Was Jill Sobule married? All we know about I kissed a Girl singer’s relationships as she dies aged 66

Singer-songwriter Jill Sobule has passed away in a house fire in Minneapolis, on May 1 2025. She was 66. She was known for her 1995 hit single, I Kissed a Girl.

Her manager, John Porter, confirmed her death in a public statement. According to a report in Associated Press, he said:

“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.”

She was scheduled to perform at Swallow Hill Music’s Tuft Theatre in Denver on May 2, 2025. Instead, her friend Ron Bostwick from 105.5 The Colorado Sound will host an informal gathering in her honor.

In a 2021 interview with Philadelphia Gay News, she told the outlet that she is single and that her family included her brother James, and parents who both had passed away by that time. She was an openly bis*xual artist, particularly in the 1990s.

Her iconic track, I Kissed a Girl was regarded as the first openly gay track to break into the Billboard Top 20. She was also a human rights activist who touched on topics like capital punishment, anorexia nervosa, shoplifting, reproduction and the MAGA movement.

Sobule was very secretive about her relationships. Here is what we know.

Unearthing details about Jill Sobule’s past relationships

Jill Sobule was born in Denver, Colorado, on January 16, 1959. According to a report in New York Times, she joked that while growing up her role models were Miss Jane Hathaway from The Beverly Hillbillies and her gym teacher, who resembled Pete Rose. She described herself as:

a “little strange girl with queer feelings in the ’70s.”

She found herself out of place among girls and dropped out of school in eighth grade to focus on her music.

In a 2021 interview with the Philadelphia Gay News, she confirmed her bis*xuality. She told the outlet that she had boyfriends in her past, but she was also in love with her best friends, not at the same time.

“But in the last 20 years I’ve leaned towards the gals.” She said.

According to her Facebook profile, she shared about her freshman boyfriend, Wendell Lee in a September 2019 post. Sharing a picture of hers with Lee, she wrote about their meeting after 30 years.

“A couple of weeks ago, I saw my freshman year boyfriend - the first person I ever went all the way with - for the first time in over 30 something years. He is just as lovely now as he was then. Okay, I was growing out a bad Loraine Newman perm. I wrote a song with his name as the title- Wendell Lee.”

She told in the interview that she once visited a g*y bar called Sevilla, and it was then that she had a physical relationship with a girl from her group for the first time, whose name was Ivanta.

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Sobule’s three-decade career included 12 albums releases. Her most recent album was Nostalgia Kills, released in 2018. She performed with Neil Young, Cyndi Lauper and Tom Morello, among many others.

According to a report in USA Today, she was scheduled to embark on a three-show Colorado world tour in May. Her last performance was as a supporting act for The Fixx on April 25, 2025 at Illinois' Arcada Theatre.

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