Searching for Sugar Man Page #5

Then I thought, "Hang on a minute."

I 'd never checked out Dearborn.

I didn't even know if it was a city

but then I thought,

"Actually that sounds

like a town or a city."

And I thought, "Hang on,

let me check it out in an atlas."

So I went through to my old atlas

and pulled it out.

I thought, "Let me see

what I could find here.

"Let me see if I could find Dearborn."

Urn... Dear...

Then I found it.

Dearborn, Wayne, Michigan. F7.

F...7.

Dearborn. Part of Detroit.

That was a huge breakthrough in my mind.

Detroit, home of Motown,

Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder,

and, eventually, Mike Theodore,

the producer of the album.

I was sifting in my condo,

just having a cup of coffee.

I was looking out the window

watching the ocean. Phone rings.

It's a long-distance call

from South Africa...

from a writer whose name's

Craig Bartholomew,

and he starts telling me

this amazing story.

So he said, "Do you know that Rodriguez

"has been selling in South Africa

for 25 years.

"His albums are selling millions."

I said, "What?"

Then he's sitting there and he wants...

he starts telling me some stories.

He said, "How did Rodriguez die?"

And he's telling me information

that he had that Rodriguez had...

blown his brains out on stage,

or set himself on fire

and killed himself.

I had 100 questions I wanted to ask.

I was just hoping I could get

all my questions in, you know.

"Why did he write this lyric?

Why did he write that lyric?

"Where did he record this album?

Where did he record that album?"

And we got talking and I asked him

a lot of questions and it was amazing.

It was a rollercoaster ride

of questions and answers,

and it was a euphoric moment

of just having finally broken through

and discovered something.

And finally I got to the one question

I wanted to know the answer of, was,

"How did Rodriguez die?

Did he blow himself up on stage? Or...

"What is this dramatic story?

"Let's open up the lid on this

right away, and find out what happened."

And Mike Theodore said,

"What do you mean dead? He's not dead.

"Sixto is alive. He's alive and kicking.

"The principal artist known as

Sixto Rodriguez is alive and kicking

"and living in Detroit."

I... I can't remember who

called me and said, "They've found him."

I said, "No. You're shitting me.

This isn't... No."

At first I thought it was a hoax.

I thought somebody was faking it.

You know, it's like going

into Tutankhamen's tomb

and finding the mummy.

You know, it was like, "Wow, he lives."

I remember dancing on the spot

when I was staying on the phone.

And Craig and I were jumping up and down

saying, "We found him, we found him."

It was the most exciting thing.

We'd actually done it.

So that was it.

I'd come to the point,

it was the end of the story.

I was searching for a dead man.

One morning I discovered a living man.

And to me that was the end of the story.

I wrote my article,

I called it "Looking for Jesus."

I faxed it to many individuals,

many people involved,

but somehow this article

made its way across the Atlantic

and into the hands

of someone in America.

And what I thought was the end of story

was actually just the beginning

of another story,

and the best part was still to come.

'Cause I don't know where it is.

It might take a while.

They do have the dates.

"Three-year search for dead singer."

Yes.

August '97. I was in Kansas.

I got a copy of it to me at work.

I was on, like, a 24-hour shift.

And then, I went online

and that's when

I discovered the website.

When I went online there was

this milk carton with a picture.

And it said, "Wanted"

and "Have you seen this man?"

I was like, "Matter of fact,

I have seen him before."

I replied, "Rodriguez is my father.

I'm serious.

"Do you really want to know

about my father?

"Sometimes the fantasy

is better left alive."

I don't know why I said that,

but anyway I did.

And then I gave them e-mail address,

phone numbers,

anything that they wanted to contact me.

And he phoned me.

Well, we'd found out

that Rodriguez was alive.

I'd spoken to Craig.

I came to work and Alex McCrindle,

who was the guy I worked

on the website with said,

"You're not going to believe

what's on the website."

And on the website was a forum

where people could post messages,

and there was a message that said,

"My name's Eva.

I'm Rodriguez's daughter."

She'd left a phone number and she said,

"I'd like to speak to someone

in connection with this."

So that night I phoned her.

I said, "Hi, I'm Sugar,"

and she said, "I'm Eva,"

and we had the most

amazing conversation.

She explained to me who her father was,

what he had done, where he had been.

She asked me who I was

and I explained why my name was Sugar

and how I was involved with the website.

And then at the end I said to her,

"This has been the most

amazing thing for me,

"and what would be really great

is if I could,

"at some point, speak to your dad.

"I'd love it if I could

just say hello to him. "

Because, for me,

this was son' of the end of the search

and I just wanted to speak to this man.

And then I went to bed.

And 1:
00 in the morning that night,

the phone rang.

And my wife answers it

'cause it was her side of the bed.

And I remember she picked up the phone

and her face just changed.

She had this look of awe.

She said, "it's him."

And I was in shock. I'd been sleeping

and I ran into the other room,

into my study,

and I picked up the phone

and she put hers down.

And I said, "Hello?" and a voice said...

"Hello, is that Sugar?"

And I knew, I just knew,

because I knew that voice.

I'd heard that voice so many times

on the records, I knew it was him.

I was talking to Rodriguez.

That, for me, was one of

the greatest moments of my life.

-Whenever you're ready.

- Okay.

Is this all right?

Should I be doing something though?

Should I have a glass of water

or something? Is that right?

- Do you want?

- Yeah. I like that.

Yeah, this is...

I'm supposed to be comfortable.

So run the question to me again.

Just so I can hear it in my head.

In the '70s and '80s, did you ever

get any contact from South Africa?

Uh... No, I didn't.

Maybe they didn't have a contact number

or something but, no, I didn't.

How does that feel?

You weren't aware of something

that would have changed

your life completely.

I mean, probably to the better.

Well, I don't know if it would have been

for the better,

but it's certainly a thought, you know.

But wouldn't it have been nice to know

that you were a superstar?

Uh, well...

I don't know how to respond to that.

After Coming From Reality,

did you wanna continue making albums?

I would have liked to have continued

but nothing beats Reality.

So I pretty much went back to work.

What did you do?

L... Well, I'd do hired labor.

Demolition, renovation of buildings,

of homes, you know. Restoration.

Did you enjoy that'?

I do. It keeps the blood

circulating, keeps you fit, yeah.

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