So strong

Before meeting Labi Siffre, I am intrigued by the reactions I get when mentioning his name. Many people I speak to have never heard of him. Some remember his 80s anthem Something Inside So Strong. Others are dimly aware of a solo career before that.

And then there are those whose eyes light up – those who, like me, regard him as a key figure in British pop history, and wonder why he’s not celebrated as such. “Labi Siffre’s fingerprints have been on popular music for many decades now,” wrote the electronic musician Matthew Herbert in 2012. “But his actual voice is rarely heard.”

During the first half of the 1970s, Siffre released six solo albums, operating effortlessly across folk, soul, reggae and funk, while poetically addressing the political (his songs have tackled war veterans, homelessness and religion) and the personal (if there is a more perfect articulation of domestic bliss than his 75-second song Till Forever, I have yet to hear it). It’s not like his career went under the radar – Siffre scored three Top 40 hits, with Crying