The character arc of Sixto Rodriguez
A life drawn by Character Arc from the public record
Born on 10 July 1942 in Detroit, the sixth child of Mexican immigrant parents. Between then and 2023 sit two albums in 1970 and 1971, a record label that dropped him two weeks before Christmas 1971, a derelict house bought for fifty dollars in 1976, decades of demolition and production line work, a philosophy degree taken in 1981, two Australian tours, a rumour in South Africa that he had died, a daughter finding a website in 1997, six concerts in South Africa in 1998 and an Academy Award for a film about him in 2013. He died in Detroit on 8 August 2023.
Tap the line to pluck it. Hover or tap any mark for its card. Drawn from the public record of his life; the sources are at the foot of the page.
Who was Sixto Rodriguez?
Dropped before Christmas, and a nation loved him anyway.
He was the sixth child of working-class Mexican immigrants in Detroit, and his mother died when he was three. He released a first single in 1967 under a name his label gave him, then recorded two albums for Sussex Records, Cold Fact in 1970 and Coming from Reality in November 1971. Both sold almost nothing in the United States. The label dropped him two weeks before Christmas 1971, and closed altogether four years later.
So he stopped. In 1976 he bought a derelict Detroit house at a government auction for fifty dollars and was still living in it decades later. He worked demolition and production lines, always on a low income, and he stood several times for local office without being elected. He took a bachelor's degree in philosophy at Wayne State University in 1981, at thirty nine. By any ordinary reading, the music was a thing that had not worked out.
It had worked out completely, somewhere he had never been. By the mid 1970s his records were on the radio in Australia, Botswana, New Zealand, Zimbabwe and South Africa. A compilation went platinum in South Africa, where he is believed to have sold more records than Elvis Presley, and his songs became part of the protest culture there. Almost nothing was known about him, and it was widely believed that he had died. Australian promoters tracked him down and he toured there in 1979 and 1981. It was not until 1997, when his eldest daughter found a website about him, that he learned what he was in South Africa. He played six concerts there in 1998 to thousands of people. A documentary about the search for him won an Academy Award in 2013, and that May his old university gave him an honorary doctorate. He died in Detroit in August 2023, and a concert was held for him in the city four days later.
The moments
Sixto Rodriguez's timeline.
The 1940s
Sixth child in Detroit
Everyday. A Detroit factory city, and a mother gone at three.
The 1970s
Cold Fact
Milestone, and it changed his direction. Two records, made properly, by a label that believed in them.
Dropped before Christmas
Setback, and it changed everything. Two weeks before Christmas, and that was the end of the career.
A house for fifty dollars
Setback, and it changed his direction. Fifty dollars, and he lived in it for the rest of his life.
Australia finds him
Milestone, and it changed his direction. Somebody found him once, and then it went quiet again for sixteen years.
The 1980s
A degree at thirty nine
Milestone. A philosophy degree, taken at thirty nine, between shifts.
The 1990s
Platinum, unknown to him
Milestone, and it changed everything. More records than Elvis, in a country that believed he was dead.
His daughter finds a website
Milestone, and it changed everything. Twenty five years of not knowing, ended by a daughter on the internet.
Go to South Africa
Crossroads, decided.
The paths laid out: get on the plane, taken, or stay in Detroit. He played six concerts in South Africa, returned in 2001 and 2005, and a film about the search for him won an Academy Award.
Six concerts in South Africa
Milestone, and it changed everything. Fifty five years old, walking out in front of thousands of people who knew every word.
The 2010s
An Academy Award
Milestone, and it changed everything. An Oscar for a film about looking for him, and a doctorate from his own university.
The 2020s
He dies in Detroit
Setback, and it changed everything. Eighty one, in the city he never left.
A fifty dollar house in Woodbridge held him for most of his life, and he stayed in it after the fame arrived. What it set moving is the strangest comfort in this gallery: the work went out, kept travelling without him, and meant something enormous to people he would not meet for twenty five years.
Your turn
Every line draws a unique story.
His looked like a failure for twenty five years while being loved by a country he had never visited. Yours is already further along than you think, and drawing it takes about five minutes.
Sixto Rodriguez: frequently asked questions
What people ask about his line.
What is Sixto Rodriguez's character arc?
What did Sixto Rodriguez do for a living?
Why was Sixto Rodriguez famous in South Africa?
How did Sixto Rodriguez find out he was famous?
What is Searching for Sugar Man about Sixto Rodriguez?
When did Sixto Rodriguez die?
Where does this timeline of Sixto Rodriguez's life come from?
More character arcs
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Sources
- Sixto Rodriguez, English Wikipedia biography.
- Academy Awards records for Searching for Sugar Man, 2013.
- Wayne State University, honorary Doctor of Humane Letters, May 2013.