Dame Jools Topp, one half of New Zealand's beloved Topp Twins, has died at home surrounded by family and pets after a battle with cancer.
The entertainer, activist, and national treasure passed away peacefully, Stuff reports. She was 62.
For more than 40 years, Jools and her twin sister Lynda were fixtures of New Zealand culture - comedians, musicians, and activists who could make you laugh and cry in the same song. They performed country music in drag, created memorable comedy characters, and used their platform to advocate for LGBTQ+ rights and social justice long before it was fashionable.
Mate, the Topp Twins were genuinely unique. They started busking on Auckland streets in the 1980s, two openly gay women playing country music and challenging every stereotype about what New Zealand entertainment should be. They supported striking workers, protested apartheid, and never compromised their values for commercial success.
Their television shows and live performances introduced characters like Camp Mother and Camp Leader - gentle parodies that celebrated queer culture rather than mocking it. Their music ranged from traditional country to political protest songs. They could yodel, harmonise, and deliver punchlines with perfect timing.
What made the Topp Twins special was their authenticity. They were farm girls from rural Huntly who happened to be gay and happened to be funny. They didn't perform queerness or rurality - they just were themselves, and New Zealand loved them for it.
Jools and Lynda both battled breast cancer, with Jools first diagnosed in 2006. The documentary "The Topp Twins: Untouchable Girls" followed their journey through treatment, combining humour and heartbreak in a way only they could manage. Jools received her damehood in 2018, recognition from a country that doesn't hand out honours lightly.
The twins represented something important in New Zealand culture: the idea that you could be unapologetically yourself and still belong. They were radical activists who performed for rural farming communities. They were queer icons who sang traditional country music. They proved that New Zealand's supposed egalitarianism could be real, if people worked to make it so.
Tributes have flooded in from across New Zealand and beyond. Politicians, entertainers, and ordinary Kiwis are sharing memories of seeing the twins perform, of their advocacy work, of their kindness to fans. RNZ is running special programming celebrating their music and legacy.
Lynda has asked for privacy as she grieves her twin, her partner in music and activism for four decades. The two were inseparable professionally and personally, finishing each other's sentences and harmonising instinctively.
New Zealand has lost a taonga - a treasure. The country's entertainment landscape is poorer for Dame Jools' passing, but richer for the decades she spent making Kiwis laugh, think, and believe that being different wasn't just acceptable - it was something to celebrate.
Haere ra, Dame Jools. You made New Zealand better.
