Iconic '90s singer dies aged 66 after tragic house fire
The music world is mourning the loss of Jill Sobule, known for her 1995 hit single, I Kissed a Girl, who has tragically died at the age of 66.
The singer-songwriter tragically died in a house fire in Minneapolis, Minnesota on Thursday, May 1, as confirmed by a representative to Variety.
Jill was scheduled to perform in Denver on Friday at Swallow Hill Music's Tuft Theater with a show titled "Jill Sobule presents: Songs From F--k 7th Grade and More", reports The Mirror US.
In light of her passing, the theatre will host an informal gathering led by her friend Ron Bostwick from 105.5 FM. Her manager, John Porter, released a heartfelt statement to Variety, saying: "Jill Sobule was a force of nature and human rights advocate whose music is woven into our culture.
"I was having so much fun working with her. I lost a client and a friend today. I hope her music, memory, and legacy continue to live on and inspire others."
Jill's booking agent, Craig Grossman, said: "I was fortunate enough to get to know Jill beyond a professional relationship. No one made me laugh more. Her spirit and energy shall be greatly missed within the music community and beyond."
Ken Hertz, Jill's longtime attorney, added: "Jill wasn't just a client. She was family to us. She showed up for every birth, every birthday, and every holiday. She performed at our daughter's wedding, and I was her 'tech' when she performed by Zoom from our living room (while living with us) during the pandemic."
The songstress was born in Denver in 1959 and made her mark on the music scene in 1990 with her debut album, Things Here Are Different. Five years on, Jill dropped her eponymous album Jill Sobule, which featured her groundbreaking track, I Kissed a Girl.
This was one of the first openly LGBTQ+ songs to make it into the Billboard Top 20. The album also boasted her popular single, Supermodel.
Jill was a staunch human rights advocate, using her music as a platform to address challenging issues such as capital punishment, anorexia nervosa, shoplifting, reproduction and the Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement.
She is survived by her brother and sister-in-law, James and Mary Ellen Sobule, and her beloved nephews, Ian Matthew and Robert and Robert's wife Irina. She is also survived by numerous beloved cousins and countless friends.
There will be a formal memorial celebrating her life and legacy later this summer.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Extra.ie
3 days ago
- Extra.ie
Bond girl Alison Doody reunites with a View to a Kill co-star to mark 30 year anniversary
Irish star of the silver screen Alison Doody who shot to fame in the 90's with a series of bad girl roles in cult films like Indiana Jones and James Bond, has reunited with one of her Bond girl co-stars to mark 30 years since she starred in A View to a Kill. Southside stunner Alison, first made her Hollywood mark when she was cast as part of the 007 franchise, where she played to perfection the role of baddie Bond girl Jenny Flex in A View to a Kill. Now three decades on from when A View to A Kill first hit movie theatres around the globe, Alison has reunited with her View to a Kill co-star Papillon Soo Soo in the French villa where much of the film was shot, to mark the movie's milestone. Irish star of the silver screen Alison Doody who shot to fame in the 90's with a series of bad girl roles in cult films like Indiana Jones and James Bond, has reunited with one of her Bond girl co-stars to mark 30 years since she starred in A View to a Kill. David Buchan/Variety/Penske Media via Getty Images) In the film Alison played Jenny Flex, a beautiful but deadly bodyguard to the film's main machiavellian character Max Zorin played by Christopher Walken. And in keeping with all great Bond movie plots, where good trumps evil and the bad guys and girls invariably meet a grisly end, Alison met her fate when she is double-crossed and left to die. But while she may have been killed off-screen, in real life she lived on and is now reliving her bond girl days in the French villa where the movie was made. Pic: Laurence Wreford/Instagram And thirty years after her big screen debut Alison demonstrated she has those killer looks that shot to international super stardom. Dressed to kill in a sleek black power suit with towering patent black heels Alison is movie starlet personified. Alison Doody. Pic: After her James Bond appearance Alison went on to star alongside Harrison Ford in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade , where once again her angelic platinum blonde doe-eyed beautiful looks concealed her deadly evil side .
Irish Daily Mirror
4 days ago
- Irish Daily Mirror
Emmy-winning star of TV favourite dead
M*A*S*H icon Loretta Swit has died at the age of 87. The late actress died of natural causes at her home. She is said to have died at her home in New York City. According to Variety, her representative Harlan Boll has said that the New York police reported that the actor died earlier today of suspected natural causes. Loretta is best known for her role as Major Margaret Houlihan on M*A*S*H, which ran on CBS from 1972 to 1983. She received acclaim for her performance as the character - who was known as Hot Lips - winning two Emmy Awards. Margaret was the head nurse at the mobile army surgical hospital in the show. Her decades-long career in the acting industry also included roles in shows like Hawaii Five-O, Mission: Impossible and the Love Boat in the 1970s. Tributes have been paid to Loretta following the news of her death. One person wrote on X: "Rest in peace [Loretta]. A truly phenomenal actress who will be deeply missed…" Someone wrote: "May you Rest in Peace Loretta. You are off duty now." Another fan said: "This is absolutely devastating news... Loretta Swit was an amazing human being. Exceptional on-screen and off-screen. Goodbye, Farewell, and Amen Loretta." For the latest news and breaking news visit Get all the big headlines, pictures, analysis, opinion and video on the stories that matter to you. Follow us on Twitter @IrishMirror - the official Irish Mirror Twitter account - real news in real time. We're also on Facebook/irishmirror - your must-see news, features, videos and pictures throughout the day from the Irish Daily Mirror, Irish Sunday Mirror and
RTÉ News
5 days ago
- RTÉ News
Sinners brings cinematic spotlight to Clarksdale, Mississippi
Clarksdale, Mississippi didn't just provide history and blues for director and writer Ryan Coogler's hit movie about art, Jim Crow, and vampires. One of the Mississippi Delta town's musicians contributed to the Sinners script. After a special screening in the town, which has no cinema, Coogler told the audience gathered in a community hall about the first time he described the movie's plot to a group of Clarksdale blues musicians he had asked to contribute to the score. He said he hesitated when he got to the part about the vampires. He went ahead. Then, Grammy winner Bobby Rush filled the silence. "I had a girl once that was a vampire," the musician joked. The line was given to Delta Slim, played by Delroy Lindo, a piano-playing character who brings both comic relief and depth to the movie. Watch: The trailer for Sinners Thursday's screening and discussion came after Tyler Yarbrough, a community organiser and movie buff in Clarksdale, wrote an open letter asking Coogler and Warner Brothers to bring the movie to a town where people drive 80 miles (130km) to Memphis, Tennessee to get to a cinema. Warner Brothers outfitted the Clarksdale Civic Auditorium with a big screen, projector, and sound system. There was even popcorn. Sinners has been widely acclaimed by reviewers and moviegoers, who praised the film for its stars' performances, its showcasing of African American art, and its wrestling with painful history and big ideas. According to Variety, by the end of its opening month of April, Sinners had grossed $122.5 million in North America and $161.6 million worldwide. At what was billed as a community screening, it was apparent the community was not just the geographical entity of Clarksdale. The audience came together around art and American history, including Jim Crow, the legal and often brutally policed racial hierarchy that subjugated black people in America's south. Shelby Simes arrived at 7am from nearby West Helena, Arkansas, earning first place in a queue that had grown to hundreds by the time the doors opened about an hour before Thursday's 11am screening, the first of six scheduled over three days. Simes said Coogler's film, which she had already seen seven times, was particularly important at a time when what many see as the truth about the black American experience has been criticised by President Donald Trump as "improper, divisive, or anti-American ideology". "They're taking books off shelves," Simes said. "They're not teaching us properly in the schools." She said with Sinners, which is fiction but offers a realistic portrayal of the Jim Crow era, Coogler and his team made the past tangible. "I love how they were able to create a path to talk to our ancestors," she said, echoing the reaction of other black viewers. Michael Johansson, who has worked with community members to memorialise lynchings in the county where the University of Mississippi is located, said it made sense for Coogler to weave vampire folklore into his storyline. "The horror genre is appropriate for the damage, the cruelty, the barbarism of what has been done to blacks in this nation," said Johansson, who came from Jackson to see the movie on Thursday. Andrea Driver, who supports library sciences students at the University of Mississippi in Jackson, was touched on a personal level. She cried when she saw that a young character had survived horror and reached old age. "He somehow carried that experience with him for years and didn't perish, didn't take his own life. I don't know that I could live with those memories my whole life," she said, saying it spoke to the experience of many black Americans. Poet C Liegh McInnis, who was born and raised in Clarksdale, noted the hometown audience recited the Lord's Prayer along with a character during a tense moment in the film. He said Coogler had drawn from history, folklore, and religion. "I love the fact that Coogler gave us a three-dimensional film," he said. Sinners is set at a time when Clarksdale was a bustling agricultural centre in which black residents were exploited. Many fled north, bringing the blues to cities such as Chicago and Kansas City. While Coogler set his movie in Clarksdale, he filmed it in neighbouring Louisiana, in part because Mississippi lacked infrastructure such as the soundstages he needed. Clarksdale Mayor Chuck Espy said the attention Sinners had brought could help revive his majority-black town of about 14,000, where 40% live under the poverty line. He hoped to capitalise on Clarksdale's status as a cultural capital by expanding performance and educational opportunities. Director Coogler saw a future for Clarksdale because of the entrepreneurial spirit that led residents to reach out for Thursday's screening, and its cultural resources. "The thing that you guys have is a thing that can't be taught," he said.
