Mexican-American folk singer, songwriter, guitarist, and poet is joined by Swedish filmmaker Malik Bendjelloul and fellow Detroiter, activist and filmmaker Michael Moore at the National Board of Review gala at Cipriani's 42nd Street in Manhattan on January 8, 2013. the film documentary of his life won the NBR Best Documentary and followed up a few months later by winning the Academy Award in the same category. His first two albums were released in the early 70s and did poorly in American market despite favorable reviews. It looked as though he would have to go back to construction work in his native Detroit but was surprised to find he had become quite popular in Australia and New Zealand in 1979. In the ensuing years he was rumored to have died and a search was launched by admirers in South Africa in the 1990s. The documentary on how he was 'found' in Detroit was the Oscar-winning movie, ''Searching for Sugarman.' Bendjelloul suffered from depression and committed suicide in Stockholm in 2014. Rodriguez, who often was known just by his surname, died on August 8, 2023, at the age of 81.
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