Sixto Rodriguez, a huge star in South Africa in the 70s and again later with the release of a documentary in 2012, passed away at the age of 81. The official Rodriguez website sugarman.org announced on Wednesday: "It is with great sadness that we announce that Sixto Diaz Rodriguez has passed away earlier today. We extend our most heartfelt condolences to his daughters - Sandra, Eva and Regan - and to all his family. Rodriguez was 81 years old. May His Dear Soul Rest In Peace."

Searching for Sugar Man, the documentary that tells the story of how 1970s musician Rodriguez came to be a huge star in South Africa while remaining unknown in the rest of the world, looks set to be a smash hit in the US. Rebecca Davis met Stephen Segerman, one of a handful of South African individuals responsible for tracking down the elusive muso and keeping his music alive.

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You're a man with a guitar in gritty Detroit in the early '70s. You work in construction, do whatever you can to get by. In your spare time, you write a few songs, play a few gigs. You get picked up by a record label, and you put out two albums. They sink without trace in America. Nobody's interested. You think, well, that's that. You put your dreams behind you, and you get on with life.

Then, in 1998, quite by chance, you find out something amazing. You find that you are a huge star on the other side of the world. In South Africa, by some estimates, you are bigger than Elvis. But everyone thinks you are dead. You hear all this down a crackly phone line from a man...