Claudius Afolabi "Labi" Siffre[1] (/ˈlæ.bi sɪfri/ LAB-ee SIF-ree,[2] born 25 June 1945)[3] 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),[3] "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.
Siffre has published essays, the stage and television play Deathwrite and three volumes of poetry: Nigger, Blood on the Page, and Monument.[4] In 2022, his life and work was explored in the series Imagine, under the title, Labi Siffre: This Is My Song.
Claudius Afolabi Siffre[1] was born in 1945 as the fourth of five brothers[5] to a British mother of white British and Afro-Barbadian descent and a British Nigerian father. Siffre was brought up in Bayswater and Hampstead and educated at a Catholic independent day school, St Benedict's School, in Ealing, West London.[6] Despite his Catholic education, Siffre has stated that he has always been an atheist.[7]
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".[8] After leaving school, Siffre worked as a taxi driver and a deliveryman, before deciding to concentrate on music.[3]
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.[7]
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,[9] for which Siffre himself appeared in the video); "Crying Laughing Loving Lying" (No. 11, 1972); and "Watch Me" (No. 29, 1972).[10] 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.[11] Additionally, he co-wrote the song "We Got It Bad", performed by Bob James, which came in 10th.
Siffre came out of self-imposed retirement from music in 1985, when he saw a television film from Apartheid South Africa showing a white soldier shooting at black children.[12] He wrote "(Something Inside) So Strong" (No. 4, 1987),[10] which he also performed on Top of the Pops, and released four more albums between 1988 and 1998.
Multiple parts of Siffre's 1975 track "I Got The..." were sampled in popular hip hop songs in the 1990s, most notably in the 1999 Eminem single "My Name Is".[13] As a result of the song's newfound fame, it was finally released as a single in 2003.[14] The track was also featured in the Better Call Saul episode "Bagman".[15]
Siffre's 1972 track "My Song", the 10th track on his album Crying Laughing Loving Lying, was sampled by rapper Kanye West on the song "I Wonder" on his third album Graduation.[16]
In February 2022, the BBC broadcast Labi Siffre: This Is My Song, as part of the Imagine series, in which Alan Yentob presented a film exploring Siffre's life and work.[17]
Siffre met his partner Peter Lloyd in July 1964 and they were together for 48 years. They entered into a civil partnership in 2005, as soon as it was legally possible in the UK.[7] From the mid-1990s until Lloyd's death in 2013, he and Siffre lived in a ménage à trois with Rudolf van Baardwijk in the village of Cwmdu, near Crickhowell, South Wales. Siffre and van Baardwijk married in December 2014. Van Baardwijk died in 2016.[18] As of 2022, Siffre lives in Spain.[18]
In 2014, Siffre appeared on the BBC Radio 4 series Great Lives, championing the life of British author Arthur Ransome. Siffre said that Ransome's Swallows and Amazons books had taught him responsibility for his own actions and also a morality that has influenced and shaped him throughout his life.[19]
| Year | Album | UK [20] | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1970 | Labi Siffre | — | |
| 1971 | The Singer and the Song | 47 | |
| 1972 | Crying Laughing Loving Lying | 46 | |
| 1973 | For the Children | — | |
| 1975 | Remember My Song | — | |
| Happy | — | ||
| 1988 | So Strong | — | |
| 1991 | Man of Reason | — | |
| 1998 | The Last Songs | — | |
| Monument (Spoken Word) | — | ||
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart. | |||
| Year | Single | Chart positions | Certifications | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK [20] |
AUS [21][22] |
AUT [23] |
BE (FLA) [24] |
IRE [25] |
NL 40 [26] |
NL 100 [27] |
US R&B [28] | |||
| 1970 | "Too Late" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| "A Little More Line" (Germany-only release) | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1971 | "Thank Your Lucky Star" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| "Get to the Country" | 53[A] | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| "It Must Be Love" | 14 | 46 | — | — | — | 21 | 25 | — | ||
| 1972 | "Crying, Laughing, Loving, Lying" | 11 | — | — | — | — | — | —[B] | — | |
| "Watch Me" | 29 | — | — | — | 7 | 16 | 14 | — | ||
| 1973 | "Give Love" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| "If You Have Faith" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| "(Just) A Little More Line" (Netherlands-only release) | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1974 | "Dreamer" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| 1975 | "Another Year | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| "Love-a-Love-a-Love-a-Love-a-Love" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| "Second Time Around" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1976 | "Staride to Nowhere" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| "You've Got a Hold on Me" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| "Doctor Doctor" (France and Italy-only release) | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1977 | "Do the Best You Can" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| 1978 | "Solid Love" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| 1980 | "One World Song" (with Jackie) | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| 1981 | "Run to Him" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| 1982 | "Nightmare" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| 1987 | "(Something Inside) So Strong" | 4 | 76 | — | 14 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 49 | |
| "Nothin's Gonna Change" | 52 | — | — | 8 | — | 21 | 24 | — | ||
| 1988 | "Listen to the Voices" | 81 | — | 5 | 25 | — | 23 | 22 | — | |
| 1989 | "I Will Always Love You" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| "And the Wind Blows" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1991 | "Most People Sleep Alone" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| "A Matter of Love | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| "City of Dreams" (promo only) | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2003 | "I Got The..." | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that territory. | ||||||||||
Notes
I've always been an atheist. I've never had religious belief. Pre-teens, I assumed God was in the same make-believe category as Father Christmas; a game of pretend between children and grown-ups.
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