蜜芽传媒

It's rare that a musician is more famous for an Oscar-winning film made about him than for his actual music.

But that could arguably be said about Mexican-American singer-songwriter, Sixto Rodriguez, who died this week, at the age of 81. His main recording career was in the late 1960s, after which he apparently vanished from the public eye and was presumed dead.

But before the age of the internet, his music developed a big following in Australia and South Africa, where he caught the attention of a man who almost single-handedly tracked Rodriguez down and revived his fortunes.

That man was Stephen Segerman, the owner of a record store in Cape Town, who ended up being re-named after Rodriguez's best known track, Sugar Man.

His search for the elusive Sixto Rodriguez ended up being made into an Oscar-winning documentary a decade ago.

(Pic: US folk musician Sixto Rodriguez performs on stage during a concert. CREDIT: EPA)