Searching For Sugar Man is the Oscar-winning documentary which tells the nearly unbelievable story of a Mexican-American musician named Sixto Rodriguez. He quit music after two of his early albums released in the 70s bombed in America but somehow gained a huge fan base in Apartheid-era South Africa. Rodriguez had no idea he was a legend there until fans tracked him down in Detroit, Michigan. The film rules, but it doesn’t provide intimate details of Rodriguez’s crazy life story:
Dead or Alive?
10 years ago, most people thought Sixto Rodriguez was dead. There were plenty of rumors, but no one knew where he was, what happened to him, or if he was even alive. There was an ad in British magazine published in 1996 asking for, “any information about US singer Rodriguez, who wrote all his work in prison and shot himself onstage after quoting from his song Thanks For Your Time.” There were no replies. Most people in the UK hadn’t heard of Rodriguez in the first place.
Dead Or Alive@
Detroit, Michigan
Sixto Rodriguez was born in 1942 in Detroit, Michigan. He comes from a Mexican immigrant working-class family. He is the last of 6 children in the family, hence his name. Both of his parents immigrated to the USA from Mexico in the 1920s. Rodriguez faced many difficulties growing up in a poor inner-city family, and often he felt extremely alienated.
Detroit Michigan
“Rod Riguez”
Back in 1967, Rodriguez was working in a car factory and pursuing music as a hobby. He often played in Detroit coffee houses and bars. Harry Balk, a local producer, saw him perform and was amazed by how talented he was!
Rod Riguez
“I’ll Slip Away”
With the help of producer Harry Balk, Sixto Rodriquez helped him record his first single, “I’ll Slip Away,” for Impact records in 1967. Balk insisted he changed his name to Rod Riguez.
Ill Slip Away
New Record Deal
Sixto stated in regards to the name change that “It was his decision” and Balk “thought it would be more attractive.” So for this single only, he went along with the new name but did not record music again for three years. In 1970 he signed with Sussex Records and used his own name (Rodriguez) from then on.
New Record Deal
Dropped From The Label
Sixto Rodriguez recorded two albums with Sussex Records. They were released in 1970 and 1971 but bombed. Barely any copies sold and Rodriguez was quickly dropped from the record label. He was in the middle of recording his third album when he was let go from Sussex.
Dropped From The Label
Quit Music For A Blue Collar Job
Disappointed by all that happened, Sixto Rodriguez decided to stop making music. He purchased a home and began to work on production lines in Detroit. He earned a very low wage but was content with this life.
Quit Music For A Blue Collar Job
Austrailia?
Sixto Rodriguez was living a simple, low-key life. Unbeknownst to him, a handful of his 1970 debut album, “Cold Fact,” reached Austrailia months after it failed in America.
Austrailia@
Debut Of Cold Fact
Austrailian Radio DJ, Holger Brockman, got his hands on the album and began playing “Sugar Man” on the radio. Then Austrailian record stores went crazy for the album and were selling a copies of “Cold Fact” for over $300 each!
Debut Of Cold Fact
Cold Fact Blew Up In Austrailia
Drummer Rob Hirt said, “Every single one of my friends had Cold Fact.” He explained, “We’d play Bruce Springsteen’s The Wild, The Innocent & The E Street Shuffle, Billy Joel’s first album and Cold Fact.” Cold Fact was as popular as an album could be in Austrailia! Sixto had no idea.
Cold Fact Blew Up In Austrailia
Cold Fact Also Took Over South Africa
When Sixto Rodriguez’s first album was released in 1969 was a bomb in the U.S., “maybe selling six records.” But in Austrailia and then South Africa, Rodriguez’s lyrics about overcoming hardship made him “more popular than Elvis Presley and bigger than the Rolling Stones.”
Cold Fact Also Took Over South Africa
Songs Used As Anti-Apartheid Anthems
Part of the reason his album was so successful in South Africa is that many of his songs served as anti-Apartheid anthems and were used in protests. How cool is that!
Songs Used As Anti Apartheid Anthems
International Airplay
By the mid-70s, Sixto’s albums were receiving significant airplay in Austrailia, New Zealand, Zimbabwe and Botswana. Sixto had no idea this was happening, and he was still not famous in America.
International Airplay
He Went Platinum in South Africa
Imported copies of his albums were selling out and his second album “His Best” shockingly went platinum in South Africa! Critics again compared him to the likes of Cat Stevens and Bob Dylan.
He Went Platinum In South Africa
South African Fame
Besides the fact a Detroit Musician became an international superstar without being aware of it, it is even more shocking he blew up in South Africa! Stephen Seger-man dedicated his life to finding Rodriquez explained, “South Africa in the early 1970s was a very restrictive society…..Cold Fact was never banned, but it never received any radio play, except on pirate stations like Swazi Radio, which weren’t under the censor board. The song I Wonder had this line, ‘I wonder how many times you had sex’, which for South Africa in those days was about as controversial as it could get. For kids, it was like a joke song, they were like ‘listen to this!’. Then they heard the album, and realized there was a lot more in it, it was trippy, it was beautiful, it had a lot of social content. It affected a lot of people in a lot of different ways. The commercial success was unbelievable. If you took a family from South Africa, a normal, middle-class family, and looked through their record collection, you’d find Abbey Road, Neil Young’s Harvest and Cold Fact. It was a word-of-mouth success.”
South African Fame
Mystery Man
Other than his music, people around the world knew nothing about “Rodriguez.” They had no idea what he looked like, where he lived, or anything about his personal life. He was an international man of mystery!
Mystery Man
Fame In Austrailia
In the late 1970s, a group of hardcore Austrailian fans tracked Sixto down in Detroit. Sixto was shocked when he heard how popular his 2 albums were in Austrailia! He was convinced to go to Austrailia for a 15 date tour in 1979. He took his two teenage daughters with him. He had no idea he was gaining popularity in any other country.
Fame In Austrailia
Austrailian Concert
Club promoter Michael Coppel told Billboard in an interview, “He was just stunned by what we put together for him.” Coppel continued, “He had never played a concert before, just bars and clubs.” This time Sixto Rodriguez played to 15,000 people in Sydney. “The man himself seemed almost embarrassed onstage,” Coppel said. “He spoke no more than a dozen short lines throughout each show. When returning to the stage for an encore at his first Sydney show, he mumbled emotionally to his audience, ‘Eight years later . . . and this happens. I don’t believe it.'”
Austrailian Concert
Highlight Of His Life
The concerts were overall a victory for Sixto Rodriguez and made his dreams come true. A live album from the tour was released in 1981, and there was already talks of a second tour. “I thought it was the highlight of my career,” Rodriguez explained. “I had achieved that epic mission. Not much happened after that. No calls or anything.”
Highlight Of His Life
South African Fame
In 1991, both of Sixto Rodriguez’s albums were officially released in South Africa. They were extremely successful and everyone loved his music!
Fame For Him
Rumored To Be Dead
Still, details of Sixto’s life were unknown to his fans. It was rumored that he killed himself during a concert in the 1970s. Most South Africans believed the rumor and thought he was dead.
Rumored To Be Dead
Famous In South Africa
Sixto Rodriguez had no idea he was famous in South Africa until 1997. His eldest daughter was simply surfing the internet one day and found a website dedicated to him! She contacted the website, learned of his fame in the country and told her Dad! Can you believe that? Sixto was in awe.
Famous In South Africa
Sold Out Shows In South Africa
Rodriguez then went on tour in South Africa! He played 6 concerts in front of thousands and thousands of fans!
Sold Out Shows In South Africa
Living The Dream
Sixto was living his dream! His rediscovery in South Africa in 1998 allowed him to retire from his job, and tour the country for a couple of years. Afterward, he began to perform in Europe.
Living The Dream
Malik Bendjelloul
A Swedish filmmaker named Malik Bendjelloul first heard about Sixto Rodriguez while traveling through Africa. He immediately thought his story was incredible and wanted to make his life into a short film for Swedish television. He wanted it to be from the perspective of South African fans who worshipped his music but wasn’t sure if he was dead or alive.
Malik Bendjelloul
Searching For Sugar Man
Instead, Malik Benjelloul decided to turn the story into a documentary. He wrote and directed the film himself which follows two South African fans, Stephen “Sugar” Segerman and Craig Bartholomew Strydom, on their search to find out whether the rumored death of American musician Sixto Rodriguez was true.
Searching For Sugar Man
Documentary Gold
Pretty quickly Malik knew he had a huge story on his hands. He had one main issue: funding. He decided to approach two of Britain’s top documentary producers for help. He contacted Simon Chinn of “Man on Wire” and John Battsek, to help him make and fund the feature-length documentary film.
Documentary Gold
Severe Lack Of Funding
Even with the help of the two big-name producers, Malik Benjelloul only secured funding that covered a year of expenses and production costs. The film actually took three years to make! When funding ran out, Benjelloul used the Super 8 app on his iPhone to finish the documentary. Can you believe that?
Super 8 App
Shot With An App
According to the Sundance Film Festival website, Malik stated: “The lack of funding forced some things to be finished in a way that initially was not intended. The first year of the production there was some money coming in that was used to shoot with a Super 8 camera. But the last three years there was almost no money coming in and it was too expensive to finish the scenes with the same camera. In the end, it proved that a one dollar iPhone Super 8 app worked just as well. The bar scene in the beginning where the producers discover Rodriguez was, for example, shot with that app.”
Shot With An App
Sixto Refused To Be In The Film
There was only one other problem in the making of the film: Sixto Rodriguez initially refused to appear in it. “His kids told me I could probably meet him, but I shouldn’t get my hopes up about an interview,” Bendjelloul explained. “I went to Detroit every year for four years. He didn’t agree to be interviewed until my third visit. I think he only changed his mind because he felt kind of sorry for us. He saw how hard we were working and was like, ‘I think I better help these guys.'”
Sixto Refused To Be In The Film
Awards Galore
After overcoming all those obstacles, Malik Benjellou’s film, “Searching For Sugar Man” premiered at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival. The documentary was instantly a hit and won the Special Jury Prize and the Audience Award for the best international documentary. The film went on to premiere in the UK and the US in July of 2012.
Awards Galore
Box Office Hit
Searching for Sugar Man was a huge box office hit! It earned $3,696,196 at the US box office alone. Now Sixto Rodriguez was famous in America for sure!
Box Office Hit
Oscar Nomination
The film was absolutely a favorite amongst fans and critics. Its success was taken to the next level when it was nominated for Best Documentary Feature at the 85th Academy Awards!
Oscar Nomination
Sixto Has One Issue With The Documentary
While Sixto overall was honored with his portrayal in the documentary, but he has one issue with “Searching For Sugarman.” The documentary focuses on his fame in South Africa and doesn’t include anything about Austrailia. His early albums were released there in the 70s, and it was his success there that led him to make a second album. “It was Australia that helped me out,” he says, “but South Africa really generated an audience.” Overall, Sixto has stated he feels bad his Austrailian fans didn’t get credit for helping him reach where he is today. Sixto said, “but I didn’t write the film. I didn’t have anything to do with the making of the film and I didn’t call it that either. It’s an independent art form.”
Sixto Has One Issue With The Documentary
He Skipped The Oscars
Sixto Rodriguez could not be persuaded to attend the Oscar ceremony. He preferred to live a quiet life outside of the limelight and pursue his passion: making music.
He Skipped The Oscars
He Was Asleep When The Film Won
Malik Bendjelloul begged Rodriguez to attend the Oscars, but his efforts were hopeless. Sixto thought it would take the attention away from the filmmakers. “We also just came back from South Africa and I was tired,” Rodriguez said. “I was asleep when it won, but my daughter Sandra called to tell me. I don’t have TV service anyway.” So not only did he refuse to attend, he was asleep when the film won the award!
He Was Alseep When The Film Won
Malik Bendjelloul Accepted The Award
Malik Bendjelloul, the mastermind behind the film proudly accepting the award for “Searching For Sugarman.” He directed, produced, edited and co-wrote the film.
Malik Bendjelloul Accepted The Award
The Power Of A Documentary
Bendjelloul received so much praise for his work on “Searching For Sugarman.” When reflecting during an interview with the New York Times about the film’s premiere at Sundance, Bennjelloul said, “Many people didn’t know when the film started who he was at all. They even thought that he was dead for the first half-hour. So seeing him in the flesh an hour later was powerful. That’s what you can do with documentaries.”
The Power Of A Documentary
Breakthrough For Malik’s Career
While Swedish filmmaker, Malik Bendjelloul, had some other documentaries about musicians under his belt, this was definitely the breakthrough documentary of his career. He won the 2013 BAFTA Award, Directors Guild of America, Producers Guild of America, Writers Guild of America, American Cinema Editors, the Sundance audience and special jury accolades and the 2012 International Documentary Association awards. Sadly, “Searching For Sugarman” would be the biggest success of his life.
Breakthrough For Maliks Career
Malik Bendjellou Found Dead In Sweden
Sadly, just one year after the documentary was released, Malik was found dead in Stockholm, Sweden. Bendjelloul was only 36.
Malik Bendjellou Found Dead In Sweden
He Committed Suicide
Malik Bendjelloul committed suicide on May 13, 2014. His brother Johar stated he had a lifelong battle with depression.
He Committed Suicide
A New Life For Sixto
So, how about Sixto? Well, Sixto Rodriguez’s life has totally transformed. “Searching for Sugar Man” and the Academy Award victory took his fame to the next level.
A New Life
Fame And Fortune On The Next Level
After the Oscar win, Sixto began to play sold out shows all over New York and in music festivals around the world. Some of his shows even sell out in minutes! Rodriguez said, “I have a lot of commitments, and the list keeps growing. We have to strike while the iron is hot . . . The money, I must say, is obscene.”
Fame And Fortune On The Next Level
Money, Money, Money
Sixto’s financial situation has radically changed. From just one set of recent performances in South Africa, he earned $700,000! Despite this, Sixto Rodriguez’s daily life actually hasn’t changed much!
Money Money Money
Living A Simple Life
People just love to see him perform live and he loves to do it! Despite all the success and money, Sixto still lives in the same modest house in downtown Detroit he has for the last 40 years.
Living A Simple Life
Living Minnimally
Sixto Rodriguez has no computer, car or television. His daughter Regan stated, “He lives a very Spartan life.” She continued, “I almost want to call it Amish. He once told me there’s three basic needs – food, clothing and shelter. Once you get down to that level, everything else is icing.”
Living Minnimally
A Simple Life
So what will Sixo do with all his money? Well, he plans on giving it to his daughter and close friends. Regan, his daughter said, “That’s his philosophy. He takes great pleasure in giving it away, especially to people that supported him when he wasn’t a big commercial success. I do really wish he’d spend some of the money on himself, though.”
A Simple Life
What’s Next For Sixto?
So, what is he up to now? Well, he is working on his long-anticipated third album and touring. As of now, there are only two Sixto albums: Cold Fact (1970) and Coming From Reality (1971). While his main priority right now is touring, he is beginning to work on new songs. “I have a lot of titles and themes I’ve been working on,” he says. “I played with an orchestra on David Letterman recently. After doing that I know I can go in with a super album idea.”
Whats Next For Sixto@
His Daughter Is Optimistic About His Next Album
His daughter, Regan, hopes he follows through with it and is one of his biggest fans! “I’m super optimistic about that,” she stated. “If you had asked me in the past year I would have said, ‘I don’t think so.’ But he’s been talking a lot about it. We’re even closer, but you shouldn’t count your chickens before they hatch.”
His Daughter Is Optimistic About His Next Album
New Audiences
Sixto Rodriguez stated in interviews he is very grateful for the new audiences that are mostly due to the documentary. He has been able to perform and tour in territories he never thought possible.
New Audiences
Doing What He Loves While He Still Can
Sixto stated in a recent interview, “I’m 73 now so I’m doing it while I can,” he says. “Because of that Australian connection from the past I can now hang out there. There are a lot of people who would not have known me before the film. Putting it out on video and in a lot of different languages opened up those other markets to me, places like Poland.”
Doing What He Loves While He Still Can
Living An Old School Rock Star Life
Sixto is still the same person he was before all the fame. He is friendly, down to earth and stated he likes to chill out by “smoking a lot of weed.” He is enjoying an old-school rock star lifestyle!
Living An Old School Rock Star Life
Musical Influences On His Next Album
As per his next album, he stated he is drawing on material from his first two albums and is recording a number of covers from his famous artists. Some of them include Bob Dylan, Etta James, and Jefferson Airplane.
Musical Influences On His Next Album
Not In It For The Money
While he is playing and recording new music, Sixto will continue to just do what he loves and avoid the spotlight. He said, “I’m not promoting any new material,” and continued “but I do play and I do practice and I go into new riffs. I’m a better guitar player than I was before.”
Not In It For The Money
Low Profile
He still greatly prefers to live a quiet life when he’s not on stage. “Playing shows is fun but I keep a low profile really,” he says. “I get around. It’s OK that way.”
Living A Simple Life
No Regrets
When reflecting, Sixto says has no regrets about the lost years of his music career. “I don’t mind the way it went,” he said. “You can’t fix that kind of stuff. You can’t really go back in time and change things. I’m a lucky kid in a lot of ways. I’ve seen a lot of the world over the past few years. I’ve got a couple more good years, I think, including in Australia.”
No Regrets