Searching for Sugar Man

461 00:31:00,484 --> 00:31:04,660 (Segerman) In 1996, the South African record label 462 00:31:04,738 --> 00:31:08,959 released Rodriguez's second album, Coming From Reality, 463 00:31:09,076 --> 00:31:11,875 on CD for the first time in South Africa. 464 00:31:11,953 --> 00:31:14,502 And because they thought I knew a lot about him, 465 00:31:14,498 --> 00:31:17,217 they asked if I wanted to co-write the liner notes for the booklet, 466 00:31:17,292 --> 00:31:18,669 which I did. 467 00:31:18,752 --> 00:31:23,132 And I'll read some of it to you. They start off by saying, 468 00:31:23,215 --> 00:31:26,640 "if ever there is an air of intrigue and mystery around a pop artist, 469 00:31:26,718 --> 00:31:29,437 "it is around the artist known as Rodriguez. 470 00:31:29,513 --> 00:31:32,642 "There's no air of intrigue and mystery around him anywhere else in the world 471 00:31:32,724 --> 00:31:35,853 <i>"because his two albums, Coming From Reality and Cold Fact,</i> 472 00:31:35,936 --> 00:31:38,735 "were monumental flops everywhere else." 473 00:31:38,814 --> 00:31:40,282 And this is the important part. 474 00:31:40,982 --> 00:31:44,953 "There were no concrete cold facts about the artist known as Rodriguez. 475 00:31:45,028 --> 00:31:47,451 "Any musicologist detectives out there?" 476 00:31:47,948 --> 00:31:50,747 And that, that's the line that changed everything. 477 00:31:51,868 --> 00:31:53,666 <i>(Bartholomew-Strydom) I started searching for Rodriguez</i> 478 00:31:53,745 --> 00:31:55,964 <i>when a few of us were sitting around in the Army</i> 479 00:31:56,039 --> 00:31:58,417 <i>and somebody said, "How did Rodriguez die?"</i> 480 00:31:58,500 --> 00:31:59,877 And just coincidence, 481 00:31:59,960 --> 00:32:02,383 at the time I was looking for subject matter to write an article. 482 00:32:02,462 --> 00:32:05,341 <i>I remember having, like, five points</i> <i>on</i> a <i>piece of paper.</i> 483 00:32:05,424 --> 00:32:08,769 <i>And number four, or something, was "Find out how Rodriguez died."</i> 484 00:32:08,844 --> 00:32:11,597 <i>I thought it would make a good story.</i> 485 00:32:11,596 --> 00:32:13,690 So that was in the back of my mind for many years 486 00:32:13,765 --> 00:32:17,520 and then, many years later, I came across this, um, 487 00:32:18,061 --> 00:32:23,409 re-release of Coming From <i>Reality</i> and inside, the liner notes said, 488 00:32:23,483 --> 00:32:26,862 "There were no concrete cold facts about the artist known as Rodriguez. 489 00:32:26,945 --> 00:32:31,576 "Any musicologist detectives out there?" Um, was the question, 490 00:32:31,658 --> 00:32:33,786 and I think that to me, was like an invitation. 491 00:32:33,869 --> 00:32:35,963 I thought, "Well, maybe it's me". 492 00:32:38,415 --> 00:32:42,761 <i>The first way I tried to find him was to just follow the money.</i> 493 00:32:42,836 --> 00:32:44,088 Normally, you follow the money. 494 00:32:44,212 --> 00:32:45,589 That's how you get to the bottom of anything. 495 00:32:46,256 --> 00:32:48,600 <i>But where do dead men's money go?</i> 496 00:32:48,675 --> 00:32:51,053 <i>I was astounded that no one knew anything about him.</i> 497 00:32:51,178 --> 00:32:55,479 <i>I guess it was reminiscent of how bad the music industry was.</i> 498 00:32:55,557 --> 00:32:57,400 <i>They were renowned for ripping people off.</i> 499 00:32:57,476 --> 00:33:01,401 And it is one thing, if they had said to me, "Oh, yeah, 500 00:33:01,480 --> 00:33:05,826 "we send the money to X place or Y," or whatever, 501 00:33:05,901 --> 00:33:08,199 but they just kept on being very vague. 502 00:33:08,278 --> 00:33:12,033 <i>And, in fact, when l put some pressure on somebody, I did get an address,</i> 503 00:33:12,115 --> 00:33:13,617 <i>and I called</i> 504 00:33:13,700 --> 00:33:16,670 <i>and, I can't remember if I spoke to someone or left a message,</i> 505 00:33:16,661 --> 00:33:19,665 <i>but when I called the next day, the number had been changed.</i> 506 00:33:19,664 --> 00:33:20,836 <i>And that to me was...</i> 507 00:33:20,916 --> 00:33:24,341 I mean, that's a gift for anyone who wants to be a detective, 508 00:33:24,920 --> 00:33:28,891 is an obstacle, because an obstacle is an inspiration. 509 00:33:28,965 --> 00:33:31,639 If you just find things easily, they're not inspiring, 510 00:33:31,635 --> 00:33:34,935 and this was a great obstacle that somebody had changed their number. 511 00:33:35,013 --> 00:33:39,439 I just smelt a dirty money story somewhere there. 512 00:33:39,518 --> 00:33:41,236 <i>(male interviewer) So, if you compare to other artists,</i> 513 00:33:41,311 --> 00:33:42,938 <i>how big was it actually?</i> 514 00:33:43,021 --> 00:33:45,069 <i>(Robbie Mann) Every month it just sold.</i> 515 00:33:45,148 --> 00:33:48,027 <i>And every party you we