit to smiling when critics praised her original in comparison.
Beyond her music, Sobule was known for her outspoken activism on issues like LGBTQ+ rights, reproductive freedom, anorexia, the death penalty, and more.
She is survived by her brother, James Sobule.
