Rodriguez Dies: Singer-Songwriter Profiled In Oscar-Winning ‘Searching For Sugar Man’ Was 81

Sixto Diaz Rodriguez, the Detroit singer-songwriter better known simply as Rodriguez whose seeming disappearance after a brief flirtation with musical success in the early 1970s was the subject of the Oscar-winning 2012 documentary Searching for Sugar Man, died today. He was 81.

His death was announced on his official website.

“It is with great sadness that we at Sugarman.org announce that Sixto Diaz Rodriguez has passed away earlier today,” the statement reads. “We extend our most heartfelt condolences to his daughters – Sandra, Eva and Regan – and to all his family.”

A singer-songwriter heavily influenced by Bob Dylan and other 1960s-’70s confessional folk musicians, Rodriguez seemed poise for success, or at least a sustainable career in music, when his 1970 debut album Cold Fact was released on the Los Angeles indie label Sussex Records. Already familiar in the Detroit area for his club and barroom performances, Rodriguez was hailed by some as the next Dylan.

Although the Sussex label would soon score a major victory with the 1971 release of Bill Withers’ debut album Just As I Am, which included the massive hit “Ain’t No Sunshine,” Rodriguez’s critically hailed album failed to gain public traction. A subsequent album, 1971’s Coming From Reality, met with the same fate, and Rodriguez seemed to vanish from the spotlight.

But in what would become a central focus of the documentary, Rodriguez – unbeknownst to the singer himself – had found enduring popularity in Cape Town, South Africa, where his albums were so successful that he was considered a rival to Elvis Presley.

Despite the far-away success, the unknowing Rodriguez gave up his musical ambitions and returned to a quiet life as a laborer in Detroit, where he lived for years without a telephone. In the countries where his music remained popular, including Australia and New Zealand, information on the musicians was scant, and there were rumors of death and even on-stage suicide.

As chronicled in Searching for Sugar Man, written and directed by Malik Bendjelloul, two of the singer’s Cape Town fans began a whatever-happened-to investigation in the late 1990s. After many false leads and red herrings, the duo discovered Rodriguez’s off-the-radar existence in Detroit. The discovery led to a series of sold-out concerts in South Africa and a late-career resurgence for the mysterious Rodriguez.

The lost-and-found tale made for a captivating documentary, and Searching For Sugar Man would go on to win, among other accolades, the 2013 BAFTA Award for Best Documentary and, that same year, the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.

The success of the documentary generated considerable interest in Rodriguez, and after its release the singer made appearances on The Late Show with David Letterman and The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Rodriguez continued to perform at various venues for much of the next decade.