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Christopher Henry Difford (born 4 November 1954) is an English musician. He is a founding member and songwriter of the Rock music group Squeeze.
Difford is known for his songwriting partnership with Squeeze co-founder Glenn Tilbrook with the pair having released fifteen studio albums together as Squeeze, and an album in 1984 as Difford & Tilbrook.
After he left West Greenwich Comprehensive School at age sixteen, he wanted to start a band, but was told by his parents to get a proper job, and initially became a solicitors clerk, where he worked for fifteen months. He also worked at a cardboard factory flattening boxes, and then worked at a "dodgy local warehouse".
After the break-up of Squeeze in 1983, Difford continued writing songs for artists such as Jools Holland, Helen Shapiro, Billy Bremner and Elvis Costello. He has also written lyrics for music by Jools Holland, Elton John, Wet Wet Wet, Marti Pellow and others. He was involved with Tilbrook and John Turner in the creation of a musical, Labelled with Love, which was created using the songs of Squeeze. The 1983 musical performed in Deptford was short-lived. In 1984, the pair released the album Difford and Tilbrook and had a minor hit in the UK with "Love's Crashing Waves" which reached 57 in the UK Singles Chart.
In 1985, Squeeze reunited, having hits in the US with the album Babylon and On, plus the singles "Hourglass" and "853-5937". Difford left the group in 1999 launching a solo career in 2003 with his album I Didn't Get Where I Am. Difford was also manager of Bryan Ferry and The Strypes. Squeeze reunited again in 2007, and Difford maintained a concurrent solo career alongside his work with the band. In March 2010, Difford curated Songs in the Key of London, an evening of music dedicated to the capital at the Barbican Centre, London.
Since 2014, Difford has been running the annual Chris Difford Songwriting Retreat, under the auspices of the Buddy Holly Educational Foundation, providing an opportunity for artists to collaborate with one another to write new songs and create new friendships in a relaxed setting in the English countryside.
In 2017, Difford published his autobiography, Some Fantastic Place: My Life In and Out of Squeeze. In August 2021, Difford launched a podcast series, I Never Thought It Would Happen, with the charity Help Musicians, a charity he is an ambassador for, speaking to guests including Sting, Robbie Williams and KT Tunstall about the highs and lows of life in music.
Chris Difford struggled with substance abuse, including with alcohol and cocaine, throughout the 1980s. He first entered rehab in 1990 and has been sober since 1992.
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