Sixto Rodriguez: Searching for Sugar Man singer dies aged 81

Sixto Rodriguez, the musician and subject of the documentary Searching for Sugar Man, has died aged 81.

His daughter announced that the Detroit-born singer died on Tuesday.

Rodriguez launched his career in 1967 but initially struggled to find success in his native US and was ultimately dropped by his record label.

However, his music gradually developed a cult following overseas, and his records enjoyed significant sales and airplay in South Africa and Australia.

In 2012, the Oscar-winning Searching for Sugar Man saw two South African fans track Rodriguez down to see what had become of him.

Little was known about Rodriguez in the country despite his music being so popular, and false rumours had circulated that the singer had killed himself on stage in the 1970s.

But Rodriguez was in fact still alive and well and living in Detroit, having returned to a life of obscurity and construction work.

He was unaware of his popularity abroad, which partly stemmed from bootlegged copies of his album Cold Fact circulating in South Africa, where it been adopted as an unofficial soundtrack to youth protests against apartheid.

The release of the Sugar Man documentary in 2012 saw his career enjoy another resurgence, and he began touring and recording again.

A few years later, Rodriguez was playing sold-out shows in South Africa's biggest arenas.