Devendra Kumar
Singer and songwriter Sixto Rodriguez, the subject of the Oscar-winning documentary Searching for Sugar Man, has passed away at the age of 81. Rodriguez’s death was announced on the Sugarman.org website and confirmed by his granddaughter, Amanda Kennedy. A legendary musician, Rodriguez is best known for his protest songs that tackled social injustices such as the Vietnam War, racial inequality, and abuse of women.
Despite his music flopping in the United States in the 1970s, Rodriguez became a star in South Africa where his songs inspired white liberals opposed to the country’s brutal racial segregation system of apartheid. His popularity in South Africa was so great that Stephen “Sugar” Segerman, a Cape Town record store owner, referred to him as “more popular than Elvis.”
However, Rodriguez was unaware of his success in South Africa and lived in obscurity in Detroit, working on construction sites and raising a family. He never stopped playing his music and even pursued royalties for his songs being used and played in South Africa. Some of his songs were banned by the apartheid regime and many bootlegged copies were made on tapes and later CDs.
Rodriguez’s story was brought to a wider audience through the documentary Searching for Sugar Man, which tells the story of two South Africans’ mission to seek out the fate of their musical hero. The film won the Academy Award for best documentary in 2013. In an interview, Rodriguez reflected on his life, saying “I felt I was ready for the world, but the world wasn’t ready for me. I feel we all have a mission – we have obligations. Those turns on the journey, different twists – life is not linear.”
Rodriguez’s legacy is that of a protest singer who never stopped singing, even in the face of obscurity. He leaves behind a legacy of music that continues to inspire and move people to this day.