Labi Siffre was born and brought up in London, England, the son of an English mother and Nigerian father. After jobs such as mini-cab driver and delivery man he started to concentrate on music full-time leaving for Cannes, France to play guitar with a variety of soul musicians and bands. He returned to the UK in the late 60s and enjoyed solo hits in 1971 with "It Must Be Love" (later covered by Madness) and "Crying, Laughing, Loving, Lying". Although "Watch Me" in 1972 was his last hit of the 70s, he made a spectacular comeback in 1987 with "(Something Inside) So Strong". In recent years Siffre's work has been reassessed by a new generation after the break from his song "I Got The.." was sampled by Eminem in his breathrough hit "My Name Is". Labi Siffre nowadays spends much of his time writing poetry which deals with gay rights and other world issues.