Jill Sobule
Jill Sobule
Jill Sobule is an American singer-songwriter best known for the 1995 single "I Kissed a Girl", and "Supermodel" from the soundtrack of the 1995 film Clueless. Her folk-inflected compositions alternate between ironic, story-driven character studies and emotive ballads, a duality reminiscent of such 1970s American songwriters as Warren Zevon, Harry Nilsson, Loudon Wainwright III, Harry Chapin, and Randy Newman. Autobiographical elements, including Sobule's Jewish heritage and her adolescent battles with anorexia and depression, frequently occur in Sobule's writing. An appreciable...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionFolk Singer
Date of Birth16 January 1965
CityDenver, CO
CountryUnited States of America
People get to a certain age and success that they stop being curious. I'm still curious because I haven't really had that success. I've never done a record to catch whatever the latest sound is. It's my love of music, eclectic-ness, and the music that I heard my entire life that seeps in. That's what you're hearing.
I was very inspired by the videos of the crowds at the Palin rallies.
I think I'm different from a lot of singer-songwriters because some of my favorite singer-songwriters told stories. Like John Prine.
When I write songs, I like to write lyrics first, and I think that's different from a lot of singer-songwriters. But I heard Sammy Cahn was asked what comes first, the lyrics or the music, and he said, 'The paycheck.'
I haven't learned anything new on guitar since high school. And I think it's time to learn something.
I'm an older woman who's not going to have a shiny pop song ever again, so that gives me license to do whatever the hell I want.
I had a brother six years older than me, so I wasn't just listening to teenybopper stuff. My brother had the cooler music, but my parents had the Burt Bacharach, Tom Jones, the Association, the Fifth Dimension; these groups were un-cool, but I secretly loved them.
I've never been good at the money thing. I have had a couple of really nice but inept managers, and a business accountant that ripped me off. But I cannot totally blame my money making lameness on them.
Can you imagine a 6 year old banging all day on a drum kit. I do have photos of me in my sort of princess girly bedroom with a bad-ass sparkle set.
Music teachers can either inspire or make you resent your instrument and parents in early years.
My rocking out didn't make me particularly popular with the boys or girls. It wasn't cute or feminine. I was more of a...weirdo.
I started playing the acoustic guitar for more singer-songwriter type stuff. I bet if I would have gotten more approval for my "rock playing", I might be a world class shredder.
As a bit of loner, prone to melancholy, with a questionable sexuality, I found great solace in the words of-Dylan, Joni, John Prine and Leonard Cohen. The darker the better.
My older brother was the guitar player in the neighborhood band. My parents were the cool ones that had the basement for rehearsal. Rather than hang with my peers after school, I wanted to just listen to the band. More than that, I wanted to play.