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Singer Jill Sobule, known for her 1995 hit “I Kissed a Girl,” died in a house fire in Minneapolis May 1. She was 66.
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The music world is mourning a sudden loss.
Jill Sobule, the singer-songwriter best known for her 1995 single “I Kissed a Girl,” died May 1 in a house fire in Minneapolis at age 66, her rep confirmed to Variety.
“Jill Sobule was a force of nature and human rights advocate whose music is woven into our culture,” her manager John Porter said in a statement to the outlet. “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.”
The singer, who was scheduled to perform at Swallow Hill Music’s Tuft Theatre May 2 in her native Denver, will instead be remembered with an informal gathering at the venue in her honor. A formal memorial will be held this summer, her rep told Variety.
Born in 1959, Sobule released her debut album Things Here Are Different in 1990. Her self-titled breakthrough sophomore effort came five years later and included the aforementioned “I Kissed a Girl”—considered one of the first openly queer songs to find success on the Billboard charts—as well as “Supermodel,” which was featured in the teen comedy Clueless that same year.
Sobule’s music was also featured on television series such as The West Wing and Dawson’s Creek, and she later performed the theme song for the Nickelodeon teen sitcom Unfabulous, which marked Emma Roberts’s small screen debut.
Randy Shropshire/Getty Images for GLAAD
Known for her socially conscious lyrics and quirky performance style, Sobule reflected on the common themes in her music just days before her untimely death.
“I’m certainly not used to tiptoeing around,” she told Cincinnati Magazine in an interview published April 22. “So it’s interesting and even wonderful to figure out what you can get away with and how you can still relate to people who disagree with you.”
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