Sixto Rodriguez Fan Page

Sixto Rodriguez spent most of the 1970s working really hard to raise his three daughters, and he underwent all the discrimination thrown at his class and ethnic background that was rampant at that time. However, the first rays of change came in 1979 when he was invited to play in Australia. He was also a part of the support act for the group Midnight Oil in 1981; then there was silence once again.

In December of 1994, when Cold Fact was 28 years old, Stephen “Sugar” Segerman and his journalist friend Craig Bartholomew came together to try and discover the whereabouts of Sixto. They went on a dedicated search for him and after about 9 months of searching and several phone calls, faxes and even a milk carton photo campaign, they were able to find him. The best part was, Sixto did not even own a telephone then.

In 1998, Sixto Rodriguez went on a huge South African tour where he played six concerts in jam packed 5000-capacity arenas. This was the realization of his musical dream and one which he has accepted rather philosophically. In the year 2003, his song, the Sugar Man, was re-recorded by David Holmes and with the addition of a 30-piece orchestra. Up until then, the country of his origin, America, still remained blissfully unaware of his talent and achievements.

With time however, America has begun to pay tribute to the musical genius of this man. He appeared on the David Letterman show on August 14th of 2012 and in the same month, CNN created a feature on him――an interview that brought to light his entire musical career and the irony of being a star without even knowing it. He was also recently featured on the popular US show 60 Minutes. At the Sundance Festival in 2012, there was the premiere of a documentary film, Searching for Sugar Man, by Swedish director Malik Bendjelloul.

This film went into the details of the several rumors surrounding his death and the reactions of South African fans when they discovered that their hero was alive. The documentary was well received and won the World Cinema Special Jury prize as well as the Audience Award. It was also the opening show at the 2012 Traverse City Film Festival in New York as well as in Los Angeles. The soundtrack for Searching for Sugar Man features a compilation of his two albums Coming From Reality and Cold Fact.

Rodriguez’s story is perhaps the best of a fantasy come true――a youngster pens down songs that are trashed in his own world and they become super hits in an alternate universe. While he may have grown up and lived as part of the masses in Detroit, he was a cult hero in another nation. Despite the fact that he played several concerts in South Africa and Australia, it took a lot to get him out of the poverty in which he lived for most of his life into where he is today. He is very matter-of-fact about his success, and even today, he sometimes finds it hard to believe that songs recorded more than 40 years ago have a cult following.

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