Culture and entertainment: Rodriguez lived to be 81 years old, according to a website for American artists. The cause of death has not been given.

Rodriguez writes and sings about the hard life on the streets of his hometown Detroit in the 1970s. He is touted to have had a great music career, and some believe his talent can be compared to that of Bob Dylan.

But neither of the two records he released were commercially successful in the United States.

What Rodriguez didn’t know was that his music found a huge audience in South Africa, and those within the anti-apartheid movement were no exception.

The film “Searching for Sugar Man” follows two South African fans who try to find out what really happened to Rodriguez. It was made by Swede Malik Bendjelloul and won the Oscar for best documentary in 2013.

After the documentary, Rodriguez finally got his musical breakthrough outside of South Africa, and he performed at festivals such as England’s Glastonbury and Switzerland’s Montreux Jazz Festival.

(© NTB)