Singer-Songwriter Jill Sobule died in a tragic house fire on May 1, 2025. She was 66.
“It’s hard to fathom that a person so full of life – such a life force – is no longer with us. We were compatriots for 30 years. We wrote a song about the 70s together. She said, in utter sincerity, ‘We have to have Patty Hearst. We thought about her so much …’ And in 2015, she was on stage about to sing “I Kissed a Girl” in Philly and I was in the dressing room reading that marriage equality had just passed. I walked right onto the stage … and kissed her. Because it was Jill, and I knew she’d be cool with it! And she was! In my heart forever, Jill”
— Dar Williams
“Goodbye, angel-woman. Your light and humor touched me and so many. This world is just not as bright without you in it. Thank you for singing about kissing and being with girls and for being irreverent and illuminated and effervescent and brilliant.”
— Paula Cole
[Here’s a link to an official video for “I Kissed a Girl”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUi11Cz4ZUg.]
“Jill Sobule was a funny, insightful, one-of-a-kind talent. She was a champion of misfits and weirdos. She was the Queen of outcasts. We hit the road together last year and I was amazed by her wide-eyed wonder of the world. We made a vow to tour more together and I had talked about having her coming to teach at the retreat I started for songwriters up in New England. She would’ve shook place to its foundations. Just by being herself.
And her songs— Just when a song seemed like it was headed in a straight line she’d find a way to make it spin around your mind with a 180-degree turn. They were perfect three-minute masterpieces of pop and folk with a broad range of topics that pulled empathetic laughter and insight to your soul.
“… We don’t have many people like her on the planet. She was Tinkerbell, hitting us on the head with a magic wand.”
— Ellis Paul
“I’ll never forget how much fun that song swap lineup was – me, Ellis, Paul, and Jill Sobule. We did a handful of really wonderful shows and honestly, I don’t remember where, but backstage Jill and I bonded with the idea of someday doing an album of the saddest songs we could think of. When we were last hanging out, the list looked like this:
Ballad Of The Sad Young Men
Sweet Bitter Love
Do What You Gotta Do
Train Off The Track
While we were waiting to go on, I’d play one of these songs and Jill and I would cry, and then try to put on some kind of game face while laughing for the set
Just last year I had signed with a new agency, Black Oak Artists, and Jill and I shared an agent and there were plans for sending us out together to do shows.
Tomorrow really is never guaranteed. I will forever feel the loss of not having that future time together.
Goodbye Goddess. I’ll dedicate this Monday night’s Pajama Party to you, and I’ll string together the saddest songs I can come up with, because I know you’d give me a wink and a nod.”
— Vance Gilbert
“Gutted by the news of Jill Sobule’s passing.
She was a friend for many years and I quite simply adored her – her delightfully witty and musically ambitious recordings first, then as a person once we actually met.
She played our MPress charity benefits at places like “Mo Pitkins” in downtown NYC starting in the early 2000’s, donating her song “Jet Pack” to our Hurricane Relief compilation and we became fast friends who had so much in common it felt like an instant sisterhood, aka mishpuchah. I first played with her at the old Cutting Room – it was a party for Women In Rock magazine I think…I had been a fan for years but then she was just a friend – and whether performing generously as part of our “Bravery On Fire” Women’s Cancer benefit in lockdown, or laughing backstage at a Joe’s Pub tribute to the wonderful Judy Collins…or kvelling at opening night of her fantastic [Off-Broadway] show “F*ck 7th Grade” – she had a way of making so many of us feel seen, included, inspired, comforted and challenged. Her powerful presence as a performer was a beautiful thing – utterly original, vulnerable and courageous.
Jill’s wordplay and melodic sensibility was unparalleled and for me she was on par with my #1, Elvis Costello – so much intelligence and also so much heart in her songs. No one looked like her, no one sounded like her – the character of her voice itself was as unique as they come and her work ethic and prolificness inspired me on a daily basis. I literally looked at her FB wall every day – where was dear, talented, hilarious and hardworking Jill?
Following her and witnessing her ongoing creative adventurous and activism gave me continual hope that there was a way to do this pop music thing with integrity – to make a genuine difference, joyfully and fearlessly and with as much chutzpah and irreverence as beauty and light. I looked up to her unabashedly, but she made me feel appreciated and understood. She was proof positive not only that meeting your heroes can be fantastic but that the likeminded, down-to-earth heroes can become family.
Love and condolences to her friends, family and fans. May her memory be a blessing.”
— Rachael Sage
“… We met around 1998, when Eric Lowen and I were talking with her about writing together. We never got there, but more than 20 years later, we saw each other three times in four months, at Hey Nonny in Arlington Heights in September (when Jesse Lynn Madera was opening for her, and I sat in), in October at McCabe’s Guitar Shop (on another shared bill sit-in with Jesse Lynn), and in January when we all were playing the 30A Songwriters Festival. We got to spend much more time together then, hung and laughed, talked her into doing a cruise, and resolved to do some more hanging, and writing, soon. Jill was richly talented, artful, quirky, unique, sweet and soulful, and a hoot and a half. I adored her, and am blessed to call her my friend. Color me gutted.”
— Dan Navarro
“Oh my god, no, my god…what an insane tragedy.
My friend and fellow truth-slinging, life-affirming, hardworking, wide-open-hearted and immensely talented musician Jill Sobule just died in a house fire.
She was such a force majeur of musical power and brought hope and joy and mad laughter to so many people…and like many of my friends who made made made and toured toured toured constantly, she was always coming up with the next beautiful idea, always responding to the moment with a musical quip and smart response, and always putting her heart into her art.
She was a crowd-funded wonder, an unapologetic queerdo and a great communicator. Compassionate. Kind. And a truly good friend who always came calling with concern when shit hit the fan with me in my always-toppling world and business.
And my god, she was a sharp diamond of a songwriter, satirizing, poking, writing on the edge, cutting through clichés to the heart of the matter in a way only a long-suffering journey woman songwriter can. I loved her. I loved her work. Her voice was becoming funnier and funnier and more sharply critical of the regime. We have lost an important voice today, an important folk hero…
To the community: waste no time. Act from love. Life can vanish in a second.
Dear dear beautiful Jill…rest in power, rest in song, rest in community, wherever you’ve gone.
We will play your songs and we will continue the musical fight for freedom and laughter and justice.”
— Amanda Palmer
“Man. How do you even write about Jill Sobule? When the breaking news broke, I was en route to Stowe, Vermont and I was looking at my maps to make a turn to not miss my exit. Boom! The news alert telling me that Jill Sobule died in a house fire. I gasped out loud.
She had just sent me a video message in February saying that we needed to do a tour together. And why hadn’t it happened yet. With her typical amazing delivery and east coast accent with attitude it really made me smile. She was in the middle of doing a sound check with KC Turner and she had KC video the message with KC saying, “I’d book that tour!” And now she’s gone. Just like that.
There are certain singer songwriters that grab you and have a way with words and delivery and you just instantly fall in love with them. Jill just had it. I first met her back in the 90s and she was simply the coolest.
Jill Sobule
We really lost a good one folks. One of the best to ever do it. Up there with the great Dan Bern. Seriously legendary. She’s leaving quite a legacy of music.
I’m so sad our tour will never happen. It would’ve been so fun to listen to her play every night, and I just know we would’ve written some songs. I would’ve learned so much.
Now she’s a shooting star somewhere up there. Floating around. Hopefully spreading joy. Any interaction with Jill always made me smile. She’s a gem and a peach and now a long gone troubadour. We were lucky to have her…”
— Steve Poltz
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