Overview
- Dame Jools Topp, who died on Saturday 23 May, passed away at home surrounded by her twin sister Lynda, brother Bruce, close friends and her pets, the family said.
- She lived with breast cancer first diagnosed in 2006 and treated again after a recurrence in 2021, a struggle the family described as lasting 22 years.
- The Topp Twins were honoured for their work in music and activism, including induction into the New Zealand Music Hall of Fame in 2008, appointment as Dames Companion in 2018, and the 2026 Country Music Honours received days before Jools’s death.
- Political leaders, fellow artists and fans issued tributes that stressed the Twins’ humour, campaigning on issues such as gay law reform and anti‑racism, and their reach across rural and urban New Zealand.
- The family said a public celebration of Jools’s life will be announced, and her death is likely to renew attention to the sisters’ legacy as entertainers, activists and visible LGBTQ+ figures in Aotearoa.