Ever heard of a Detroit-based musician by the name of Sixto Rodriguez? If so, you're extraordinarily well informed, or perhaps you spent some time in South Africa during the late 1970s. But if you're unaware of the man or his music, "Searching for Sugar Man" is the best place to start, and the payoff that comes with discovering the life and work of this virtually unknown artist is huge.
Directed by Sweden's Malik Bendjelloul, "Searching for Sugar Man" tore out of nowhere to bag the best documentary Oscar a few weeks ago, and since then the global music scene hasn't been the same. What if there was another Sixto Rodriguez buried in the woodwork somewhere? Indeed, parts of Rodriguez's personal history come off like a PR agent's wet dream. Here was this Mexican-American balladeer who signed up with Detroit label Sussex Records back in the late 1960s and cut two albums: "Cold Fact" and "Coming From Reality." The man's soulful voice packed a whole lot of emotion into his kick-the-establishment lyrics. After about 15 minutes in the limelight, in which Rodriguez was compared with Bob Dylan, his name fizzled out and Sussex unceremoniously dumped him. In the film, Sussex founder and CEO Clarence Avant claims Rodriguez sold "six records" and that was it.
It gets a whole lot better from here. According to legend (one of several) a young woman tourist visiting America from Cape Town brought back Rodriguez's "Cold Fact" as a gift for her boyfriend, and by the mid-1970s, everyone in South Africa was listening to Rodriguez.