Labi Siffre

Labi Siffre is a true outlier whose genre-defying songs are characterized by their humanist bent, insight, and wit, and an uncommonly lithe tenor voice that balances raw emotion with melodic finesse. The singer/songwriter and guitarist achieved commercial success in his native U.K. with Crying Laughing Loving Lying (1972), the source of two Top 20 hits. Siffre left the industry the next decade but returned with the anti-apartheid ballad "Something Inside (So Strong)" (1987), a Top Ten, Ivor Novello award-winning hit. In the '90s, Siffre was more active as a poet. The Last Songs (1998), a live recording, proved not to be Siffre's final musical chapter, as he reappeared with Unfinished Business (2026). That's not to say Siffre was (ever) truly absent, given that his songs have been covered by Madness, Kenny Rogers, and Kelis, sampled on tracks by Jay-Z, Eminem, and Kanye West, and have further infiltrated pop culture through licensing.