Sixto Rodriguez
Rodríguez | |
|---|---|
 Rodríguez signing autographs after a show: April 8, 2007. | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Sixto Díaz Rodríguez |
| Also known as | Jesús Rodríguez, Rod Riguez, Rodríguez |
| Born | July 10, 1942 Detroit, Michigan |
| Genres | Rock, folk, psychedelic |
| Occupation(s) | Singer-songwriter, guitarist, poet, excavation worker, demolition worker |
| Instrument | Guitar |
| Years active | 1967–1971, 1981, 1998–present |
| Labels | Sussex RCA Impact Light in the Attic |
| Website | Official website |
Sixto Díaz Rodríguez (also known as Rodríguez or as Jesús Rodríguez; born July 10, 1942) is an American folk musician. His career initially proved short-lived with two albums in the early 1970s and some brief touring in Australia. Unknown to him however, his work proved extremely successful and influential in South Africa, although he was mistakenly rumoured in that country to be dead by suicide.
In the 1990s, determined South African fans managed to seek out and contact him, leading to an unexpected revival of his musical career. Their story is told in the 2012 documentary, Searching for Sugar Man, which has also helped give Rodríguez a measure of fame in his native country.
Early life
Rodríguez was born in Detroit, Michigan. He was named 'Sixto' (pronounced seesto or seexto) because he was the sixth child in his family. Rodríguez's parents were working-class immigrants from Mexico, who left in the 1920s. In most of his songs he takes a political stance on the cruelties facing the inner city poor.
Career
In 1967 (under the name Rod Riguez) he released the single "I'll Slip Away" through the small label Impact. He did not produce anything for another three years until he was signed to Sussex Records, an offshoot of the Buddah label.
It was after the move to Sussex that he changed his professional name to just Rodríguez. Rodríguez recorded two albums with Sussex—Cold Fact in 1970, and Coming from Reality in 1971. But after mixed reviews and low album sales, he was dropped from the label, which folded in 1975.
Political career
Sixto registered and ran for city council in Detroit in 1989. The county misspelled his name on the ballot.[1]
Belated fame
After failing to make an impact in North America, he gave up his career as a musician. However, although he was relatively unknown in his home country, by the mid-'70s, his albums were starting to gain airplay in South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe and in New Zealand and Australia.
After imported copies of his Sussex albums ran dry, an Australian record label, Blue Goose Music, bought the Australian rights to his back catalogue in the mid-'70s. The label released his two studio albums plus a compilation album At His Best (featuring unreleased recordings from 1976 "Can't Get Away", "I'll Slip Away" (a rerecording of his first single), and "Street Boy"). Unbeknownst to Rodríguez, it went platinum in South Africa. South Africa at one stage was the major disk-press interest supplying his music to the rest of the world.
With a new buzz around Rodríguez, in 1979 he toured Australia with the Mark Gillespie Band as support. Two shows from the tour were later released on the Australian-only album Alive—the title being a play on the rumours caused by his public obscurity that he had died years before. After the '79 tour, he returned to Australia for a final tour in 1981 with Midnight Oil before quietly slipping back into normal life, gaining a degree in philosophy while working as a demolition man.[2] He earned a Bachelor of Arts in philosophy from Wayne State University's Monteith College in 1981.[3]
Recent success
In 1991, both his albums were released on CD in South Africa for the first time. His fame in South Africa was completely unknown to him, until 1998 when his eldest daughter came across a website dedicated to him.[4]
In 1998, he played his first South African tour, playing six concerts in front of thousands of fans. A documentary about the tour, Dead Men Don't Tour: Rodríguez in South Africa 1998, was later screened on SABC TV in 2001. Later he played in Sweden before returning to South Africa in 2001 and 2005.
In 1998, his signature song, "Sugar Man", was covered by the South African rock band Just Jinjer. In 2002, the song was used by DJ David Holmes to open his mix album Come Get It I Got It, gaining Rodríguez international airplay again. "Sugar Man" had previously been sampled in the song "You're Da Man" from rapper Nas' 2001 album Stillmatic.[5]
In April 2007 and 2010 he returned to Australia to play the East Coast Blues & Roots Music Festival,[6] as well as shows in Melbourne and Sydney. His song "Sugar Man" was in the 2006 film Candy, starring Heath Ledger. Cornish singer-songwriter, Ruarri Joseph, covered Rodríguez's song "Rich Folks Hoax" for his third studio album. Rodríguez now continues to tour in various countries.
Rodríguez's albums Cold Fact and Coming from Reality were re-released by Light in the Attic Records in 2009.[7]
Rodríguez appeared as a musical guest on the Late Show with David Letterman on August 14, 2012. Also in mid-August 2012, CNN aired a feature story with interview of Rodríguez discussing his life and career resurgence.
On September 3, 2012, Labor Day in the United States, a Change.org petition was launched to have Rodríguez awarded a Kennedy Center Honor.
On October 7, 2012 Rodríguez was featured on the highly-rated U.S. TV news program 60 Minutes.[8]
On November 18, 2012 Rodríguez was interviewed on the UK Sunday morning topical news program 'The Andrew Marr Show'. Rodríguez also played a short song over the closing credits.
On January 11th 2013, Rodriguez performed on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.
Searching for Sugar Man
In 2012, the Sundance Film Festival hosted the premiere of the documentary film Searching for Sugar Man, from Swedish director Malik Bendjelloul, detailing the efforts of two South African fans to see if his rumored death was true—and if not, to discover what had become of him. The Simon Chinn- and John Battsek-produced documentary went on to win the World Cinema Special Jury Prize and the Audience Award, World Cinema Documentary.[9]
In February, 2012, the film played at the True/False Documentary Film festival in Columbia, Missouri, and director Malik Bendjelloui was in attendance and did an extended Q & A after the film. The film opened the 2012 Traverse City Film Festival on July 31. The film opened in New York and Los Ángeles on July 27, 2012.[10] It was also screened as part of cinema programs in some European music festivals during the summer of 2012, including the Way Out West festival in August, where Rodríguez was also scheduled to perform. In November it won both the Audience Award and the Best Music Documentary Award at the International Documentary Festival Amsterdam.[11]
The Searching for Sugar Man soundtrack features a compilation of Rodríguez tracks from his Cold Fact and Coming from Reality albums. The album was released on July 24, 2012.[12]
Due to the fame of "Searching for Sugar Man", Rodriguez was invited to perform on "The Weekly Comet", a web show hosted by notable music industry veterans Tamara Conniff (former Chief Editor of Billboard Magazine) and Jonathan McHugh (Music Supervisor, former SVP of Island Def Jam). The video can be found on YouTube.
On January 13th, it was nominated for Best Documentary at the Academy Awards[citation needed]. It has also been nominated for a BAFTA Award for Best Documentary.
Discography
Albums
- Studio albums
- 1970: Cold Fact
- 1971: Coming from Reality
- Live albums
- 1981: Rodríguez Alive (Australia);
- 1998: Live Fact (South Africa);
- Compilations
- 1976: After the Fact (reissue of Coming From Reality) (South Africa);
- 1977: At His Best (Australia);
- 1982: The Best of Rodriguez (South Africa);
- 2005: Sugarman: The Best of Rodriguez (South Africa).
Singles
- 1967: "I'll Slip Away" b/w "You'd Like to Admit It" (as Rod Riguez);
- 1970: "Inner City Blues" b/w "Forget It";
- 1970: "To Whom It May Concern" b/w "I Think of You";
- 1977: "Sugar Man" b/w "Inner City Blues" (Australia);
- 1978: "Climb Up on My Music" b/w "To Whom It May Concern" (Australia);
- 2002: "Sugar Man" b/w "Tom Cat" (by Muddy Waters) (Australia).
Comeback Discography
Albums
| Year | Album | Peak positions | Certification | Notes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DEN [13] |
FR [14] |
SWE [15] |
NZ | ||||
| 2012 | Searching for Sugar Man | 18 | 77 | 13 | 24 | Soundtrack of documentary film | |
| Cold Fact | – | – | 37 | – | Rerelease of 1970 album | ||
| Coming from Reality | – | – | 32 | – | Rerelease of 1971 album | ||
References
 |
- ^ Searching For Sugar Man
- ^ Hopkins, Ben (July 16, 2012). "Here Is The Resurrection". Clash Magazine. London. Retrieved July 16, 2012.
- ^ "Wayne State University". Honors.wayne.edu. Retrieved 2012-09-015.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=(help) - ^ Petridis, Alexis (October 7, 2005). "The singer who came back from the dead". The Guardian. London. Retrieved May 23, 2010.
- ^ Rodríguez - The Music: "...You're Da Man, Sugar Man..."
- ^ East Coast Blues and Roots Festival (Also known as Byron Bay Bluesfest Archive)
- ^ Stevenson, Mark (2009-03-12). "Rodríguez 'Coming From Reality' gets new lease of life". altsounds.com. Retrieved 2009-03-17.
- ^ Rodríguez: The Rock Icon Who Didn't Know It, Reported by Bob Simon, segment produced by Michael Gavshon, CBS News, October 7, 2012.
- ^ Sundance: The Electrifying Search For Sugar Man
- ^ "Searching for Sugar Man || A Sony Pictures Classics Release". Sonyclassics.com. Retrieved 2012-08-29.
- ^ Winners of the IDFA 2012 Awards IDFA.nl Retrieved: 2012-11-24
- ^ [1][dead link]
- ^ DanishCharts.com: Rodríguez page
- ^ LesCharts.com: Rodríguez page
- ^ SwedishCharts.com: Rodríguez page
External links
- Official website of Rodriguez
- Official fan website
- September 2008 interview with the L.A. Record
- Guardian (UK) article
- Sydney Morning Herald article
- Official reissue 2008
- Cold Fact review
- Interview on RocknRollDating
- Craig Bartholomew interviews Rodríguez - Mail & Guardian 1998
- The Mystery of the Sugar Man, The Economist, 2012
- 'Also Known As'
- CBS 60 Minutes story (Originally aired 15 Oct 2012; re-aired 23 Dec 2012)
- CBS 60 Minutes Overtime (Web-only accompaniment of 15 Oct 2012 on-air story; three songs)
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