Rodriguez, the iconic Detroit songwriter who found late-career fame as the subject of the Oscar-winning documentary Searching for Sugar Man, has died. The news was announced on his official website and social media pages. He was 81.
Sixto Rodriguez was born in Detroit, the child of Mexican immigrant parents. He recorded two albums, 1970’s Cold Fact and 1971’s Coming to Reality, featuring the now-celebrated songs including “Sugar Man” and “I Wonder.” After those two albums, he largely ended his music career, focusing instead on his blue-collar production line job. He also eventually ran for public office multiple times. In 1981, he ran for Mayor of Detroit. Thanks to Searching For Sugar Man, the story of Rodriguez is now a familiar one of triumph, as opposed to one of dreams never realized.
Here’s a synopsis: The Detroit-based singer-songwriter releases two albums on the LA-based label Sussex Records in 1970 and 1971, respectively, which then somehow find their way to South Africa as imports long after the US versions have been deleted. Thousands of copies get bootlegged and the music touches a chord, not least because the anti-racist sentiments of some lyrics translate well to the anti-apartheid movement. Even anti-apartheid activist Steve Biko apparently owned copies, and you can’t ask for a better endorsement than that. Yet nobody knows who or where Rodriguez is. Rumors spread that he’d died in some spectacular way, and a few fans set out to discover the truth…
Then the late Swedish director Malik Bendjelloul comes along and documents the efforts of two Cape Town fans to track Rodriguez down. He’s living quietly in the Detroit area, where he’s probably the only resident without a cell phone or an internet connection. Rodriguez comes to South Africa for a triumphant show, which provides the emotional climax of Bendjelloul’s movie Searching For Sugar Man.
The story only got better for Rodriguez after the release of the film, though. He performed with an orchestra on The Late Show With David Letterman, headlined at New York’s Beacon Theatre, performed at music festivals, and toured the world.