Labi Siffre: Difference between revisions

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{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2024}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2024}}
{{Infobox musical artist
{{Infobox musical artist
| name             = Labi Siffre
| name             = Labi Siffre
| image           = Tom Robinson and Labi Siffre, 2017 (cropped).jpg
| image             = Tom Robinson and Labi Siffre, 2017 (cropped).jpg
| caption         = Siffre in 2017
| caption           = Siffre in 2017
| birth_name       = Claudius Afolabi Siffre
| birth_name       = Claudius Afolabi Siffre
| birth_date       = {{birth date and age|df=yes|1945|6|25}}
| birth_date       = {{birth date and age|df=yes|1945|6|25}}
| birth_place     = [[Hammersmith]], London, England<ref name="CL"/>
| birth_place       =  
| background       = solo_singer
| background       = solo_singer
| occupation       = {{hlist|Singer|songwriter|poet}}
| occupation       = {{hlist|Singer|songwriter|poet}}
| genre           = {{hlist|[[Soul music|Soul]]|[[jazz]]|[[funk]]|[[soft rock]]|[[folk music|folk]]}}
| genre             = {{hlist|[[Soul music|Soul]]|[[jazz]]|[[funk]]|[[soft rock]]|[[folk music|folk]]}}
| instruments     = {{hlist|Vocals|guitar|keyboards}}
| instruments       = {{hlist|Vocals|guitar|keyboards}}
| years_active     = 1970–present
| years_active     = 1970–present
| label           = {{hlist|[[EMI]]|[[Pye Records|Pye]]|[[China Records|China]]}}
| label             = {{hlist|[[EMI]]|[[Pye Records|Pye]]|[[China Records|China]]}}
| website         = {{URL|https://www.intothelight.info/}}
| website           = {{URL|https://www.intothelight.info/}}
}}
}}
'''Claudius Afolabi''' "'''Labi'''" '''Siffre'''<ref name="Independent"/> ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|l|æ|.|b|i|_|s|ɪ|f|r|i}} {{respell|LAB|ee|_|SIF|ree}},<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYW5pffV2fY&t=14s|title=Disturbing Definitions: Labi Siffre|author=TEDxBrayfordPool|date=5 December 2017|via=YouTube|access-date=1 February 2023}}</ref> born 25 June 1945)<ref name="CL">{{cite book|last1=Larkin|first1=Colin|title=The Encyclopedia of Popular Music|date=2006|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=9780195313734|page=1218|edition=4th}}</ref> 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 (Labi Siffre song)|It Must Be Love]]", which reached number 14 on the [[UK Singles Chart]] in 1971 (and was later covered by the band [[Madness (band)|Madness]]),<ref name="CL"/> "[[Crying Laughing Loving Lying]]", and "[[(Something Inside) So Strong]]"—an [[Anti-Apartheid Movement|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 [[Ivor Novello Award for Best Song Musically and Lyrically|Best Song Musically and Lyrically]] from the [[British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors]], and it has been used in [[Amnesty International]] campaigns.
'''Claudius Afolabi''' "'''Labi'''" '''Siffre'''<ref name="Independent"/> ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|l|æ|.|b|i|_|s|ɪ|f|r|i}} {{respell|LAB|ee|_|SIF|ree}},<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYW5pffV2fY&t=14s|title=Disturbing Definitions: Labi Siffre|author=TEDxBrayfordPool|date=5 December 2017|via=YouTube|access-date=1 February 2023}}</ref> born 25 June 1945)<ref name="CL">{{cite book|last1=Larkin|first1=Colin|title=The Encyclopedia of Popular Music|date=2006|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=9780195313734|page=1218|edition=4th}}</ref> 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 (Labi Siffre song)|It Must Be Love]]", which reached number 14 on the [[UK Singles Chart]] in 1971 (and was later covered by the band [[Madness (band)|Madness]]),<ref name="CL"/> "[[Crying Laughing Loving Lying]]", and "[[(Something Inside) So Strong]]"—an [[Anti-Apartheid Movement|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 [[Ivor Novello Award for Best Song Musically and Lyrically|Best Song Musically and Lyrically]] from the [[British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors]], and it has been used in [[Amnesty International]] campaigns.
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==Early life and education==
==Early life and education==
Claudius Afolabi Siffre<ref name="Independent">{{cite web|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/independentpremium/culture/labi-siffre-eminem-my-name-is-sample-it-must-be-love-madness-a9439026.html|title=Labi Siffre, the black, gay musician whose music helped make Eminem famous|last=Pollard|first=Alexandra|date=1 April 2020|website=[[The Independent]]|language=en|access-date=21 April 2020}}</ref> was born in 1945 as the fourth of five children at [[Queen Charlotte's and Chelsea Hospital]] in [[Hammersmith]], London,<ref>{{cite web|title=Labi Siffre's birthplace, Goldhawk Road|url=https://www.lbhf.gov.uk/labi-siffres-birthplace-goldhawk-road|website=Hammersmith & Fulham|date=24 September 2019|access-date=22 January 2022}}</ref> to a British mother of [[white British]] and [[Barbadian British|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, Ealing|St Benedict's School]], in [[Ealing]], [[West London]].<ref>{{cite book|author=Larkin, Colin|year=2002|title=The Virgin Encyclopedia of 70s Music|page=398|publisher=Virgin|isbn=978-1852279479}}</ref> Despite his [[Catholic school|Catholic education]], Siffre has stated that he has always been an [[atheist]].<ref name="New Humanist">{{cite news|url=https://newhumanist.org.uk/articles/2915/qa-labi-siffre|title=Q&A: Labi Siffre|date=14 December 2012|work=[[New Humanist]]|access-date=12 March 2016|quote=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.}}</ref>
Claudius Afolabi Siffre<ref name="Independent">{{cite web|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/independentpremium/culture/labi-siffre-eminem-my-name-is-sample-it-must-be-love-madness-a9439026.html|title=Labi Siffre, the black, gay musician whose music helped make Eminem famous|last=Pollard|first=Alexandra|date=1 April 2020|website=[[The Independent]]|language=en|access-date=21 April 2020}}</ref> was born in 1945 as the fourth of five brothers<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bigissue.com/culture/music/labi-siffre-music-life-career-gay-black-husbands/|title=Labi Siffre: 'I've had far more difficulties in my life due to being a homosexual than being Black'|first=Jamie|last=Atkins|date=21 April 2024|work=The Big Issue}}</ref> to a British mother of [[white British]] and [[Barbadian British|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, Ealing|St Benedict's School]], in [[Ealing]], [[West London]].<ref>{{cite book|author=Larkin, Colin|year=2002|title=The Virgin Encyclopedia of 70s Music|page=398|publisher=Virgin|isbn=978-1852279479}}</ref> Despite his [[Catholic school|Catholic education]], Siffre has stated that he has always been an [[atheist]].<ref name="New Humanist">{{cite news|url=https://newhumanist.org.uk/articles/2915/qa-labi-siffre|title=Q&A: Labi Siffre|date=14 December 2012|work=[[New Humanist]]|access-date=12 March 2016|quote=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.}}</ref>


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".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.intothelight.info/ozz/poems__poetry__political/index.html|title=Labi Siffre - poetry into the light: poems / poetry: political|website=Intothelight.info|access-date=9 July 2021}}</ref> After leaving school, Siffre worked as a taxi driver and a deliveryman, before deciding to concentrate on music.<ref name="CL"/>
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".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.intothelight.info/ozz/poems__poetry__political/index.html|title=Labi Siffre - poetry into the light: poems / poetry: political|website=Intothelight.info|access-date=9 July 2021}}</ref> After leaving school, Siffre worked as a taxi driver and a deliveryman, before deciding to concentrate on music.<ref name="CL"/>
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==Personal life==
==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.<ref name="New Humanist" /> 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.<ref name="Guardian1">{{cite web |first=Tim |last=Jonze |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2022/jan/31/i-had-the-perfect-life-then-both-my-husbands-died-singer-labi-siffre-on-love-loss-and-happiness |title='I had the perfect life – then both my husbands died': Singer Labi Siffre on love, loss – and happiness |website=[[The Guardian]] |date=31 January 2022}}</ref> As of 2022, Siffre lives in Spain.<ref name="Guardian1"/>
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 [[Civil partnership in the United Kingdom|legally possible in the UK]].<ref name="New Humanist" /> 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.<ref name="Guardian1">{{cite web |first=Tim |last=Jonze |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2022/jan/31/i-had-the-perfect-life-then-both-my-husbands-died-singer-labi-siffre-on-love-loss-and-happiness |title='I had the perfect life – then both my husbands died': Singer Labi Siffre on love, loss – and happiness |website=[[The Guardian]] |date=31 January 2022}}</ref> As of 2022, Siffre lives in Spain.<ref name="Guardian1"/>


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 series|''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.<ref>{{cite web |title=Great Lives, Series 34, Labi Siffre on Arthur Ransome |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04g8jh3 |website=BBC Radio 4 |access-date=22 January 2022}}</ref>
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 series|''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.<ref>{{cite web |title=Great Lives, Series 34, Labi Siffre on Arthur Ransome |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04g8jh3 |website=BBC Radio 4 |access-date=22 January 2022}}</ref>
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{{notelist-ua}}
{{notelist-ua}}


==Notable cover versions of Siffre's songs==
==Notable cover versions & samples of Siffre's songs==
* "[[It Must Be Love (Labi Siffre song)|It Must Be Love]]" was covered by [[Madness (band)|Madness]] in 1981. The song reached Number 4 in the UK chart<ref name="Madness"/> and Number 33 in the U.S. in 1983.<ref>{{cite web|title=Madness Top Songs / Chart Singles Discography |url=https://www.musicvf.com/Madness.art|website=Music VF|access-date=22 January 2022}}</ref> Labi Siffre also made a cameo appearance in the music video.
* "[[It Must Be Love (Labi Siffre song)|It Must Be Love]]" was covered by [[Madness (band)|Madness]] in 1981. The song reached Number 4 in the UK chart<ref name="Madness"/> and Number 33 in the U.S. in 1983.<ref>{{cite web|title=Madness Top Songs / Chart Singles Discography |url=https://www.musicvf.com/Madness.art|website=Music VF|access-date=22 January 2022}}</ref> Labi Siffre also made a cameo appearance in the music video.
* "[[(Something Inside) So Strong]]" was covered by singer [[Michael Ball]] in 1996, reaching Number 40 in the UK.<ref name="So Strong">{{cite web |title=So Strong|url=https://www.officialcharts.com/search/singles/so%20strong/|website=Official Charts Company|access-date=22 January 2022}}</ref> [[Rik Waller]] also covered the song while a contestant on ''[[Pop Idol]]'', hitting number 25 in the UK Singles Chart in 2002.<ref name="So Strong"/>
* "[[(Something Inside) So Strong]]" was covered by singer [[Michael Ball]] in 1996, reaching Number 40 in the UK.<ref name="So Strong">{{cite web |title=So Strong|url=https://www.officialcharts.com/search/singles/so%20strong/|website=Official Charts Company|access-date=22 January 2022}}</ref> [[Rik Waller]] also covered the song while a contestant on ''[[Pop Idol]]'', hitting number 25 in the UK Singles Chart in 2002.<ref name="So Strong"/>
* ”My Song” was sampled by [[rapper]] [[Kanye West|Ye, also known as Kanye West]], on his 2007 song “[[I Wonder (Kanye West song)|I Wonder]]” on the album ”[[Graduation (album)|Graduation]]”. Siffre received a songwriting credit on the track as a result.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Pytlik |first=Mark |title=Kanye West: Graduation |url=https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/10658-graduation/ |access-date=2025-06-26 |website=Pitchfork |language=en-US}}</ref>


==Bibliography==
==Bibliography==

Revision as of 21:51, 30 June 2025

Template:Short description Script error: No such module "For". Template:EngvarB Template:Use dmy dates Script error: No such module "Infobox".Template:Template otherScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". Claudius Afolabi "Labi" Siffre[1] (Template:IPAc-en Script error: No such module "Respell".,[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.

Early life and education

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]

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.[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]

Discography

Studio albums

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.

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)
  • Watch Me (2023)

Singles

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" 53Template:Efn
"It Must Be Love" 14 46 21 25
1972 "Crying, Laughing, Loving, Lying" 11 Template:Efn
"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 Template:Notelist-ua

Notable cover versions & samples of Siffre's songs

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

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External links

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  • Something Inside So Strong, Soul Music, BBC Radio 4
  • Arthur Ransome, Great Lives, BBC Radio 4

Template:Authority control