# Labi Siffre
**Labi Siffre** (full name Claudius Afolabi Siffre) is a British singer, songwriter, poet, and musician, born in 1945 in [Hammersmith](https://www.edgepedia.org/hammersmith), London, whose 1970s songs "It Must Be Love", "Crying Laughing Loving Lying", and "I Got The..." reached wide audiences through covers and hip-hop samples, and whose anti-apartheid anthem "(Something Inside) So Strong" became the biggest hit of his career.[1](https://www.bigissue.com/culture/music/labi-siffre-music-life-career-gay-black-husbands/) • [2](https://hfh.irokotheatre.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/5.Home-from-Home_Library-Exhibition-Profiles.reduced.pdf) • [3](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/labi-siffre-mn0000098819/biography) Openly gay since the 1970s, he spent long periods away from the industry, and in February 2026, aged 80, he announced *Unfinished Business*, his first album in 28 years.[4](https://pitchfork.com/news/labi-siffre-announces-first-album-in-28-years-shares-new-song/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Born | 1945, Hammersmith, London; mother Anglo-Barbadian, father Nigerian[1](https://www.bigissue.com/culture/music/labi-siffre-music-life-career-gay-black-husbands/) • [5](https://elpais.com/icon/2026-03-16/labi-siffre-heroe-de-todo-lo-demas.html) |
| 1970s output | Six albums between 1970 and 1975, including the self-titled debut (1970), *The Singer and the Song* (1971), *Crying Laughing Loving Lying* (1972), and *For the Children* (1973)[5](https://elpais.com/icon/2026-03-16/labi-siffre-heroe-de-todo-lo-demas.html) • [1](https://www.bigissue.com/culture/music/labi-siffre-music-life-career-gay-black-husbands/) |
| Biggest hit | "(Something Inside) So Strong", written 1984, released 1987, reached No. 4 in the UK chart; anti-apartheid anthem and Ivor Novello Award winner[1](https://www.bigissue.com/culture/music/labi-siffre-music-life-career-gay-black-husbands/) • [3](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/labi-siffre-mn0000098819/biography) |
| Best-known sample | "I Got The..." (1975) supplied the hook for Eminem's "My Name Is" (1999); Siffre approved it only after sexist and homophobic lyrics were removed[6](https://www.musicradar.com/artists/one-evening-late-i-found-myself-in-my-studio-sat-down-at-the-keyboard-i-played-a-c-chord-put-my-head-back-and-immediately-without-thinking-i-sang-the-first-two-lines-of-the-song-labi-siffre-on-the-origins-of-something-inside-so-strong) |
| Covered and sampled by | Madness, Kenny Rogers, and Kelis (covers); Jay-Z, Eminem, Kanye West, Dr. Dre, and Miguel (samples)[3](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/labi-siffre-mn0000098819/biography) • [7](https://www.musicradar.com/artists/singers-songwriters/after-being-sampled-by-eminem-and-kanye-west-and-seeing-1971-song-bless-the-telephone-going-viral-on-tiktok-labi-siffre-is-returning-with-unfinished-business-his-first-new-album-this-century) |
| Comeback | *Unfinished Business* announced 16 February 2026 on Demon Music Group; lead single "Far Away" performed on BBC Radio 2's Piano Room[4](https://pitchfork.com/news/labi-siffre-announces-first-album-in-28-years-shares-new-song/) |
## Early life and musical beginnings
Siffre was born in Hammersmith, London, in 1945 to an Anglo-Barbadian mother and a Nigerian father.[1](https://www.bigissue.com/culture/music/labi-siffre-music-life-career-gay-black-husbands/) • [5](https://elpais.com/icon/2026-03-16/labi-siffre-heroe-de-todo-lo-demas.html) He was educated at a Catholic independent day school and later studied at the Eric Gilder School of Music.[8](https://www.voicesandvisibility.org.uk/index/timeline/labi-siffre/) • [3](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/labi-siffre-mn0000098819/biography) Although primarily self-taught, he described his older brother Kole's record collection as his musical education, covering blues, modern jazz, and early R&B, from [Ornette Coleman](https://www.edgepedia.org/ornette-coleman), John Coltrane, and [Thelonious Monk](https://www.edgepedia.org/thelonious-monk) through [Howlin' Wolf](https://www.edgepedia.org/howlin-wolf) and John Lee Hooker to Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughan.[3](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/labi-siffre-mn0000098819/biography) • [1](https://www.bigissue.com/culture/music/labi-siffre-music-life-career-gay-black-husbands/) He formed his first band at 16, aiming, as he put it, to be Jimmy Reed, and played jazz guitar in groups around Soho in the late 1960s.[1](https://www.bigissue.com/culture/music/labi-siffre-music-life-career-gay-black-husbands/)
## The 1970s albums
Siffre released his self-titled debut album in 1970 and followed it with *The Singer and the Song* (1971), *Crying Laughing Loving Lying* (1972), and *For the Children* (1973); six albums appeared in the five-year span from 1970 to 1975, and four more followed between 1988 and 1998.[1](https://www.bigissue.com/culture/music/labi-siffre-music-life-career-gay-black-husbands/) • [5](https://elpais.com/icon/2026-03-16/labi-siffre-heroe-de-todo-lo-demas.html) • [9](https://www.worldradiohistory.com/UK/Hi-Fi-World/2016/Hi-Fi-World-2016-08.pdf) His 1970s hit singles included "It Must Be Love" (released on Pye International on 21 November 1971), "Crying Laughing Loving Lying", which reached No. 11, and "Watch Me"; the [Official Charts Company](https://www.edgepedia.org/official-charts-company) counts four [Top 40](https://www.edgepedia.org/top-40) singles across his 1970s and 1980s career.[1](https://www.bigissue.com/culture/music/labi-siffre-music-life-career-gay-black-husbands/) • [10](https://www.charttimemachine.com/?artist_id=1386&view=artist) • [11](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) • [12](https://www.officialcharts.com/chart-news/labi-siffre-new-album-unfinished-business-2026-when-bbc-radio-2-piano-room/) His songs from the period moved between the political, tackling war veterans, homelessness, and religion, and the personal.[11](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)
"It Must Be Love" later became far better known through Madness, who took their cover into the UK Top 5 at the end of 1981, with Siffre making a cameo appearance in the video; Rolling Stone India dates the Madness hit to 1983.[7](https://www.musicradar.com/artists/singers-songwriters/after-being-sampled-by-eminem-and-kanye-west-and-seeing-1971-song-bless-the-telephone-going-viral-on-tiktok-labi-siffre-is-returning-with-unfinished-business-his-first-new-album-this-century) • [13](https://rollingstoneindia.com/labi-siffres-biggest-moment-was-an-eminem-sample-then-came-the-holdovers/amp/) [Kenny Rogers](https://www.edgepedia.org/kenny-rogers) recorded a version of "(Something Inside) So Strong", and [Rod Stewart](https://www.edgepedia.org/rod-stewart) and Kelis are among the other artists who have recorded his songs.[13](https://rollingstoneindia.com/labi-siffres-biggest-moment-was-an-eminem-sample-then-came-the-holdovers/amp/) • [3](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/labi-siffre-mn0000098819/biography)
## (Something Inside) So Strong
A sabbatical from music ended in 1984, when Siffre saw a documentary in which white South African soldiers shot at [Black people](https://www.edgepedia.org/black-people) in the street and knew he wanted to write a song about apartheid.[1](https://www.bigissue.com/culture/music/labi-siffre-music-life-career-gay-black-husbands/) He described the writing as involuntary: sitting at the keyboard, he played a C chord and sang the first two lines without thinking, then realized he was also writing about his life as a homosexual child, youth, and man, so that the two threads of his experience ran through one song.[6](https://www.musicradar.com/artists/one-evening-late-i-found-myself-in-my-studio-sat-down-at-the-keyboard-i-played-a-c-chord-put-my-head-back-and-immediately-without-thinking-i-sang-the-first-two-lines-of-the-song-labi-siffre-on-the-origins-of-something-inside-so-strong)
Released in 1987, the song reached No. 4 in the UK chart, reached the Top Ten in Ireland and the Netherlands, won an Ivor Novello Award, and became an anti-apartheid anthem; it has been said to have been [Nelson Mandela](https://www.edgepedia.org/nelson-mandela)'s favorite song.[1](https://www.bigissue.com/culture/music/labi-siffre-music-life-career-gay-black-husbands/) • [3](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/labi-siffre-mn0000098819/biography) • [6](https://www.musicradar.com/artists/one-evening-late-i-found-myself-in-my-studio-sat-down-at-the-keyboard-i-played-a-c-chord-put-my-head-back-and-immediately-without-thinking-i-sang-the-first-two-lines-of-the-song-labi-siffre-on-the-origins-of-something-inside-so-strong) In 2025 the song drew new attention when the far-right activist Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, known as Tommy Robinson, used it at a rally; Siffre issued a cease-and-desist order, noting the irony of his work, by "a positive atheist, homosexual black artist", being used to represent such a movement.[6](https://www.musicradar.com/artists/one-evening-late-i-found-myself-in-my-studio-sat-down-at-the-keyboard-i-played-a-c-chord-put-my-head-back-and-immediately-without-thinking-i-sang-the-first-two-lines-of-the-song-labi-siffre-on-the-origins-of-something-inside-so-strong)
## The Eminem sample
"I Got The...", the opening track of the 1975 album *Remember My Song*, featured [Chas Hodges](https://www.edgepedia.org/chas-hodges) and Dave Peacock, later known as [Chas & Dave](https://www.edgepedia.org/chas-and-dave), on guitar and bass.[6](https://www.musicradar.com/artists/one-evening-late-i-found-myself-in-my-studio-sat-down-at-the-keyboard-i-played-a-c-chord-put-my-head-back-and-immediately-without-thinking-i-sang-the-first-two-lines-of-the-song-labi-siffre-on-the-origins-of-something-inside-so-strong) In the late 1990s, Eminem's team approached Siffre to clear a sample of the song's lengthy coda for "My Name Is" (1999). Siffre refused permission unless certain sexist and homophobic lyrics were removed; Eminem and producer [Dr. Dre](https://www.edgepedia.org/dr-dre) agreed to the request, and the song became a worldwide hit, giving Siffre his first credit on a chart-topping single.[6](https://www.musicradar.com/artists/one-evening-late-i-found-myself-in-my-studio-sat-down-at-the-keyboard-i-played-a-c-chord-put-my-head-back-and-immediately-without-thinking-i-sang-the-first-two-lines-of-the-song-labi-siffre-on-the-origins-of-something-inside-so-strong) • [14](https://americansongwriter.com/eminems-my-name-is-brought-70s-funk-pioneer-labi-siffre-back-to-the-mainstream-but-the-sample-almost-didnt-happen/) • [15](https://www.vice.com/en/article/how-a-1975-soul-deep-cut-launched-the-career-of-a-future-rap-god-two-decades-later/) Beck has said he had planned to sample the same track before Eminem got there first.[16](https://www.nme.com/news/music/beck-says-he-wanted-to-sample-labi-siffre-before-eminem-got-there-first-2972946)
Sampling spread further through hip-hop: the [Wu-Tang Clan](https://www.edgepedia.org/wu-tang-clan) used "I Got The..." in "Can It Be All So Simple", and samples of Siffre's work have been used by Dr. Dre, Jay-Z, Kanye West, and Miguel, among others.[17](https://www.originals.be/en/originals/7839) • [7](https://www.musicradar.com/artists/singers-songwriters/after-being-sampled-by-eminem-and-kanye-west-and-seeing-1971-song-bless-the-telephone-going-viral-on-tiktok-labi-siffre-is-returning-with-unfinished-business-his-first-new-album-this-century)
## Later career and rediscovery
In the 1990s Siffre was more active away from music, publishing three books of poetry and writing a play; his last records of the period were the album *The Last Songs* and the spoken-word poetry collection *Monument*, both released in 1998.[3](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/labi-siffre-mn0000098819/biography) • [4](https://pitchfork.com/news/labi-siffre-announces-first-album-in-28-years-shares-new-song/) He stayed mostly quiet in the following decades, releasing the single "(Love Is Love Is Love) Why Isn't Love Enough?" in 2020, while the 2022 BBC documentary *Labi Siffre: This Is My Song*, presented by Alan Yentob, profiled his career.[4](https://pitchfork.com/news/labi-siffre-announces-first-album-in-28-years-shares-new-song/) • [7](https://www.musicradar.com/artists/singers-songwriters/after-being-sampled-by-eminem-and-kanye-west-and-seeing-1971-song-bless-the-telephone-going-viral-on-tiktok-labi-siffre-is-returning-with-unfinished-business-his-first-new-album-this-century)
A revival of interest followed film and social media. "Crying Laughing Loving Lying" appeared in the Oscar-nominated film *The Holdovers* (2024), and "Cannock Chase" from the same album was used in *Sentimental Value* (2025); his 1971 song "Bless the Telephone" went viral on TikTok, with over 52 million streams, and official YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok channels launched in 2024.[3](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/labi-siffre-mn0000098819/biography) • [4](https://pitchfork.com/news/labi-siffre-announces-first-album-in-28-years-shares-new-song/) • [7](https://www.musicradar.com/artists/singers-songwriters/after-being-sampled-by-eminem-and-kanye-west-and-seeing-1971-song-bless-the-telephone-going-viral-on-tiktok-labi-siffre-is-returning-with-unfinished-business-his-first-new-album-this-century) • [12](https://www.officialcharts.com/chart-news/labi-siffre-new-album-unfinished-business-2026-when-bbc-radio-2-piano-room/) On 16 February 2026 the 80-year-old Siffre announced *Unfinished Business*, due later that year on Demon Music Group, and released the lead single "Far Away", a piano ballad he performed with the BBC Concert Orchestra on [BBC Radio 2](https://www.edgepedia.org/bbc-radio-2)'s Piano Room in a rare live appearance, alongside "My Song" and a cover of the Four Tops' "Baby I Need Your Loving".[4](https://pitchfork.com/news/labi-siffre-announces-first-album-in-28-years-shares-new-song/) • [12](https://www.officialcharts.com/chart-news/labi-siffre-new-album-unfinished-business-2026-when-bbc-radio-2-piano-room/) A reissue campaign on Edsel, part of Demon Music Group, began with two career-spanning 3CD collections.[18](https://www.totalntertainment.com/music/labi-siffre-reissues-two-new-collections/)
## Personal life
Siffre wrote his first song at 18 and, in 1964, met Peter John Carver Lloyd; they remained together for 48 years and entered a civil partnership in 2005, since marriage equality came too late for them.[11](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) In 1997 he met his husband Ruud, and the three lived together as a family until Lloyd's death in 2013; a stroke in 1998 had left Lloyd paralyzed, and Siffre was his full-time carer for 14 years. Ruud died in 2016.[1](https://www.bigissue.com/culture/music/labi-siffre-music-life-career-gay-black-husbands/) • [11](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) Siffre has said he has had far more difficulties in life from being homosexual than from being Black, and that as a gay man and a Black man he will never feel comfortable in the land of his birth.[1](https://www.bigissue.com/culture/music/labi-siffre-music-life-career-gay-black-husbands/) • [8](https://www.voicesandvisibility.org.uk/index/timeline/labi-siffre/)
## References
1. [Labi Siffre: 'I've had far more difficulties in my life due to being a homosexual than being Black', The Big Issue (2024)](https://www.bigissue.com/culture/music/labi-siffre-music-life-career-gay-black-husbands/)
2. [Home from Home Library Exhibition Profiles, Iroko Theatre](https://hfh.irokotheatre.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/5.Home-from-Home_Library-Exhibition-Profiles.reduced.pdf)
3. [Labi Siffre – Biography, AllMusic](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/labi-siffre-mn0000098819/biography)
4. [Labi Siffre Announces First Album in 28 Years, Shares New Song, Pitchfork (2026)](https://pitchfork.com/news/labi-siffre-announces-first-album-in-28-years-shares-new-song/)
5. [Labi Siffre, héroe de todo lo demás, El País Icon (2026)](https://elpais.com/icon/2026-03-16/labi-siffre-heroe-de-todo-lo-demas.html)
6. [Labi Siffre on the origins of (Something Inside) So Strong, MusicRadar (2025)](https://www.musicradar.com/artists/one-evening-late-i-found-myself-in-my-studio-sat-down-at-the-keyboard-i-played-a-c-chord-put-my-head-back-and-immediately-without-thinking-i-sang-the-first-two-lines-of-the-song-labi-siffre-on-the-origins-of-something-inside-so-strong)
7. [After being sampled by Eminem and Kanye West... Labi Siffre is returning with Unfinished Business, MusicRadar (2026)](https://www.musicradar.com/artists/singers-songwriters/after-being-sampled-by-eminem-and-kanye-west-and-seeing-1971-song-bless-the-telephone-going-viral-on-tiktok-labi-siffre-is-returning-with-unfinished-business-his-first-new-album-this-century)
8. [Labi Siffre – Voices and Visibility](https://www.voicesandvisibility.org.uk/index/timeline/labi-siffre/)
9. [Classic Cuts, Hi-Fi World (2016)](https://www.worldradiohistory.com/UK/Hi-Fi-World/2016/Hi-Fi-World-2016-08.pdf)
10. [Labi Siffre Discography, The Chart Time Machine](https://www.charttimemachine.com/?artist_id=1386&view=artist)
11. ['I had the perfect life – then both my husbands died': singer Labi Siffre on love, loss – and happiness, The Guardian (2022)](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)
12. [British artist Labi Siffre announces first album in 28 years, Official Charts (2026)](https://www.officialcharts.com/chart-news/labi-siffre-new-album-unfinished-business-2026-when-bbc-radio-2-piano-room/)
13. [Labi Siffre's Biggest Moment Was an Eminem Sample. Then Came 'The Holdovers', Rolling Stone India](https://rollingstoneindia.com/labi-siffres-biggest-moment-was-an-eminem-sample-then-came-the-holdovers/amp/)
14. [Eminem's "My Name Is" Brought 70s Funk Pioneer Labi Siffre Back to the Mainstream, American Songwriter](https://americansongwriter.com/eminems-my-name-is-brought-70s-funk-pioneer-labi-siffre-back-to-the-mainstream-but-the-sample-almost-didnt-happen/)
15. [How a 1975 Soul Deep Cut Launched the Career of a Future 'Rap God' Two Decades Later, Vice](https://www.vice.com/en/article/how-a-1975-soul-deep-cut-launched-the-career-of-a-future-rap-god-two-decades-later/)
16. [Beck says he wanted to sample Labi Siffre before Eminem got there first, NME](https://www.nme.com/news/music/beck-says-he-wanted-to-sample-labi-siffre-before-eminem-got-there-first-2972946)
17. [The Originals: I Got The..., Arnold Rypens](https://www.originals.be/en/originals/7839)
18. [Labi Siffre reissues two new collections, TotalNtertainment (2026)](https://www.totalntertainment.com/music/labi-siffre-reissues-two-new-collections/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Music › Musicians and ensembles › Individual musical biographies › Pop and R&B singer-songwriters › Pop singers, 1960s and 1970s › Pop singers mainly active in the 1970s*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 17, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 12, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license