Labi Siffre (born June 25, 1945) is an English poet, songwriter and singer..
Born the fourth of five children, at Queen Charlotte's Hospital Hammersmith, London to a Barbadian / Belgian mother and a Nigerian father, Siffre was brought up in Bayswater and Hampstead and educated at a Catholic monastery school, St Benedict's School, in Ealing.
Jazz and Blues records provided his musical education: Thelonious Monk, Miles Davis and Charlie Mingus among many. Jimmy Reed and Wes Montgomery loomed large as guitar influences; Billie Holiday, Jimmy Reed and Mel Torme as vocal influences.
(Source: wikipedia.org)