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Labi Siffre
Claudius Afolabi "Labi" Siffre (/ˈlæ.bi sɪfri/ LAB-ee SIF-ree, born 25 June 1945) is a British singer, songwriter and poet.
Siffre released six albums from 1970 to 1975 and four from 1988 to 1998. His compositions include "It Must Be Love", which reached Number 14 on the UK singles chart in 1971 (and was later covered by the band Madness), "Crying Laughing Loving Lying", and "(Something Inside) So Strong" – an anti-apartheid song inspired by a television documentary in which white soldiers in South Africa were filmed shooting at black civilians in the street – which hit Number 4 on the UK chart. The latter song won Siffre the Ivor Novello Award for Best Song Musically and Lyrically from the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors, and it has been used in Amnesty International campaigns.
He has published essays, the stage and television play Deathwrite and three volumes of poetry: Nigger, Blood on the Page, and Monument. In 2022, his life and work was explored in the series Imagine, under the title, Labi Siffre: This Is My Song.
Claudius Afolabi Siffre was born in Hammersmith, London in 1945 as the fourth of five brothers to a Yoruba Nigerian father and a mother of Belgian and Bajan descent . Siffre was brought up in Bayswater and Hampstead and educated at a Catholic independent day school, St Benedict's School, in Ealing, West London.
Siffre studied music at the Eric Gilder School of Music in Wardour Street, Soho, London. Gilder is remembered with gratitude in Siffre's poem "education education education".
After leaving school, Siffre worked as a taxi driver and a deliveryman, before deciding to concentrate on music.
Siffre played jazz guitar at Annie Ross's jazz club in Soho, London, in the 1960s as part of a Hammond organ, guitar, drums house band.
He released six albums between 1970 and 1975. In the early 1970s, three of his singles became hits: "It Must Be Love" (No. 14, 1971, and performed the song on the BBC's Top of the Pops) (later covered by and a No. 4 hit for Madness, for which Siffre himself appeared in the video); "Crying Laughing Loving Lying" (No. 11, 1972); and "Watch Me" (No. 29, 1972). In 1978, Siffre took part in the heats to represent the UK in the Eurovision Song Contest. He performed "Solid Love", co-written with Tom Shapiro, which placed fifth of the 12 songs up for consideration at the A Song for Europe contest. Additionally, he co-wrote the song "We Got It Bad", performed by Bob James, which came in 10th.
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Labi Siffre
Claudius Afolabi "Labi" Siffre (/ˈlæ.bi sɪfri/ LAB-ee SIF-ree, born 25 June 1945) is a British singer, songwriter and poet.
Siffre released six albums from 1970 to 1975 and four from 1988 to 1998. His compositions include "It Must Be Love", which reached Number 14 on the UK singles chart in 1971 (and was later covered by the band Madness), "Crying Laughing Loving Lying", and "(Something Inside) So Strong" – an anti-apartheid song inspired by a television documentary in which white soldiers in South Africa were filmed shooting at black civilians in the street – which hit Number 4 on the UK chart. The latter song won Siffre the Ivor Novello Award for Best Song Musically and Lyrically from the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors, and it has been used in Amnesty International campaigns.
He has published essays, the stage and television play Deathwrite and three volumes of poetry: Nigger, Blood on the Page, and Monument. In 2022, his life and work was explored in the series Imagine, under the title, Labi Siffre: This Is My Song.
Claudius Afolabi Siffre was born in Hammersmith, London in 1945 as the fourth of five brothers to a Yoruba Nigerian father and a mother of Belgian and Bajan descent . Siffre was brought up in Bayswater and Hampstead and educated at a Catholic independent day school, St Benedict's School, in Ealing, West London.
Siffre studied music at the Eric Gilder School of Music in Wardour Street, Soho, London. Gilder is remembered with gratitude in Siffre's poem "education education education".
After leaving school, Siffre worked as a taxi driver and a deliveryman, before deciding to concentrate on music.
Siffre played jazz guitar at Annie Ross's jazz club in Soho, London, in the 1960s as part of a Hammond organ, guitar, drums house band.
He released six albums between 1970 and 1975. In the early 1970s, three of his singles became hits: "It Must Be Love" (No. 14, 1971, and performed the song on the BBC's Top of the Pops) (later covered by and a No. 4 hit for Madness, for which Siffre himself appeared in the video); "Crying Laughing Loving Lying" (No. 11, 1972); and "Watch Me" (No. 29, 1972). In 1978, Siffre took part in the heats to represent the UK in the Eurovision Song Contest. He performed "Solid Love", co-written with Tom Shapiro, which placed fifth of the 12 songs up for consideration at the A Song for Europe contest. Additionally, he co-wrote the song "We Got It Bad", performed by Bob James, which came in 10th.