Labi Siffre

Labi Siffre is an English poet, songwriter and singer.

Born the fourth of five children in 1945, at Queen Charlotte’s Hospital Hammersmith, London to a Barbadian / Belgian mother and a Nigerian father, Siffre was brought up in Bayswater and Hampstead and educated at a Catholic monastery school, St Benedict’s School, in Ealing.

Jazz and Blues records provided his musical education; Thelonious Monk, Miles Davis and Charlie Mingus among many. Jimmy Reed and Wes Montgomery loomed large as guitar influences with Billie Holiday, Jimmy Reed and Mel Tormé as vocal influences.

His first six albums of songs were released between 1970 and 1975, and a further three albums between 1988 and 1998. In the early 1970s he had solo hits with “It Must Be Love” (No. 14, 1971) (later covered by Madness, and in which Siffre himself appeared in the video); “Crying, Laughing, Loving, Lying” (No. 11, 1972); and “Watch Me” (No. 29, 1972).

In 1978 two of his songs, “Solid Love” (performed by Siffre) and “We Got It Bad” (co-written and performed by Bob James) reached the UK finals of the BBC’s A Song for Europe.

His 1987 hit “(Something Inside) So Strong”, an anti Apartheid anthem and more, has remained enduringly popular and is an example of the political and sociological thread running through much of Siffre’s lyrics and poetry since the single “Thank Your Lucky Star” and the album “For the Children” (1973). It won the Ivor Novello Award for “Best Song Musically & Lyrically”, and has been used in Amnesty International campaigns, a television advertisement and Alice Walker’s film against female genital mutilation: Warrior Marks. His stance on civil and human rights has further enhanced his reputation.

Searching for expression beyond the “limitations of songwriting” he wrote his first poems in 1984. Three books of his poetry have been published: “Nigger” 1993, “Blood on the Page” 1995 and “Monument” 1997.

His poetry addresses “wide ranging themes of theology, childhood, supposed adulthood, sociology, love, hate, language, critical thinking and the lack of it, communication, various “isms” and the methods by which the mainstream dismisses the marginalised and the dispossessed.

His play, “DeathWrite”, staged at the Sherman Theatre, Cardiff 1997 was later televised.

For rapper Eminem’s hit single “My Name Is,” hip hop record producer Dr. Dre wanted to use a sample (written by Siffre and including Siffre on electric piano) of his song “I Got The” for the rhythm track. Siffre, objected to what he describes as “lazy writing” (in the sleeve notes of the re-mastered CD of the source album Remember My Song): “Attacking two of the usual scapegoats, women and gays, is lazy writing. If you want to do battle, attack the aggressors not the victims”. Eminem and Dr Dre had to edit to get the sample cleared.

He released a new album, The Last Songs, in 2006.


Above: It Must Be Love live for Australian TV in 1970


Above: Labi wrote 'Something Inside So Strong' as an anti-Apartheid anthem, advising Africans to stand tall in the face of adversity