Singer And Songwriter Sixto Rodriguez, Subject Of ‘Searching For Sugarman’ Documentary, Dies At 81

DETROIT — Sixto Rodriguez, the subject of the Oscar-winning documentary “Searching for Sugarman,” has died. He was 81.

Rodriguez died in Detroit on Tuesday, according to the Sugarman.org website, and his granddaughter, Amanda Kennedy, verified his death on Wednesday.

According to the Associated Press, Sixto is “the greatest protest singer and songwriter that most people have never heard of.”

His albums flopped in the United States in the 1970s, but he later became a star in South Africa, where his songs protesting the Vietnam War, racial inequality, abuse of women, and social mores inspired white liberals horrified by the country’s brutal racial segregation system of apartheid.

Malik Bendjelloul’s documentary “Searching for Sugar Man” introduced Rodriguez to a bigger audience. The film follows two South Africans on a mission to discover what happened to their musical hero. It received the Academy Award for best documentary in 2013.

Rodriguez was “more popular than Elvis” in South Africa, according to Stephen “Sugar” Segerman in 2013. The Cape Town record store proprietor got his nickname from the Rodriguez song “Sugarman.”

Sixto Rodriguez, the subject of the Oscar-winning documentary “Searching for Sugarman,” has died. He was 81.

Sixto moved to Detroit as his popularity in South Africa expanded. However, his fans in South Africa felt he was equally well-known in the United States. They’d heard that the musician had died dramatically: he’d shot himself in the head onstage in Moscow; he’d lit himself on fire and burned to death in front of an audience somewhere else; he’d died of a drug overdose, was in a mental institution, and was incarcerated for murdering his girlfriend.

Segerman and journalist Carl Bartholomew-Strydom set out in 1996 to discover the truth. Their efforts took them to Detroit, where they discovered Rodriguez working on construction sites.

“It’s now rock & roll history. “Who would have thought?” Rodriguez told The Associated Press a decade ago.

Sixto said he “went back to work” after his music career flopped, raising a family of three children and running unsuccessfully for public office. In Detroit, he supported himself through menial labor.

Nonetheless, he never stopped performing his songs.

“I felt like I was ready for the world, but the world wasn’t ready for me,” Rodriguez explained. “I believe we all have a mission — obligations.” Life is not linear.”

Rodriguez later demanded royalties he did not earn from his music being used and performed in South Africa.

The apartheid state forbade some of Sixto’s songs, and many bootleg copies were manufactured on tapes and eventually CDs.

SOURCE – (AP)