To paraphrase a certain pioneering rock band, there’s been a whole lotta Labi in the culture over the last few years.
Long a cult figure best known for cover versions of his songs by the way-different likes of Kenny Rogers and Madness, Labi Siffre has lately undergone a Nick Drake-like moment. Two years ago, the British-born singer-songwriter’s Seventies ballad “Crying Laughing Loving Lying” was prominently heard on the soundtrack of The Holdovers, the Oscar-nominated Alexander Payne film that helped introduce Siffre’s songs to a new generation. To catch up the general populace on what else he’s done over the decades, a new Siffre compilation will be released next month.
Spanning his sporadic 50-plus years of music-making, The Best of Labi Siffre, out Sept. 26, launches with “Bless the Telephone.” First released in 1971, back when yapping on land-line phones was the preferred method of communication, the song was recently featured in HBO’s Hacks — another instance of Siffre’s music being discovered by way of a buzzy pop-culture moment.
Now 80 and living in Spain, Siffre’s presence has long hovered over pop music. Born Claudius Afolabi Siffre, the musician was the son of a Nigerian father and a mixed-race mother. Growing up as a gay Black man in England, he experienced racism from an early age. He initially considered pursuing a career as a jazz guitarist. Instead, a tape of his voice and songs helped land him a record deal during the heyday of the early Seventies’ singer-songwriter era.
Siffre released a string of albums that blended folk, jazz, and mild funk into the Eighties, but none was ever made available in the U.S.; he performed only one show in this country. His mid-Eighties hit “(Something Inside) So Strong” was said to have been prompted by a documentary on apartheid, but the true inspiration behind the song — his sexuality — was another sign of how repressed he felt. “If we had said at the time that it was inspired by that [doc], but also by my life as a homosexual who had known he was gay from childhood,” he told Rolling Stone last year in a rare interview, “we would not have sold a single record.”
By his own admission, Siffre led a low-key life and career. As he told RS, he was “not a networker” when it came to the music career. “I always believed in the songs,” he added. “And because I’m not very pushy, I kind of thought to myself, ‘Well, one day, someone will notice.’”
American audiences heard that song when Kenny Rogers covered it, joining a list of those who’ve interpreted Siffre’s material, from Rod Stewart and Olivia Newton-John to Kelis, Greta Van Fleet, and Madness, whose 1981 ska makeover of “It Must Be Love” put Siffre’s name out there more than ever before. Over the last 20 years, Siffre’s songs have also been sampled by Eminem (“My Name Is …” incorporated bits of “I Got the …”), Jay-Z, Miguel, and Kanye West.
Just as notably, Siffre’s music began to regularly appear on film and TV soundtracks, from Better Call Saul to the 2011 rom-com Just Go With It, which included a cover of “It Must Be Love.” But in the last few years, Siffre’s presence in that arena grew even more, not just with The Holdovers and Hacks but recent films like Companion and Sentimental Value. The latter, which used his breezy 1972 song “Cannock Chase,” won the Grand Prix at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.
European labels have released Siffre compilations before, but The Best of Labi Siffre marks the first to be prominently available in the U.S., and also the first with which Siffre was actively involved. Last year, he told RS he was working on an album of new material, but no further updates have arrived.
