Claudius Afolabi Siffre (born 25 June 1945) is a British singer, songwriter and poet. Siffre released six albums between 1970 and 1975, and four between 1988 and 1998. His best known compositions include " It Must Be Love" which reached number 14 on the UK Singles Chart in 1971 (a song later covered by the ska band

Madness Madness or The Madness may refer to: Emotion and mental health * Anger, an intense emotional response to a perceived provocation, hurt or threat * Insanity, a spectrum of behaviors characterized by certain abnormal mental or behavioral patterns * ...

), " 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 charts. 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 Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and sup ...

campaigns. His music has been sampled extensively by US rappers such as

Eminem Marshall Bruce Mathers III (born October 17, 1972), known professionally as Eminem (; often stylized as EMINƎM), is an American rapper and record producer. He is credited with popularizing hip hop in middle America and is critically acclai ...

, and

Jay-Z Shawn Corey Carter (born December 4, 1969), known professionally as Jay-Z, is an American rapper, record producer, entrepreneur, and founder of Manhattan-based conglomerate talent and entertainment agency Roc Nation. He is regarded as one of ...

. Siffre 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 BBC series '' Imagine'', under the title, ''Labi Siffre: This Is My Song''.

Early life and education

Claudius Afolabi Siffre was born as the fourth of five children at Queen Charlotte's and Chelsea Hospital in

Hammersmith Hammersmith is a district of West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It is the administrative centre of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, and identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. ...

, London to a British mother of mixed Barbadian and Belgian descent and a Nigerian father. Siffre was brought up in

Bayswater Bayswater is an area within the City of Westminster in West London. It is a built-up district with a population density of 17,500 per square kilometre, and is located between Kensington Gardens to the south, Paddington to the north-east, and ...

and

Hampstead Hampstead () is an area in London, which lies northwest of Charing Cross, and extends from Watling Street, the A5 road (Roman Watling Street) to Hampstead Heath, a large, hilly expanse of parkland. The area forms the northwest part of the Lon ...

and educated at a Catholic independent day school, St Benedict's School, in

Ealing Ealing () is a district in West London, England, west of Charing Cross in the London Borough of Ealing. Ealing is the administrative centre of the borough and is identified as a major metropolitan centre in the London Plan. Ealing was histor ...

, West London. Despite his Catholic education, Siffre has stated that he has always been an

atheist Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...

. He studied music at the Eric Gilder School of Music in Wardour Street, Soho. Gilder is remembered with gratitude in his poem "education education education". After leaving school, Siffre worked as a taxi driver and a deliveryman before deciding to concentrate on music. He moved to Cannes, France, where he played guitar with various soul musicians and bands, but returned to the UK in the late 1960s.

Musical career

Siffre played jazz guitar at Annie Ross's jazz club in Soho, London in the 1960s as part of a

Hammond organ The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert and first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, Hammond organs generated s ...

, 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 Cover or covers may refer to: Packaging * Another name for a lid * Cover (philately), generic term for envelope or package * Album cover, the front of the packaging * Book cover or magazine cover ** Book design ** Back cover copy, part of ...

by and a No. 4 hit for

, 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 The Eurovision Song Contest (), sometimes abbreviated to ESC and often known simply as Eurovision, is an international songwriting competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), featuring participants representing pr ...

. He performed his own composition "Solid Love", which placed fifth of the twelve 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 tenth. 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. He wrote " (Something Inside) So Strong" (No. 4, 1987) 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". As a result of the song's newfound fame, it was finally released as a single in 2006. The song was featured again in the 8th episode of the 5th season of ''

Better Call Saul ''Better Call Saul'' is an American crime and legal drama television series created by Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould. Part of the ''Breaking Bad'' franchise, it is a spin-off of Gilligan's previous series, '' Breaking Bad'', and serves as a ...

'', titled " Bagman". Siffre's 1972 track "My Song", the tenth track on his junior album ''Crying Laughing Loving Lying'', was sampled by Kanye West on the song "I Wonder" off his third album ''

Graduation Graduation is the awarding of a diploma to a student by an educational institution. It may also refer to the ceremony that is associated with it. The date of the graduation ceremony is often called graduation day. The graduation ceremony is a ...

''. 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.

Personal life

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. From the mid-1990s until Lloyd's death in 2013 he and Siffre lived in a ménage à trois with Rudolf van Baardwijk in Crickhowell, South Wales. Van Baardwijk himself died in 2015. Siffre now lives in Spain. In 2014, Siffre appeared on the BBC Radio 4 series ''Great Lives'', championing the life of British author

Arthur Ransome Arthur Michell Ransome (18 January 1884 – 3 June 1967) was an English author and journalist. He is best known for writing and illustrating the ''Swallows and Amazons'' series of children's books about the school-holiday adventures of childre ...

. 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.

Discography

Studio albums

Live albums

*''The Last Songs (Re-mastered) (2006)

Compilation albums

* ''The Best of Labi Siffre'' (1995) * ''It Must Be Love (The Best of Labi Siffre)'' (2016) * ''Gold'' (2019)

Singles

Notes

Notable cover versions of Siffre's songs

* " It Must Be Love" was covered by

in 1981. The song reached Number 4 in the UK charts and Number 33 in the U.S. in 1983. Labi Siffre also made a cameo appearance in the music video. * " (Something Inside) So Strong" was covered by Kenny Rogers in 1989 (and became the title track to a hit album). The song was also covered by Vanessa Bell Armstrong in 1988 and again by a host of gospel artists as a tribute to Rosa Parks in the mid-1990s. It was covered by Eternal in 1994 as part of their EP ''Crazy''. In late 2009, it also featured in the hit BBC comedy '' Gavin & Stacey'', where it was adapted into a Welsh chapel christening ceremony. ** Michael Ball also released a cover of the song in 1996, which reached Number 40 in the UK. ** Rik Waller, while a contestant on '' Pop Idol'', reached #25 in the UK Singles Chart with the song in 2002.

Bibliography

Poetry

*''Nigger'' (Xavier Books 1993) *''Blood on the Page'' (Xavier Books 1995) *''Monument'' (Xavier Books 1997)

Plays

*''DeathWrite'' (Xavier Books 1997)

Essays

*''Choosing the Stick They Beat You With'' (Penguin 2000)

References

External links

*
''Something Inside So Strong'', Soul Music, BBC Radio 4

''Arthur Ransome'', Great Lives, BBC Radio 4
{{DEFAULTSORT:Siffre, Labi 1945 births Bell Records artists 20th-century Black British male singers English atheists English male poets English people of Barbadian descent English people of Belgian descent English people of Nigerian descent English songwriters English soul singers English gay musicians LGBT Black British people LGBT singers from the United Kingdom LGBT songwriters Living people People educated at St Benedict's School, Ealing People from Hammersmith Pye Records artists Singers from London 20th-century LGBT people 21st-century LGBT people British male songwriters