Jill Sobule, 'Supermodel' singer on 'Clueless' soundtrack, dies in house fire at 66
Jill Sobule, the singer/songwriter whose hits included "I Kissed A Girl" and the "satirical gem" "Supermodel" from the "Clueless" soundtrack, has died. She was 66.
Sobule's representatives announced the news in a May 1 press release posted on her Facebook page, which revealed her cause of death was "a house fire early this morning."
The Woodbury Police Department confirmed the news in a May 2 statement shared with Paste BN.
"WPD can confirm the victim of the fire yesterday morning was Jill Sobule," WPD patrol commander Tom Ehrenberg said in the statement. "The Ramsey County Medical Examiner did not finalize the cause of death. The fire itself, including the cause, is still under active investigation, which is standing operating procedure."
In a statement shared on Facebook, Woodbury Public Safety said that "responders observed the house fully engulfed in flames."
"The homeowners reported one person was possibly still inside the home. Woodbury firefighters began actively fighting the fire while also searching for the missing person," the statement read. "Tragically, the missing female, in her 60s, was located deceased inside the home. Woodbury Public Safety remains on scene actively investigating the cause of the fire."
The Denver-born Sobule was scheduled to embark on a three-show "Colorado world tour" in May, with summer performances taking her to the East Coast, Midwest and West Coast. Her last performance was seemingly as a supporting act for The Fixx on April 25 at Illinois' Arcada Theatre.
The press release from Sobule's representatives included remembrances from her manager, booking agent and attorney. Manager John Porter paid tribute to her as "force of nature and human rights advocate whose music is woven into our culture."
In lieu of her scheduled show at Swallow Hill Music in Denver on May 2, there will instead be "an informal gathering" hosted by her friend, 105.5 The Colorado Sound host Rob Bostwick. "Folks are encouraged to join their fellow Jill friends and fans to share a story or song," the press release noted.
A memorial service will take place "later this summer."
GLAAD pays tribute to Jill Sobule for lyrical honesty 'when doing so could have cost her everything'
In a May 2 statement, GLAAD President & CEO Sarah Kate Ellis paid tribute to Sobule as not only a boundary-pushing musician but also as a friend.
"Jill Sobule wasn’t just a trailblazer in music — she was a beacon for queer artists, and I was incredibly lucky to call her a dear friend. Long before it was safe or common, Jill was writing and singing about sexuality and identity with raw honesty and wit. At a time when doing so could have cost her everything, she chose truth," Ellis said.
"Jill was a rare light — funny, fearless, and full of heart. Her impact will live on through her art and through everyone she inspired. Rest in power, Jill. You are so loved."
'I Kissed A Girl' was 'first ever openly queer-themed' single to chart
On Sobule's website, "I Kissed A Girl" is described as "the first ever openly queer-themed Billboard Top 20 record." Throughout the three decades of her musical career, she wrote tracks inspired by "such topics as the death penalty, anorexia nervosa, shoplifting, reproduction, the French Resistance, adolescent malaise, LGBTQ issues, and the Christian Right." She also produced an off-Broadway autobiographical musical, which had four separate runs in three years.
In her 2022 New York Times review, theater critic Laura Collins-Hughes described Sobule as "enchanting."
"I wish I would have said to all of them: it's a big ol' gay gay song," she told the crowd during an October 2022 performance, per Collins-Hughes' review. "But I didn't. I was too scared. I wanted to do the smart thing. I wanted to be arty and transgressive, but I wanted to sell records. The compromising got me nowhere. And then I couldn’t stand my own song."
Jill Sobule 'started loving music again' with her last album
Sobule's first album, "Things Here Are Different," came out in 1990. But as her website notes, her second album – 1995's self-titled "Jill Sobule" – "brought her mainstream commercial and critical success," especially with its singles "I Kissed A Girl" and "Supermodel." Her most recent album, "Nostalgia Kills," came out in 2018.
Speaking with Billboard before the record's release, Sobule admitted that for years she "went through an extended period of time of finding other things and avoiding doing a new album."
"There were things that happened in my life — the death of a parent, a breakup, a move. I was my own procrastinatrix, is what I call it," she said. "But I think those kind of jostle you back into the creative mode, and I started loving music again — loving listening, loving writing and the original spirit of why I did this in the first place, I suppose."
Sobule is survived by her brother and her sister-in-law, James and Mary Ellen Sobule, her nephews and "numerous beloved cousins and countless friends."
(This story was updated to include more information and a video.)