Labi Siffre
Template:Short description Template:For Template:EngvarB Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox musical artist Claudius Afolabi "Labi" Siffre<ref name="Independent"/> (Template:IPAc-en Template:Respell,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> born 25 June 1945)<ref name="CL">Template:Cite book</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", which reached Number 14 on the UK Singles Chart in 1971 (and was later covered by the band Madness),<ref name="CL"/> "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.<ref name="soul">Template:Cite web</ref> 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<ref name="Independent">Template:Cite web</ref> was born in Hammersmith, London in 1945 as the fourth of five brothers<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite book</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>Template:Cite web</ref>
Career
After leaving school, Siffre worked as a taxi driver and a deliveryman, before deciding to concentrate on music.<ref name="CL"/>
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.<ref name="New Humanist" />
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,<ref name="Madness">Template:Cite web</ref> for which Siffre himself appeared in the video); "Crying Laughing Loving Lying" (No. 11, 1972); and "Watch Me" (No. 29, 1972).<ref name="British Hit Singles & Albums">Template:Cite book</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> He wrote "(Something Inside) So Strong" (No. 4, 1987),<ref name="British Hit Singles & Albums" /> which he also performed on Top of the Pops, and released four more albums between 1988 and 1998.
Legacy
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".<ref name="AllMusic">Template:Cite web</ref> As a result of the song's newfound fame, it was finally released as a single in 2003.<ref name="Sampling">Template:Cite news</ref> The track was also featured in the Better Call Saul episode "Bagman".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
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">Template:Cite web</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 books had taught him responsibility for his own actions and also a morality that has influenced and shaped him throughout his life.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Siffre is an atheist.<ref name="New Humanist">Template:Cite news</ref>
Discography
Studio albums
| Year | Album | UK <ref name="UK"/> | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 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 <ref name="UK">Template:Cite web</ref> |
AUS <ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> |
AUT <ref>Template:Cite web</ref> |
BE (FLA) <ref>Template:Cite web</ref> |
IRE <ref>Template:Cite web</ref> |
NL 40 <ref>Template:Cite web</ref> |
NL 100 <ref>Template:Cite web</ref> |
US R&B <ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | |||
| 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 and samples of Siffre's songs
- "It Must Be Love" was covered by 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>Template:Cite web</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">Template:Cite web</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, also known as Ye, on his 2007 song "I Wonder" on the album Graduation. Siffre received a songwriting credit on the track as a result.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- "I Got The..." was sampled by producer Dr. Dre for rapper Eminem's 1999 breakout single, "My Name Is" from the album The Slim Shady LP. Siffre initially denied the duo permission to use the sample, based on his objection to homophobic and misogynistic lyrical content in the song, but ultimately agreed to let them release the record having heard only the song's clean version.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
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
- Template:Official website
- Something Inside So Strong, Soul Music, BBC Radio 4
- Arthur Ransome, Great Lives, BBC Radio 4
- 1945 births
- 20th-century Black British male singers
- 20th-century British male singers
- 20th-century English LGBTQ people
- 21st-century English LGBTQ people
- Bell Records artists
- Black British LGBTQ people
- 20th-century Black British singers
- British political music artists
- British soft rock musicians
- English atheists
- English expatriates in Spain
- English gay musicians
- English LGBTQ singers
- English LGBTQ songwriters
- English male poets
- English male songwriters
- English people of Barbadian descent
- English people of Belgian descent
- English people of Nigerian descent
- English soul singers
- Gay singers
- Gay songwriters
- LGBTQ people from London
- Living people
- Musicians from the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham
- People educated at St Benedict's School, Ealing
- People from Bayswater
- People from Hammersmith
- People from Hampstead
- Pye Records artists
- Singers from the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham
- Writers from the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham