Music / Civil rights & activism
Sixto Rodriguez
1942–2023 · singer-songwriter, guitarist
Detroit's “Sugar Man”: a working-class songwriter who spent his whole life in the city, unaware for decades that he was a star in South Africa.
- Born
Detroit, Michigan- Died
Detroit, Michigan
aged 81- Birth name
- Sixto Diaz Rodríguez
- Also known as
- Rodriguez · Sugar Man
- Detroit years
- 1942–2023
- Field
- Music, Civil rights & activism
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Sixto Rodriguez was born in Detroit to Mexican parents who had come north for industrial work, and he never really left. He recorded two albums, Cold Fact (1970) and Coming from Reality (1971), full of songs about the city's streets; they sold poorly at home but became anthems in South Africa and Australia. Back in Detroit he did demolition and renovation work, earned a philosophy degree from Wayne State University in 1981, and ran for mayor, City Council and the state House. He lived for decades in a house in the Woodbridge neighborhood that he bought at auction for $50, and he was a regular at Cass Corridor bars such as the Old Miami. The Oscar-winning documentary Searching for Sugar Man (2012) finally made him famous at home. He played a hometown show at the Garden Theater in 2018, and after his death in 2023 fans filled the Majestic Theatre for a memorial concert.
Highlights
- Albums Cold Fact (1970) and Coming from Reality (1971)
- Believed to have outsold Elvis Presley in South Africa
- Subject of the Oscar-winning Searching for Sugar Man (2012)
- B.A. in philosophy from Wayne State (1981); honorary doctorate (2013)
- Two Detroit murals honor him, in Woodbridge and Southwest Detroit
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 8
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Studied here · 1970s–1981, 2013
Wayne State University
He earned a bachelor's degree in philosophy here in 1981 and received an honorary doctorate in 2013.
Lived here · 1976–2023
Woodbridge neighborhood
Status being checked
He lived for more than four decades in a house near Wayne State that he bought at a city auction for $50 in 1976. Private home, no address given.
Favorite haunt · 1980s–2010s
The Old Miami
Cass Corridor dive where he was a regular, sometimes played, and even campaigned; a “Rodriguez for Mayor” sign hangs inside.
Performed here · 2018
Garden Theater
Midtown venue where he closed his August 2018 tour with a hometown show.
Memorial · 2023
The Majestic Theatre
A public memorial concert celebrated his life here on August 12, 2023.
Memorial
“Sixto Rodriguez: Laborer and Poet” mural
Mural by Nicole Macdonald on the side of the Iroquois Apartments, across Trumbull from Wayne State.
Memorial · 2020–
Sixto Rodriguez mural, Vernor Highway
Building-high portrait by Elton Monroy Durán in Southwest Detroit, finished for his birthday in 2020.
Buried here · 2023
Holy Cross Cemetery
Catholic cemetery in Southwest Detroit where he was buried.