Dame Jools Topp has died after living with breast cancer. As one half of the Topp Twins with her sister Lynda, Jools brought joy to generations of New Zealanders.

This story was originally published on RNZ.

One of the country’s most loved entertainers, Dame Jools Topp, has died at the age of 68.

She had breast cancer, a disease that she was first diagnosed with in 2006 before it returned in 2021.

Jools died at home on Saturday with her twin sister Lynda, brother Bruce, close friends and “all her fur-babies by her side”, a statement from the family confirmed on Monday. A celebration honouring Jools’ life will be announced shortly.

“It is with deep sorrow and unimaginable grief we announce the passing of my beloved twin sister Jools. She lived bravely with breast cancer for 22 years. Now she is finally free to ride on Pegasus, her winged horse, and round up sheep again with our dad Peter and all her precious dogs,” Dame Lynda wrote.

Brother, Bruce Topp added: “Jools shared with me all the joy and love and special times that a brother needs. I will hold her in my heart forever.”

As one half of the Topp Twins with her sister Lynda, Jools Topp brought joy to generations of New Zealanders – and fought for change while she was at it.

A gifted country singer and a skilled comedian, she was also a vocal protestor against racism, sexism, homophobia and more.

The Topp Twins knew how to hold an audience in the palm of their hands – and they made countless live appearances from country halls to the stages of London and New York.

They created several TV series, an award winning documentary about their lives and a bestselling book.

Raised as a “wild child” by loving parents on a Waikato farm, Jools’s deep love for New Zealanders was clear in her many beloved and hard-case characters.

A favourite was the goofy and excitable Camp Leader – played in a huge woolly cardie and horn-rimmed glasses.

She was under the thumb of Lynda’s bossy Camp Mother, but often rebelled, always without a script.

“My character, camp leader, she’s sort of inside herself but she’s so hard to control. I never know where she’s going to go,” Jools said in the Twins’ 2009 documentary film.

She also played one of the two Kens – classic kiwi blokes, with sideburns and 70s suits.

On both stage and screen, the Topps would interview people in character, with the ability to put audiences at ease – and have them rolling in the aisles.

None of their characters were scripted, something Jools acknowledged other performers might find that frightening.

“But if you gave us a script we’d be terrified because that wouldn’t give us the freedom to react with our audience and play with our audience and go places and do things,” she said.

Country music was where it began for Jools and Lynda – and their trademark harmonies often went hand in hand with protest.

In the turbulent 70s and 80s they would busk in downtown Auckland, or attend demonstrations, performing their protest songs.

They protested against the 1981 Springbok Rugby Tour and for a nuclear free Pacific and in support of the Homosexual Law Reform bill.

Jools told RNZ in 2015 they wanted to use their talent for change. They were often asked to write or perform songs at rallies.

“It brought people together, it made them feel like they were part of a cause,” she said.

Jools has said many of their values came from their parents.

They had a idyllic, “wild” country childhood on a farm in Waikato, raised with their brother Bruce, by very loving parents who let them be themselves.

As the sisters told Music 101 in 2024, they were out lesbians when they became famous – a time when others in the limelight often felt they couldn’t be.

“It was pure honesty about who we were. And if you didn’t like it you didn’t have to come and see the show,” Jools said.

“But New Zealand came with us.”

They were made Dames Companion to the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2018, saying at the time that meant Camp Mother, Camp Leader, the Kens and all their other characters were knighted now too.

Jools said the honour, once reserved for people of a certain class, was an acknowledgement of all they had fought for.

“The Queen must have said ‘yes.’ She had to tick the box. She must have said ‘oh yeah …give those lesbian twins a bloody medal’,” she said.

Prime minister Christopher Luxon said Dame Jools was a New Zealand icon.

“She lived a life of purpose, she made the country a happier place, and she leaves a legacy of humour, warmth, and joy that will endure,” he wrote in a post on Facebook.

Former prime minister, Dame Jacinda Ardern, wrote she was thankful for the twins contribution to New Zealand.

“You can’t really describe an icon, but you can thank them,” she wrote on Instagram.

The pair had lived in different parts of the country at times but Lynda told Kim Hill in 2023 they were always connected.

“It’s like a golden thread we call it. It’s just there, you’re always connected to your twin. We usually speak to each other every day but sometimes if you don’t then all of a sudden the little thread will get a tug.”

In a video tribute that played at the Country Music Honours in Gore on Friday night, where the twins were honoured for their contribution, country singer Tami Neilson described meeting the pair at the event many years earlier.

“Jools said, ‘when the door opens for you in this business, especially as a woman, you need to shove your foot in that door and kick it open and hold it open for others to follow though behind you’,” Neilson said.

“And that’s exactly what they did for me. They’re a foundation on which I stand, and a standard to which I always strive.”

Jools was was first diagnosed with breast cancer 20 years ago, undergoing chemotherapy and other treatments that took a toll on her body.

When it returned, she did some treatment but said she wanted to focus of living well.

She had been taking great joy from life, particularly from riding her horse, she told Kim Hill, saying then she was not afraid of dying.

“We’ve had a charmed and beautiful life – and hopefully we’ve changed people’s lives along the way. And it’s important to us. It’s what Mum taught us, it’s what Mum instilled into us.”