Latest news with #Clueless'
Yahoo
7 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Jill Sobule death investigation underway to determine if singer died before fire broke out
An investigation has been launched to determine if singer Jill Sobule passed away before the house fire that took her life. The '90s icon — known for her 1995 anthem 'I Kissed a Girl' — failed to escape the blaze that broke out at her friend's home in St. Paul, Minnesota, on Thursday. She was 66. Now, investigators are looking into whether she was still alive when the house went up in flames. Sobule's body is being tested for drugs, alcohol and carbon monoxide poisoning to determine when and how she passed away, a Ramsey County representative in Minnesota told TMZ. The Ramsey Medical Examiner also confirmed that an investigation into the cause and manner of her death is underway. 'WPD can confirm the victim of the fire yesterday morning was Jill Sobule,' WPD patrol commander Tom Ehrenberg told The Post on Friday. He also revealed investigators are looking into how the fire started. 'The Ramsey County Medical Examiner did not finalize the cause of death. The fire itself, including the cause, is still under active investigation, which is standing operating procedure.' The Post has reached out to the Ramsey County rep, the police department and the coroner for comment. Sobule was reportedly staying with her pals when the unidentified couple's house caught ablaze, Craig Grossman, the singer's rep told TMZ. Woodbury Public Safety authorities were called to the scene at around 5:30 a.m. for the report of an active house fire. 'Upon arrival, responders observed the house fully engulfed in flames. The homeowners reported one person was possibly still inside the home. Woodbury firefighters began actively fighting the fire while also searching for the missing person. Tragically, the missing female, in her 60s, was located deceased inside the home,' the Woodbury Police Department . The friends believed she ran out of the home with them; however, once they were safely outside, they discovered the gut-wrenching truth. Sobule was still inside the house, and the fire was too intense for them to rescue her. Photos show the aftermath of the fatal inferno and the damage it caused to the outside of the property. The couple has no idea what caused their property to catch on fire, with Grossman telling TMZ that none of the trio smoked and Sobule did not use drugs. Her friends aren't just in mourning. The pair reportedly have survivor's guilt. The Denver native first broke out on the scene 30 years ago with 'I Kissed a Girl,' which is widely considered the first openly gay-themed tune to break into the Billboard Top 20. However, Sobule found worldwide success with her song 'Supermodel,' which was featured in Alicia Silverstone's breakout movie 'Clueless' (1995). Millennials will remember the tune during the scene when Silverstone's character Cher and Dionne (Stacey Dash) give their new friend, transfer student Tai (Brittany Murphy), a makeover. Sobule was also behind the autobiographical Drama Desk-nominated musical 'F–k 7th Grade.' The project is approaching its 30-year anniversary, and the original cast recording is set to be released in June alongside a reissue of Sobule's self-titled album, featuring her two best hits, 'I Kissed a Girl' and 'Supermodel.' During Sobule's career, she had 12 albums and even created the theme song for Nickelodeon's 'Unfabulous.' Several of the singer's colleagues addressed her death, with her manager, John Porter, telling The Post, '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, & legacy continue to live on and inspire others.' Her booking agent, Ken Hertz, added that '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.' Sobule was scheduled to perform 'Jill Sobule presents: Songs From F–k 7th Grade & More' tonight in Denver, Colorado. In the wake of her shocking death, the event has been canceled. An informal gathering will now take place in her honor, per the theater's website. Sobule is survived by her brother, James, sister-in-law, Mary, and two nephews. A formal memorial celebrating her life will reportedly happen later this summer.
Yahoo
25-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
He was a prodigy who fell into addiction. Now KC musician lives for redemption
When you're born, born to be bad, the drugs come quick and the money comes real slow Only took me 40 years, I finally learned how to just say no. 'Born to be Bad,' Brody Buster Brody Buster played the blues — in front of millions of people — long before he lived them. On Aug. 4, 1995, he performed on the 'The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.' He was 10 at the time. After wailing away on his harmonica, he sat next to 18-year-old Alicia Silverstone, whose hit movie 'Clueless' had been released two weeks earlier, and cracked wise with Leno. Leno: 'That was great. Now, you're 10 years old, right?' Brody: 'Yeah.' Leno: 'Do you ever get the blues? How is that working here?' Brody: 'No, not me.' Leno: 'Never been to prison?' Brody: 'Nope.' Leno: 'Never served any hard time?' Brody: 'Nah, but some of my band members have.' Jail and the blues would come in time, but in 1995 the kid from Paola, Kansas, was riding high in Los Angeles. He was represented by a big-time management company and making the rounds of TV shows: 'Full House,' 'Baywatch Nights,' 'Maury' with Maury Povich and 'Crook & Chase' in addition to the 'Tonight Show.' He opened three nights for Jerry Seinfeld at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas and recorded with the Four Tops. 'Dateline NBC' even did a story on him. The kid had amazing talent on the harmonica. So amazing that blues legend B.B. King had called the then-9-year-old onto stage during a concert at the Universal Amphitheatre in Los Angeles and declared, 'Ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to introduce to you one of the greatest harmonica players of our time, despite his age, believe it or not.' He was a certifiable child prodigy. Of course, his name didn't hurt. Brody Buster was the perfect moniker for a cute, blond 10-year-old harmonica phenom. It may not be such a good fit for a 40-year-old with a meth addiction. It's safe to say that Buster long ago lost the sheen of innocence that brought him fame as a child. But as of Easter, he had found redemption. That's when he celebrated the release of his new blues-infused album, 'Redemption,' at BB's Lawnside Blues & BBQ. With about 250 people crammed into the Kansas City landmark on 85th Street, most sitting at tables littered with remnants of their Easter barbecue dinners, Buster and his band played all nine tracks from the album. He wrote seven of the songs, sang on them all, occasionally played guitar and inserted plenty of harmonica licks. The album and the redemption were more than 30 years in the making. 'In looking back at it now, I guess I really didn't appreciate what I had going as a blues musician,' he said. 'And I think in order to find that passion again, I had to leave.' Buster's journey took him into some very dark places, but it started innocently enough. His mother, a musician who played with Kansas City blues artist Cotton Candy among others, gave him a harmonica when he was 7. He blew on it constantly and quickly got so good he joined his mother's groups on stage. 'I was so young, man, they just threw me up there,' Buster said. 'I can play, and they threw me up there. I didn't know anything else. ... My parents asked if I enjoyed doing it, and I said yeah.' Things got serious when his parents, Janet and Curtis Brooks, took their prodigy to Memphis for an extended vacation. He showed off his talent among the many performers seeking fame and a bit of cash on Beale Street sidewalks, and he was one of the lucky few to be discovered. The emcee at B.B. King's Blues Club was impressed enough that young Brody earned an invite to play at the club. The connection to King led the family to Los Angeles, where he made his many TV appearances and performed with the house band at King's club there, earning the 'one of the greatest harmonica players of our time' praise from legend himself. After about a year on the West Coast, the family returned to Paola, and Brody took his show on the road. He performed in clubs around the nation and beyond. Perhaps the highlight was the 1996 Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland, where Brody joined Quincy Jones and Chaka Khan on stage and was included on the album 'Quincy Jones: 50 years in music — Live at Montreux 1996.' All this was heady stuff for a Kansas elementary school kid. But his parents restricted Brody to gigs at reputable venues, made sure Brody got good grades and tried to keep him away from the kind of trouble that is almost a cliché among child performers. 'I'm sure they saw what had happened to other child entertainers and performers,' he said. 'But just like anybody else, 'That's not going to happen to me.' I'm sure that's what was in their heads. 'That's not going to happen to Brody.'' His mother, in fact, said almost exactly that during an interview with the Los Angeles Times. 'When he's 16 and his peers are cruising and out drinking, I don't think that will hold any attraction for him because he's seen what it really does,' Janet Brody said. 'We always point out the artists who ended their careers sadly and too soon by overdosing or drinking too much.' Danielle Nicole, an internationally recognized blues performer from Kansas City, provided backup vocals on a couple of songs on 'Redemption' and joined Buster onstage at BB's Barbecue on Easter. 'In my musical opinion, he's one of the best harmonica players alive. Period,' she said. 'Not just for blues, not just for American, not just for regionally, just in general.' Nicole has known Buster almost since the beginning of his career, when both were what she called 'blues kids' plying their trade at the Grand Emporium on Main Street. 'We always knew he was just insanely talented,' she said. By the time Brody was 16, however, the national and international offers were drying up. The novelty of being a child phenom had worn off, and now he had the modifier 'former' attached to it. Growing expectations replaced the fun, stress-free times of prepubescence. 'Coming out after being a child performer or a phenom or whatever you want to call it, even in your later years, people are looking at you to be top-notch,' he said. 'Anything short of that is reason for someone to say something negative. So there's definitely pressure there later on in life because you've got to meet the standard that everybody expects you to be at.' His home situation didn't help. Brody's parents had broken up, with his mother moving to Ireland and his father remarrying. Meanwhile, John Tvedten, a battalion chief with the Kansas City Fire Department who was Brody's uncle and one of his biggest supporters, died fighting a warehouse fire in 1999. (Brody's grandfather and Tvedten's father, John Sr., also a department battalion chief, had been killed in the 1981 skywalk collapse at the Hyatt Regency Hotel.) After living briefly with little adult supervision at his stepmother's house, Buster returned to California with a friend when he was 17, finding gigs where he could. Within about a year, he was back in Kansas and graduated from high school, then attended Johnson County Community College. That's when the lure of rock 'n' roll took over. 'I was just done with the blues personally at that point,' he said. 'I wanted to try other things. 'As any 18-year-old kid does, experiment with different things, I was experimenting with new music. Understandably, a blues festival wasn't going to hire a rock 'n' roll band. And I was OK with that. Unfortunately, during the time off, I got involved with bad people and drugs.' For most of the next two decades, Buster lived in Lawrence, worked at Papa Keno's Pizzeria and played in a variety of bands that performed at bars around the region. He also fathered two children and twice spent a few days in jail. In 2010, a bandmate made a documentary called 'How Did This Happen,' an account of what was then called The Brody Buster Band. Buster's first words in the film: 'I was cursed. Look at this life I'm leading.' Later: 'I was on 'Full House' and look where it got me.' And, 'I must have murdered someone in my last life to deserve this ****.' It was an honest, if not flattering, portrayal of a band of 20-something guys surviving at the very bottom of the music world. Among other things, Buster is shown doing cocaine and ranting about a barkeeper who refused to waive his beer tab. But don't get the idea the documentary showed him at his lowest point. 'That wasn't even the worst of it,' Buster says now. 'The dark stuff happened after that.' Before the worst of it came a brief resurrection. In 2017, Buster developed a one-man-band act and qualified for the International Blues Challenge in Memphis, where he took first place in the harmonica category and second in the solo/duo category. That led to gigs on the West Coast and throughout the South, plus a date at the prestigious Montreal Jazz Festival. 'That got me going a little bit for a while,' he said. He did drugs regularly at the time, but not when he was on tour. 'So I would use drugs when I was at home, and then I'd get on the road and I'd get clean. And then I'd get back home.' When COVID hit, there was no more touring — and no more getting clean. Living in a trailer in Lawrence, he did drugs — mostly intravenous meth — and not much else. Buster's life was further battered by a bad relationship and the death of his brother Tom by suicide. By the time the pandemic eased and gigs returned, he was in no shape to go onstage, showing up late or not at all. 'I never really gave up playing music,' he said. 'But I got to a point where no one would hire me because I was such a mess. 'At that point, you wonder about the decisions you made and choices you made. At that time in my life, too — and I think it's partially because my mom went to Ireland at such a young age — I was really looking to be loved by someone, and I wasn't finding it anywhere. I guess ultimately you've just got to learn to love yourself.' On July 16, 2023, his girlfriend, Tania (pronounced ta-nee-a) Zagalik, issued an ultimatum: Give up drugs or say goodbye to her and his two kids. 'I told him I was willing to move overseas to get away from him,' she said. Instead, Zagalik and her two daughters got a recovering addict for a roommate at their home in Lee's Summit. Buster went to Lawrence to retrieve his belongings and returned to Lee's Summit the next day. 'All he had was some old clothes, a beat-up guitar and his harmonica, and a cat named Huggie Bear,' she said. He's been clean since living with Zagalik, her daughters and two cats, including a much heavier Huggie Bear. 'I didn't go to any programs or anything, I just moved away from Lawrence, Kansas,' he said. 'It's a great town. I can go there, and I play shows, no problem. I still have friends there. For me, I had to get away from people that were doing drugs. That was my way to do it, just leave that environment.' He now regularly sees his own children, a 13-year-old son and an 11-year-old daughter, and has resumed a relationship with his mother, whom he had cut off for years. He and Zagalik flew to Ireland to visit her last year, and he's saving up to return with his kids. Meanwhile, Buster is focused on staying clean — he's closing in on 700 days. Keeping busy helps, he says, so he's doing just that, playing almost nightly around the region with his band or as a one-man band. He also recently performed in Deadwood, South Dakota, and Oklahoma and has upcoming dates in Colorado and St. Louis. 'I'm on a push to do what I've always done, which is play music and play music for a living,' he said. 'I don't necessarily care if I ever get famous, but I want to be a working musician the rest of my life. And I'd like to be a touring musician.' Buster has a lot of people pulling for him, including childhood buddy Danielle Nicole. 'When you hear him play harmonica, you know that he's meant to be a musician,' she said. 'So to be able to see him releasing music and feeling good about being sober and be in a good place, it just warms my heart.' There's also the unwavering support of Zagalik, who continues to help him stay on track. 'His past is his past. I don't hold it against him,' she said. 'I have zero reason to think he'd go back. He also knows he'll always be an addict.' I finally crawled out of the dark and back on stage I feel the struggle but I done turnt the page. 'Can You Hear Me,' Brody Buster Note: If you need help fighting addiction, call the free and confidential treatment referral hotline (1-800-662-HELP), or visit
Chicago Tribune
22-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Chicago Tribune
‘Jane Austen Wrecked My Life' review: Writing and living her own private rom-com
A pleasant, low-friction bit of romantic fiction, 'Jane Austen Wrecked My Life' is the first feature from writer-director Laura Piani. In her mid-20s, Piani worked in Paris in the venerable English-language bookshop Shakespeare and Company, a primary location in this debut project. When Piani took a job there, she'd already had her head filled as a teenager by the smart women and foolish choices, happily avoided, created by the author and life-wrecker of this film's title. The story's nice and simple. It takes its aspiring-novelist protagonist outside her comfort zone, from Paris to an Austen writing residency in England. Piani's film is, in itself, a comfort zone for viewers, the latest of many cinematic mash notes to Jane Austen, from 'Clueless' to four 'Bridget Jones' movies. Pulling from the filmmaker's life, the character of Agathe — played with untheatrical gravity and hints of a blithe spirit in the making by Camille Rutherford — spends her days among the stacks at Shakespeare and Company, sorting, helping customers, dishing with her good friend and fellow employee Felix (Pablo Pauly). He's bachelor No. 1, a bit of a cad but reasonably charming about it. His intentions may be up in the air regarding Agathe, but he looks out for her. He sneaks a look at the chapters she's written and, impressed, submits them behind her back to the Austen residency for consideration. It works, and reluctantly Agatha accepts the two weeks in the English countryside with other invitees toiling on their own projects. Earlier, in an anxious state over the prospect of finishing her novel, Agathe is pessimistic. Felix mansplains that she suffers from imposter syndrome. Her reply: 'No, I don't, I'm a imposter.' The scenario's bachelor No. 2 arrives in the brooding personage of Oliver (Charlie Anson), the great-great-great-great-nephew of Austen herself. He's no fan, though ('overrated'), which gives Agathe, the visitor he picks up at the ferry landing, something to argue about straight off. From there, Piani's film does its self-assigned work in solid if programmatic fashion, establishing a back bench of supporting characters at the residency, as well as at home in Paris where Agathe, who hasn't dated in a couple of years, lives with her sister and nephew. She's a tough nut, emotionally guarded in the wake of the sisters' parents' death in a car crash. These circumstances are layered enough to make 'Jane Austen Wrecked My Life' a little more than rom-com piffle, though there's little romantic tension in Piani's triangle since Oliver is the auxiliary Mr. Darcy here, and therefore a pre-ordained match made in literary heaven. Shot entirely in France, the movie renders its ideas of romantic melancholy and Agathe's default romantic defeatism in ways that reassure the audience every second. Agathe is either inside her beautiful bookshop, her beautiful, sunny Parisian domicile or roaming a beautiful house and grounds for knocking out a novel while your heart figures things out. Piani did the right thing in casting Rutherford, whose physical embodiment of Agathe suggests a tall, gangly, striking woman trying not to be seen. The actress leans into the character's unsettled, often sullen side, though not at the expense of the comic tropes (at one point, nude, she walks through her bathroom door, which turns out to be Oliver's room). Rutherford provides the internal friction throughout, while the generally frictionless mechanics of the movie itself hum along, with soothing sights and sounds. These include the fine actress Liz Crowther, as the Austen residency's hostess, quoting Wordsworth's notion of the best part of life: the 'little, nameless, unremembered acts of kindness and of love.' 'Jane Austen Wrecked My Life' — 3 stars (out of 4) MPA rating: R (for language, some sexual content, and nudity) Running time: 1:34 How to watch: Premieres in select theaters May 23
Tom's Guide
12-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Tom's Guide
Summer 2025 is bringing these classic movies back to the big screen — here's the 3 I'd watch first
I love going to the theater every week. It's become a Friday night tradition to book a ticket and catch the latest movie, and I honestly wouldn't want to spend it any other way. Sure, we've got streaming now, and yes, I've watched some of my favorite classics in sweatpants with popcorn straight out of the bag. But every once in a while, a movie comes along (or comes back) that deserves more than a rewatch on your laptop. This summer, theaters are bringing back some of the all-time greats, including movies that defined decades, sparked obsessions, and made us fall in love with movies in the first place. Whether you grew up with them, discovered them later, or somehow missed them entirely, these re-releases offer the rare chance to experience cinema the way it was meant to be seen. So, if you're wondering which ones are actually worth leaving the house for — don't worry. I've narrowed it down to three that you should absolutely see on the big screen in summer 2025. Ugh, as if I'd leave this one off the list. Amy Heckerling's endlessly quotable teen comedy is not only a '90s time capsule in the best way, it's also a surprisingly smart (and stylish) modern adaptation of Jane Austen's 'Emma.' Alicia Silverstone as Cher Horowitz is still one of the most charming performances ever, and seeing her world (complete with plaid skirts, flip phones, and the occasional highway near-death experience) back on the big screen is honestly a joy. Cher, a wealthy and stylish high schooler in Beverly Hills, is queen of her social scene and loves matchmaking, especially when it comes to other people. But after a makeover project with new student Tai (Brittany Murphy) and a few romantic misfires of her own, Cher starts to realize she might not have it all figured out. Get instant access to breaking news, the hottest reviews, great deals and helpful tips. Watch 'Clueless' in theaters from June 29-30 Hollywood loves stories about Hollywood, and none do it better (or darker) than this noir masterpiece from Billy Wilder. 'Sunset Boulevard' is haunting and glamorous, with Gloria Swanson delivering one of the most iconic performances of all time as Norma Desmond, a faded silent movie star clinging to her past. Most people would probably give this one a miss considering it's 'old.' We're so used to modern blockbusters that it's easy to overlook classic black-and-white movies. But give them a chance, and you'll find something totally different. Down-on-his-luck screenwriter Joe Gillis stumbles into the decaying mansion of Norma Desmond, a once-famous silent film actress dreaming of a comeback. Drawn into her delusional world, Joe agrees to help rewrite her script while becoming dangerously entangled in her twisted reality. Watch 'Sunset Boulevard' in theaters from August 3-4 I remember the first time I saw 'Jaws.' I was a clueless kid, eating the classic U.K lunch of baked beans on toast while casually watching TV, with no idea what was playing. Then that infamous scene came on where someone gets dragged underwater and the sea turns red, and I just sat there, horrified, toast mid-bite. Honestly, it's a miracle it didn't traumatize me. Instead, it became a weirdly vivid, unforgettable moment where I accidentally discovered a classic (though I still get flashbacks whenever I eat beans on toast). 50 years after its release, it remains a staple summer blockbuster. When a great white shark starts attacking swimmers off the coast of a small beach town, police chief Martin Brody (Roy Scheider) teams up with a marine biologist and a grizzled shark hunter to stop it. What begins as a local emergency spirals into a full-blown nightmare as the body count rises and the town's leaders prioritize tourism over safety. Watch 'Jaws' in theaters from August 29-September 4 June 20-25 "Brokeback Mountain" June 22-24 "The Secret World of Arrietty" June 29-30 "Clueless" July 13-16 "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" July 19-23 "My Neighbor Totoro" July 27-29 "Summer Wars" August 3-4 "Sunset Boulevard" August 10-12 "Grave of the Fireflies" August 23-27 "Ponyo" August 29-September 4 "Jaws" September 13-14 "The Sound of Music" September 20-24 "Howl's Moving Castle"
Yomiuri Shimbun
03-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yomiuri Shimbun
Jill Sobule, Musician of Same-Sex Anthem ‘I Kissed a Girl,' Dies at 66
Jill Sobule, a singer and songwriter who found inspiration in social commentary such as a satirical jab at beauty obsessions with 'Supermodel' and the hit 'I Kissed a Girl' that became a same-sex anthem, died May 1 in a house fire in Woodbury, Minnesota. She was 66. Her manager, John Porter, said Ms. Sobule was in Minnesota to record a podcast before a planned performance the following day in Denver, her hometown. The cause of the fire in the Minneapolis suburb was not immediately known. Ms. Sobule (pronounced SO-be-al) developed a folk rock-influenced musical style with lyrics that emphasized wit and subtle observations. She built a niche following in the early 1990s, but back-to-back successes in 1995 brought her national attention. 'Supermodel' was part of the soundtrack to the popular film 'Clueless' (1995) starring Alicia Silverstone as a privileged high school social queen. Meanwhile, 'I Kissed a Girl' reached the Top 20 of Billboard's Alternative Airplay chart (then Modern Rock Tracks) – also peaking at No. 67 on Billboard's Hot 100 – and was celebrated by LGBTQ+ fans as a mainstream victory. The song tells the story of a woman, who has a boyfriend, weighing her feelings after she kissed a female friend. 'We had a drink, we had a smoke/She took off her overcoat,' Ms. Sobule sang. 'I kissed a girl/I kissed a girl.' Ms. Sobule, who described herself as bisexual, said the song did not recount a specific personal experience. Instead, she called it a general representation of the joys and fears of exploring a new path. 'Even though that song felt like kind of a cross to bear at times, 'I Kissed a Girl' probably is my biggest success,' she said in a 2018 interview with online journal the Creative Independent. 'Not because of sales and not for it being on MTV but because of what it did for people. That feels like a success.' She later expanded her iconoclastic image with an autobiographical, coming-of-age musical, 'F*ck7thGrade,' that premiered off-Broadway in 2022 and recounted her awkward days in middle school and secret same-sex crushes on her friends. Years earlier, Ms. Sobule had challenged the music industry through crowdsourcing for donations to produce a new album, 'California Years' (2009), after she was dropped by two record labels. She became one of the forerunners in using social media as a money-raising tool for her music and as a way to take greater control of her career. She used crowdfunding again in 2018 to help with the production of the album 'Nostalgia Kills.' She said she relished taking a swing at the 'the old kind of paradigm, where you've always waited for other people to do things.' Ms. Sobule's 10 albums, beginning in 1990 with 'Things Here Are Different,' delved into issues across the cultural and social spectrum including capital punishment, reproductive rights, Christian nationalism – as well as depression and anorexia nervosa, both of which Ms. Sobule said she had struggled with previously. After 'I Kissed a Girl' was released, some radio stations in the South and Midwest refused to play the song. At one station in Nashville, the song came with a parental warning beforehand. Mostly, though, Ms. Sobule was hailed for the sly humor and simplicity she used in recounting sexual discovery and the complicated emotions that followed. 'She literally created a path for queer people and women in music,' Sarah Kate Ellis, the president of GLAAD, an LGBTQ+ advocacy group, said in a statement. (Ms. Sobule's 'I Kissed a Girl' gained fresh attention in 2008 after pop singer Katy Perry released a different song with the same name.) Ms. Sobule's said her musical – with songs and stories and a backup band – was a further attempt to use her life to uplift others. 'It's kind of this universal story of a weirdo growing up,' she told the New York Times in 2022. In the show, she described being mocked with a homophobic slur and suddenly feeling out of place as her peers began to turn their attention to boys. 'In 6th grade, I was this tomboy, I was a badass, I was the electric guitar player,' she told Playbill. 'Suddenly, 7th grade happened, and my friends started wearing makeup, and I didn't feel like I fit in. I knew early on that there was something different about me.' Jill Sobule was born in Denver on Jan. 16, 1959. She played guitar in her high school jazz band and, while studying in Madrid during college, she was spotted by a nightclub owner while she and friend performed on the street, according to her accounts. They received an invitation to play at the club, and Ms. Sobule soon left her studies in political science to pursue music full-time. Her first album was produced by rock impresario Todd Rundgren, who played guitar on some tracks. Los Angeles Times music critic Chris Willman called the album 'as accomplished a debut as you'll hear this year.' But sales were sluggish, and the record label MCA dropped her. She was then signed by Atlantic and released 'Jill Sobule' in 1995 – with 'I Kissed a Girl' – and a follow-up album, 'Happy Town,' in 1997. Atlantic did not keep her on contract. Her 2014 album, 'Dottie's Charms,' was based on a charm bracelet Ms. Sobule had once received as a birthday present and then discovered years later stashed away in 'the drawer of forgotten, semi-inappropriate gifts.' She commissioned writers including Jonathan Lethem, David Hajdu and Vendela Vida to craft lyrics based on the charms. Ms. Sobule performed frequently at Pride events and other gatherings supporting the LGBTQ+ community. 'I consider myself an activist, and part of what I do, I believe, is these sorts of things,' she told the Asbury Park Press in 2021. Survivors include a brother. Ms. Sobule said her decision to crowdsource funding for albums was given a boost from an overheard comment at a party in Los Angeles. The person remarked that songwriters were done by the time they reached 40. 'That person instantly became my new nemesis,' she recalled. 'It was a fuel that I didn't even know I needed.'
