Jill Sobule, the singer-songwriter behind “I Kissa a Girl”, the first openly gay track to enter the Display panel Top 20, died. She was 66 years old.
Sobule died Thursday in a house fire while he was staying with friends in a suburb of Minneapolis, said his manager, John Porter The Hollywood Reporter. Friends “lost Jill, their house and their dogs,” he added.
The native of Denver entered the music industry in 1990 with her first album, Things here are different. Five years later, she released Jill Sobulewhich included his 1995 “I Kissa a Girl” song, which is considered the first track openly LGBTQ + to land at the top of the Display panel Top 20. The album also featured “Supermodel”, which was notably presented in the Distraught soundtrack.
Human rights activist, Sobule’s music addressed difficult subjects, including death penalty, nervous anorexia, display flight, reproduction and Maga movement.
“Jill Sobule was a force of nature and the human rights defender whose music is woven in our culture. I had so much fun working with her,” said wearing in a statement. “I lost a client and a friend today. I hope that his music, memory and heritage continue to live and inspire others. ”
Sobule recently worked on his autobiographical musical F * CK 7th year. The show was a choice of a critic from the New York Times and nominated for a theater prize. An original distribution of distribution of F * CK 7th year should be released on June 6 alongside a 30th anniversary Jill Sobule Vinyl with its successful tracks “I Kissa a Girl” and “Supermodel”.
“Jill was not only a client. She was family for us,” said Ken Hertz, Sobule’s longtime lawyer. “She showed up for each birth, every birthday and every vacation. She played our daughter’s wedding, and I was her “technology” when she played by zoom in our living room (while living with us) during the pandemic. ”
Sobule was to perform in his birthplace of Denver at the Tuft theater in Swallow Hill Music Friday evening with his “Jill Sobule Presents: Songs from F * CK 7th year & More »show. Now, an informal memorial will take place to honor his inheritance this summer.
The survivors include his brother and sister-in-law, James and Mary Ellen Sobule; his nephews, Ian, Matthew and Robert; and Robert’s wife, Irina.
