American singer-songwriter Jill Sobule, whose hits included the satirical anthem Supermodel from the Clueless movie soundtrack and the groundbreaking single I Kissed A Girl, died early on Thursday in a Minneapolis-area house fire, media outlets reported. She was 66.
Her manager John Porter confirmed her death in a statement to the Minnesota Star Tribune.
According to her website, Sobule had been due to perform on Friday in her native Denver to showcase songs from her autobiographical stage musical F*** 7th Grade, which was nominated in 2023 for a Drama Desk Award.
Sobule was remembered for a diverse body of music that ranged from deeply intimate to socially conscious themes in a recording career that spanned a dozen albums starting in 1990 with her Todd Rungren-produced debut collection Things Here Are Different.
Her eponymous 1995 album included two of her biggest hits, Supermodel from the Hollywood coming-of-age comedy film Clueless, and I Kissed A Girl, widely regarded as the first openly LGBTQ-themed song to crack the Billboard Top 20 singles chart. It peaked at No. 20 that year.
The song drew renewed attention in 2008 when Katy Perry released a different single of her own with the same title.
Authorities in Woodbury, Minnesota, a suburb of Minneapolis, are investigating the cause of the fire at the house where Sobule was found, the Star Tribune reported. – Reuters
