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Jill Sobule
(January 16, 1965 - living) U.S.A.

Jill Sobule

Musician, singer

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Born in Denver, Colrado, Jill used to sing, but she never really tested her voice until she was in her 20s. A publisher from Nashville heard of Jill and this led to her signing with MCA Records to record her debut album, Things Here Are Different in 1990.

Jill recorded a second album for MCA that was produced by Joe Jackson. It was quite a coup because the iconoclastic Jackson rarely produces other artists' work. But MCA dropped her from the label before the follow-up was released, so that work never saw the light of day.

This led to a few years of hard times, floating from Denver to New York, taking any job she could. The low point was when she was working as a waitress in New York. Finally she was signed to Atlantic Records and her second released album Jill Sobule came out in 1995.

Jill SobuleI Kissed A Girl is an extremely funny story song about a pair of suburban women experimenting with bisexuality, that became a left-field smash in 1995 - it was sometimes written off as a bit of a fluke novelty tune, just a precursor of "lesbian chic".

She doesn't like the "lesbian artist" designation. Jill will only say that she has had relations with both men and women. Any more is none of our business. That song was followed quickly by the quirky single Supermodel. But after that, sales for Jill's album slowed down.

Jill then recorded Happy Town. By the time it was coming out, Jill knew it was probably her last for the label.

After she was cut loose by Atlantic, Jill hooked up old friend Cole. She needed a break from the music business treadmill and decided to take a gig on his latest band. But the call of the music was too strong; she was soon signed up again by Beyond Records.

In 2000 she released her fourth solo album Pink Pearl. Still, she kept her job with the Negatives, enjoying the freedom both positions gave her. Also, while she was touring with the Negatives, Jill could play her own music as the opening act.

This led to the 2001 anthology I Never Learned To Swim. A great new tune from the album is the story song Big Shoes, a pop tune that sprung from the personal hurt about being teased in school.

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Source: excerpts from: http://www.popentertainment.com/ sobule.htm

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