Studying Time: 3 minutes
Tragic information out of the music trade and leisure world:
Jill Sobule, the groundbreaking singer-songwriter of the 1995 smash hit single “I Kissed a Lady,” has handed away in a home fireplace in Minneapolis, her consultant confirmed to Selection and different shops on Thursday.
She was 66 years outdated.
“Jill Sobule was a power of nature and human rights advocate whose music is woven into our tradition,” her supervisor, John Porter, mentioned in an announcement.
“I used to be having a lot enjoyable working along with her. I misplaced a shopper and a buddy as we speak. I hope her music, reminiscence, & legacy proceed to stay on and encourage others.”
The aforementioned music is broadly thought of to have been the primary brazenly lesbian pop music to peak within the Billboard high 20.
The observe paved the best way for an infinite variety of future LGBTQ+ singer to be candid about their sexuality inside their songwriting and to search out continued mainstream success consequently.
Sobule launched 12 albums over the course of a three-decade-plus profession.
Her finest identified songs included “Supermodel” from the film Clueless and, extra just lately, the Drama Desk-nominated autobiographical musical “Fuck seventh Grade,” which loved 4 theatrical runs in three years.
The unique forged recording of the present is about to be launched on June 6, alongside a particular thirtieth anniversary reissue of her self-titled album, which options “I Kissed a Lady” and “Supermodel.”
Sobule was scheduled to carry out in Denver on Might 2.
Her physique was found in a house in Woodbury, Minnesota yesterday and police are investigating the reason for the hearth, based on the Minnesota Star Tribute.
Sobule’s administration and fellow artists mourned the star’s demise by recognizing her dedication to progressive activism and her musical expertise.
Her agent Craig Grossman of Black Oak Artists, mentioned in an announcement to Rolling Stone:
“I used to be lucky sufficient to get to know Jill past knowledgeable relationship. Nobody made me giggle extra. Her spirit and power shall be enormously missed inside the music group and past.”
Added Sarah Thyre on Instagram about her expertise collaborating with Sobule:
“This one hits onerous. Jill Sobule was an incredible, beneficiant artist who lent her time and expertise to abortion rights and different progressive causes.”
Ken Hertz, the artist’s longtime lawyer, mentioned:
“Jill wasn’t only a shopper. She was household to us. She confirmed up for each delivery, each birthday, and each vacation. She carried out at our daughter’s wedding ceremony, and I used to be her ‘tech’ when she carried out by Zoom from our lounge (whereas residing with us) through the pandemic.”
Sobule got here out as bisexual in a 2002 interview with The New York Occasions.
“All anybody needed to know was, ‘What was I?’” Sobule instructed the outlet, including:
It was a bizarre factor, as a result of there was part of me that needed to say I’m bisexual, however I simply didn’t need to get into that. There was an enormous debate about me, and other people have been saying, ‘Oh, she’s such a closet case — she gained’t come out and say she’s a lesbian.’ And different individuals have been saying, ‘Oh, she’s a heterosexual lady attempting to catch a lesbian pattern.’ You couldn’t win.“
A proper memorial celebrating Sobule’s life and legacy will happen through the summer time, her rep confirmed.
She is survived by her brother and sister-in-law, James and Mary Ellen Sobule, and her nephews, Ian Matthew and Robert and Robert’s spouse Irina.
Might Jill Sobule relaxation in peace.
