A GLOBALLY influential singer-songwriter who spent three decades living in the Black Mountains is the focus of a new BBC documentary.

‘(Something Inside) So Strong’ hitmaker Labi Siffre lived in Cwmdu near Abergavenny until moving to Spain recently, following the deaths of his partners just two years apart.

And despite being someone who shuns the spotlight, the Ivor Novello-award winner and poet invited Alan Yentob and a documentary crew into his current home to talk about his life and career for the latest edition of Imagine.

‘Labi Siffre: This Is My Song’ aired last week on BBC One and is now on iPlayer.

And a BBC spokesperson said: “An enigmatic and reclusive talent, Siffre wrote the song ‘It Must Be Love’, later covered by Madness, alongside songs of defiance like the classic anti-apartheid anthem ‘(Something Inside) So Strong’.

“In a highly unusual and uncompromising creative life, Siffre has produced nine albums to date – a somewhat overlooked back catalogue whose range and quality is nothing short of extraordinary.

“His hugely impressive body of work has in recent years also proved rich territory for an array of hip-hop heavyweights with Dr Dre and Eminem, Jay Z and Kanye West all discovering and sampling his music, bringing it to an entirely new generation of listeners around the world.

“Now in his seventies, in the first major documentary film Siffre has ever agreed to, he welcomes Alan Yentob into his home in Spain and opens up about his personal life as a gay man, his music and his broader artistic philosophy in a thought-provoking and moving encounter.

“After almost two decades away from music and performance, and after much personal tragedy, he is now writing once again.

“For the very first time on television he performs intimate versions of two new songs in his home studio, alongside new performances of ‘It Must Be Love’, ‘My Song’ and ‘(Something Inside) So Strong’, with wonderful archive from across the decades including ‘Crying, Laughing, Lying, Loving’ and ‘I Got The…’”

Labi famously performed his anti-apartheid anthem at the Trafalgar Square concert to celebrate Nelson Mandela’s birthday in 2001.

But despite his iconic reputation, during his days in Cwmdu, he also took part in local community poetry and music events and was a member of a book club at Abergavenny’s Hill College.

Siffre wrote his first song aged 18 and, a year later in 1964, met lifelong partner Peter John Carver Lloyd, who he remained with for 48 years, entering a civil partnership in 2005.

The pair were also joined at their Cilhelig cottage - which is shown in the new documentary - by Rudolf “Ruud” Cornelis Arnoldus van Baardwijk in the mid-90s.

“For nearly 16 years the three of us lived together,” Labi told the Guardian last month.

“And I realised I’d made the family that I’d been trying to make for the whole of my life.

“I had the perfect life. And then, in the space of two years, six months and 28 days, they both died.

“I’ve always taken love very seriously. Not just what it is, but how disastrous it would be to be without it.”

Cilhelig was sold three years ago, and Abergavenny Voice administrator Craig Titchener contacted Labi last year to find out how he was doing.

The singer-songwriter told him: “I was often in Abergavenny (though I didn’t live there). I lived in Wales for almost 30 years and I miss it, very much.

“I suspect my little bit of Wales will always be home.”

You can find out more about Labi and his poetry via his website www.intothelight.info