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Outlook: Remembering Rodriguez, the musical legend who disappeared

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Sixto Rodriguez

14/08/2023 GMT

Remembering Rodriguez, the musical legend who disappeared

BBC World Service - Outlook, Remembering Rodriguez, the musical legend who disappeared

One South African superfan's quest to unravel the truth about his favourite artist

Rodriguez’s music was famous in South Africa, but nobody knew his real identity. Then, superfan Stephen ‘Sugar’ Segerman went on a mission to track him down.

Outlook remembers American musical legend Sixto Rodriguez who died last week. For many years he was unknown in the USA but a household name in 1970s South Africa where his anti-establishment song lyrics resonated with many of those opposed to the strict apartheid state. One of those South African fans who adored him was Stephen 'Sugar' Segerman, a Cape Town record shop owner; his nickname came from the song Sugar Man by Rodriguez. 

Whilst his music was everywhere very little was known about the man himself; rumour had it that he had died many years earlier, that he had killed himself during an unsuccessful concert. But when Sugar decided to find out what had become of him, something astonishing happened.

This interview was first broadcast in 2022 

Get in touch: outlook@bbc.com

Presenters: Emily Webb and Jo Fidgen 
Producer: Emily Webb and Emily Naylor

(Photo: Rodriguez performing on stage. Credit: Elena Di Vincenzo/Mondadori Portfolio/Getty Images)

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