Sixto Rodriguez, 'Searching for Sugar Man' subject, dies at 81

Sixto Rodriguez, the folk musician whose unlikely story of fame in South Africa was chronicled in the Oscar-winning documentary 'Searching for Sugar Man', died on August 8, 2023 at age 81. The announcement was made on his official website by Sugarman.org, expressing condolences to his daughters Sandra, Eva, and Regan. Born in Detroit on July 10, 1942 to Mexican immigrant parents, Rodriguez released two albums in the early 1970s—'Cold Fact' (1970) and 'Coming from Reality' (1971)—which initially flopped in the US. He worked manual labor jobs to survive. However, his music gained popularity in Australia and New Zealand via radio play, leading to a compilation release and two concerts there. In South Africa, bootleg cassettes of his albums became anthems against apartheid, with lyrics opposing the establishment and racial segregation under President P.W. Botha. Unaware of his fame, Rodriguez was tracked down in 1997 by a fan and a music journalist via a website. Director Malik Bendjelloul's documentary 'Searching for Sugar Man' premiered at Sundance in 2012 and won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature in 2013. Following the film, Rodriguez's albums charted in the US for the first time, and he toured South Africa and other countries.