Jill Sobule, the singer and songwriter whose hit “Supermodel” and homosexual anthem “I Kissed a Woman” had been adopted by three many years of touring, advocacy and a one-woman musical, died on Thursday morning in a home fireplace in Woodbury, Minn., in response to her publicist. She was 66.
The Public Security Division in Woodbury, a Minneapolis suburb, mentioned that firefighters had responded at 5:30 a.m. to a home that was engulfed in flames. The owners mentioned one particular person was presumably nonetheless inside. Firefighters discovered the physique of a girl in her 60s inside the home, the division mentioned.
The reason for the fireplace was not instantly clear.
Ms. Sobule was scheduled to carry out songs from her one-woman musical, “F*ck7thGrade,” on Friday on the Swallow Hill Music venue in her hometown, Denver, in response to her publicist. She was staying with buddies in Minnesota whereas she rehearsed for the musical, the publicist mentioned.
A free, casual gathering will likely be held in Ms. Sobule’s honor as a substitute.
On her 1995 self-titled album, Ms. Sobule, who was bisexual, featured “I Kissed a Woman,” which tells the story of a girl kissing her feminine pal. The tune got here out when it was “dicey” to be a queer musician, Ms. Sobule recalled. But it surely broke into the mainstream, making its method onto the Billboard charts.
“Supermodel,” a rebellious rock tune from the identical album, was included on the soundtrack of the romantic comedy “Clueless” and additional cemented Ms. Sobule’s reputation.
“Folks name me a one-hit marvel,” Ms. Sobule mentioned in a 2022 interview with The New York Instances. “And I say, ‘Wait a second, I’m a two-hit marvel!’”
Her subsequent albums — genreless and artistic — didn’t attain the identical stage of mainstream success, however they obtained constructive critiques from critics and followers.
“Now she sings about dumb boyfriends, weight-obsessed girls, Alzheimer’s illness and the failings of a protracted record of celebrated individuals,” The Instances wrote in 2000. “With a depraved wit and pliant facility for candor, Ms. Sobule is an artist whose expertise goes effectively past whom she kisses.”
Ms. Sobule was born in Denver. Further details about her household couldn’t be instantly confirmed. She joked that rising up, her solely queer function fashions had been Miss Jane Hathaway from “The Beverly Hillbillies” and her health club instructor, “who appeared like Pete Rose.”
A long time later, she sang about her frustrations in center faculty in her musical. She described being referred to as a homophobic slur, feeling misplaced among the many different ladies and having an unrequited crush on a woman.
In eighth grade, her guitar abilities started to indicate, and she or he finally dropped out of college to give attention to being a musician. Her recording profession started in 1990, when she launched the album “Issues Right here Are Totally different.” Radios performed its single, “Too Cool to Fall in Love.”
In 1995, her self-titled album catapulted her profession to higher heights. “I Kissed a Woman” made its method again into headlines once more in 2008, when Katy Perry launched a tune with the identical identify. In an interview, Ms. Sobule later recalled being “jealous” when Ms. Perry used the title.
An entire record of survivors was not instantly accessible.
Along with performing, she was outspoken about quite a lot of political and cultural matters, together with the dying penalty, anorexia, replica, the French Resistance and L.G.B.T.Q. points.
“She actually created a path for queer individuals and girls in music,” Sarah Kate Ellis, the president of GLAAD, an L.G.B.T.Q. advocacy group, mentioned in a press release.
In her 2022 interview with The New York Instances about her musical, Ms. Sobule strengthened that her purpose was to succeed in a broad viewers of people that felt like outcasts.
“We wished to be sure that the present wasn’t only for individuals interested by my profession as a result of most individuals may give a [expletive],” she mentioned. “I’m not that well-known. It’s form of this common story of a weirdo rising up.”
Caryn Ganz contributed reporting.
