This is sad. This is really sad. Jill Sobule, the vivacious, insightful, funny singer-songwriter died on May 1st in a house fire in Woodbury, Minnesota.
What makes Jill’s death particularly sad was that she was so full of life. She had plans for the immediate and long-term future. She had just wrapped up a tour opening shows for 80s icons The Fixx. She was riding high with glowing reviews of her autobiographical musical Fuck 7th Grade. She had plans to tour in support of the 30th anniversary release of her breakthrough self -titled album, best known for its surprise hit “I Kissed a Girl.” The 1995 single is widely recognized as the first LGBTQ+ song to crack Billboard’s Top 20.
Although mostly known for a 30-year old song, Jill never rested on her laurels. She released a dozen albums, tackling topics from rape to depression to anorexia, to anti-Semitism, all presented in Jill’s lovely voice and sardonic attitude. In 2009, she was a pioneer in the crowdfunding movement, financing her album California Years purely with fan donations. Along the way, Jill wrote an entirely new set of songs for the Isaac Bashevis Singer story Yentl, after learning that the author was not happy with the depiction and tone of the Barbra Streisand-led version. She was an outspoken activist for gay rights, women’s right and human rights. She had songs featured on film and television soundtracks. She sponsored and participated in regular songwriting workshops. She had a concert scheduled for Friday, May 2… the day after her untimely death.
Jill had plans. A lot of plans.
Her plans were cut short at 66.