Labi Siffre

Claudius Afolabi "Labi" Siffre born 25 June 1945) is a British singer, songwriter and poet. Siffre released nine albums between 1970 and 1998. His compositions include "It Must Be Love" (later covered by the band Madness),

Early life and education Claudius Afolabi Siffre was born in Hammersmith, London in 1945 as the fourth of five brothers to a Yoruba Nigerian father and a mother of Bajan descent . Siffre's father, whom he described as "a giant of a character", came to the UK in the late-1920s to work in law, but instead pursued a career in real estate. Siffre's maternal grandfather was from Barbados, while his maternal grandmother was "a Northern lass".

Siffre states that his first connection to music was while his family were living at 18 Pembridge Crescent in Notting Hill and heard "One for My Baby (and One More for the Road)" by Frank Sinatra:I'd never heard anything like this; it really was overpowering. I absolutely understood that [the narrator] was somebody who had had love, through his own stupidity he'd thrown it all away and he was drowning his sorrows. I'm 10 or 11 years of age and I understood that. That was what poleaxed me. I played that track continuously for 2 or 3 weeks - I just couldn't get away from it. I knew this thing, which was music, was going to be really important to me.

After leaving school, Siffre worked as a taxi driver and a deliveryman, before deciding to concentrate on music.

His sophomore album, The Singer and The Song, was released the following year, reaching No. 47 on the UK Albums Chart. The album features exclusively Siffre's own compositions, including the singles "Thank Your Lucky Star"

In 1972, Siffre had two hit singles from his third album Crying Laughing Loving Lying: "It Must Be Love", which reached No. 14, and the title track, which reached No. 11. The album itself reached No. 46 on the UK Albums Chart. Both singles were issued in the US on the Bell Records label, however both failed to chart or create a commercial impact for Siffre. A non-album single, "Watch Me" reached No. 29 in the UK.

1973 saw the release of For The Children, which produced the singles "Give Love" and "If You Have Faith"

Siffre's singles released on EMI were: "Dreamer" (1974), "Another Year", "Love-A-Love-A-Love-A-Love-A-Love" and "Second Time Around" (1975), "Staride To Nowhere" (1976), and "You've Got A Hold On Me" and "Do The Best You Can" (1977), none of which charted in the UK. Additionally, he co-wrote the song "We Got It Bad", performed by Bob James, which came in 10th. "Solid Love" was issued as a single on EMI, but failed to chart.

In 1981, British ska band Madness covered Siffre's 1971 single, "It Must Be Love". It reached No. 4 on the UK Singles Chart and went Platinum for selling 600,000 copies. Siffre makes a cameo appearance in the music video for Madness' cover, as a violin player.

Although Siffre continued to regularly perform live, and sporadically release singles in the early 1980s ("Run To Him", released in 1981, and "Nightmare", released in 1982), it was not until 1988 that he released another album, So Strong. Inspired by what he had seen in a 1985 television film from Apartheid South Africa, showing a white soldier shooting at black children, Siffre wrote "(Something Inside) So Strong".

Initially reluctant to record it himself, Siffre was adamant that it was to be sung by a black artist. He said:It took us 18 months to get it recorded, because nobody wanted to touch it; they considered it to be too political. I'd actually decided that I wanted to quit the music business, and I didn't want to record it. I knew that it had to be recorded by somebody black, and I couldn't find anyone black to record it. Eventually, Siffre was persuaded by Derek Green of China Records to record it, and on release, the single reached No. 4 in the UK The song remains his highest-charting single in any territory. Further singles from So Strong were: "Nothin's Gonna Change" (No. 52, 1987), "Listen To The Voices" (No. 81, 1988), and "I Will Always Love You" and "And The Wind Blows". The latter two singles were released in 1989, neither of which charted.

In 1991, Man Of Reason was released, an album that explored more contemporary styles of RnB. After a period of around 5 years of touring and playing festivals, Siffre released The Last Songs in 1998. It was a live album that collected recordings from the tour of the same name.

In 2015, Siffre appeared on an episode of Later... with Jools Holland, performing a solo piano rendition of "(Something Inside) So Strong".

In May 2020, in reaction to Pride events globally being cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Siffre released "(Love Is Love Is Love) Why Isn't Love Enough?", a re-working of a track from The Last Songs.

On 16 February 2026, Siffre released "Far Away". On the same day, he performed at BBC Maida Vale Studios with the BBC Concert Orchestra as part of Radio 2's Piano Room Month, where he announced his first album in 27 years, Unfinished Business, which is set to release later in the year.

Legacy "(Something Inside) So Strong" is often considered one of the most defining cultural and political anthems of all-time. As a result of the song's newfound fame, it was finally released as a single in 2003. Siffre's 1972 track "My Song", from his album Crying Laughing Loving Lying, was sampled by rapper Kanye West on the song "I Wonder" on his 2007 album Graduation.

In 2020, a retrospective box set of Siffre's career was announced. Labi Siffre: My Song brought together all nine of Siffre's studio albums, together with 44 bonus tracks from across his career. To coincide with the box set's reissue in 2022, Siffre's life and work was made the subject of a BBC documentary, Labi Siffre: This Is My Song, as part of the Imagine series, directed by Alan Yentob.

In recent years, Siffre's music has had a resurgence, being used in a variety of films and television shows. "I Got The..." was featured in an episode of Better Call Saul, and "Cannock Chase" was featured in an episode of Hacks and over the closing credits of Sentimental Value. A live BBC recording of "Watch Me" was included in an episode of Doctor Who, something which Siffre described as "An accolade". Further, "Crying Laughing Loving Lying" was used in the soundtrack of The Holdovers, an Oscar-nominated film, which helped with "introducing Siffre to a new generation". Personal life Siffre is openly gay, and has been throughout his career. He met his partner Peter Lloyd in July 1964 and they were together for 48 years, until Lloyd's death in 2013. In 1998, Lloyd suffered a stroke, immediately after which, Siffre decided to quit the music business to become Lloyd's full-time carer.

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.

As of 2022, Siffre lives in Spain.

Discography Studio albums Year AlbumUK AUS AUT BE (FLA) IRE NL 40 NL 100 US R&B 1970 "Too Late" — — — — — — — — "A Little More Line" (Germany-only release) — — — — — — — —1971 "Thank Your Lucky Star" — — — — — — — — "Get to the Country" 53 — — — — — — — "It Must Be Love" 14 46 — — — 21 25 —1972 "Crying, Laughing, Loving, Lying" 11 — — — — — — — "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" (as Labi and Jackie) — — — — — — — — 1981 "Run to Him" — — — — — — — — 1982 "Nightmare" — — — — — — — —1987 "(Something Inside) So Strong" 4 76 — 14 2 3 4 49 BPI: Silver "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..." — — — — — — — —2020"Love Is Love Is Love) Why Isn't Love Enough?"————————2026"Far Away"———————— "—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that territory.