British folk icon Labi Siffre, 80, announces first new album in 28 years

Labi Siffre, the 80-year-old British folk singer, has announced his first new album in 28 years.

Siffre is making a comeback with his aptly titled upcoming album, Unfinished Business, out later this year with Demon Music Group.

Upon the announcement of his return, the singer made a rare appearance on BBC Radio 2 to perform orchestral versions of “My Song,” a cover of “Baby I Need Your Loving,” and Unfinished Business’s new lead single, “Far Away.”

His last albums, The Last Songs and the spoken-word poetry record Monument, both came out in 1998, while his latest song released before “Far Away” was “(Love Is Love Is Love) Why Isn’t Love Enough?” in 2020.

While Siffre — a Black, gay musician who rose to fame in the ‘70s — might have been considered overlooked in his time, the singer has recently gained traction with younger generations, in part due to some of his performances and interviews being shared on TikTok, in addition due to his work being included in movies like The Holdovers and Sentimental Value.

The singer and poet is best known for his soulful hits “It Must Be Love” and “Crying Laughing Loving Lying.” He dropped six albums in a five-year span during the ‘70s before briefly retiring from music.

After a hiatus that lasted nearly a decade, Siffre returned to the business with his anti-apartheid anthem “(Something Inside) So Strong” in 1987, which went on to become one of his most famous songs.

The musician’s work has also surged in popularity in recent years in part due to artists sampling his work — including Dr. Dre, Miguel, Kanye West with “I Wonder,” Jay-Z in “Streets Is Watching” and Eminem in “My Name Is.”

In 1999, Eminem — an unknown rapper at the time — approached Siffre and asked to sample his funk song “I Got The” on what he hoped would be his breakthrough single, “My Name Is.” However, Siffre refused to be included on the song until the rapper changed the original lyrics, which were misogynistic and homophobic.

“I denied sample rights till that lazy writing was removed,” Siffre — who was with his partner Peter Lloyd from 1964 until Lloyd’s death in 2013 — said in later years. “Dissing the victims of bigotry – women as ‘bitches’, homosexuals as ‘faggots’ – is lazy writing. Diss the bigots not their victims.”

Eminem changed the lyrics, and, with Siffre’s help, the song went on to become his first commercial hit.