Rocker Jill Sobule, 66, Known for ‘I Kissed a Girl,’ Dies

Jill Sobule, the award-winning singer-songwriter whose witty and poignant writing first attracted widespread attention with the gay-themed song I Kissed a Girl, died in a house fire Thursday. She was 66.

Her death was confirmed by her publicist, David Elkin. It was not immediately clear how the fire in Woodbury, Minnesota, started.

House fires have become particularly dangerous for older adults. According to the U.S. Fire Administration, the chances of dying in a fire for Americans ages 65 to 74 increased by 45.4 percent between 2013 and 2022 (the latest year with available data).  

“Jill Sobule was a force of nature and human rights advocate whose music is woven into our culture,” John Porter, her manager, said in a statement. “I was having so much fun working with her. I lost a client & a friend today. I hope her music, memory, & legacy continue to live on and inspire others.”

Sobule during her heyday in 1995, when she had two hits on the charts — "I Kissed a Girl" and "Supermodel." The latter was from the soundtrack of the movie "Clueless," which was released that year.

Jim Steinfeldt/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

During her more than three decades of recording, Sobule released 12 albums that addressed such complex topics as the death penalty, anorexia nervosa, reproduction and LGBTQ+ issues.

Her first album, Things Here Are Different, was released in 1990. Five years later, she received widespread attention for her hit singles Supermodel, from the movie Clueless, and I Kissed A Girl, which, despite being banned on several southern radio stations, made it into the Billboard Top 20.

She also starred in an autobiographical off-Broadway musical that initially premiered at the Wild Project in New York in 2022 and included songs and stories about her life.

Sobule was known for taking control of her career by fundraising so she could make her next album. In 2008, after two major record companies dumped her and two indie labels went bankrupt beneath her, she raised tens of thousands of dollars from fans so she could make a new album.

“The old kind of paradigm, where you’ve always waited for other people to do things, you’d have your manager and your agent,” she said at the time. “You’d wait for the big record company to give you money to do things and they tell you what to do. This is so great. I want to do everything like this.”