By Mary Milliken
Sixto Rodriguez, an American singer-songwriter whose outsized popularity in South Africa inspired the Oscar-winning documentary “Searching for Sugar Man,” passed away on Tuesday at the age of 81, a website dedicated to him said on Wednesday.
The Detroit-based Rodriguez did not know how popular he had become in South Africa, where his songs became anthems for the anti-apartheid struggle in the 1970s. Back in the United States, success had eluded him.
“Searching for Sugar Man” follows two South African music fans on their journey to discover the fate of Rodriguez.
The 2012 documentary by Swedish filmmaker Malik Bendjelloul won the Oscar in 2013. Bendjelloul said at the time that he was drawn to the story because it was like a real-life fairy tale.
Rodriguez wrote and sang about the hard streets of Detroit in 1970 and was considered by many in the music profession to be a talent on the order of Bob Dylan. His lyrics, set to a heart-stirring rasp of a voice, told about the homeless and the working poor.
