Archives 1997 to 2010
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This Timeline was compiled by Brian Currin and printed in the booklet of the All The Facts 2CD compilation released in September 2009 by PT Music. Updated in October 2025.
| 1942 | |
| 10 July |
Sixto Diaz Rodriguez born in Detroit, Michigan, USA. “I like to tell people that I was born on Michigan Avenue, five blocks from the centre of Detroit.” – Rodriguez |
| 1967 | |
| April | Rodriguez records 6 tracks for the Impact record label in Detroit, most of which will be re-recorded for the Cold Fact and Coming From Reality albums. |
| August | I’ll Slip Away, produced by Harry Balk, is released as a single by Impact Records in the USA and credited to Rod Riguez. This track will be re-recorded in 1972. The b-side is You’d Like To Admit It. |
| 23 September | “Rod Riguez could make a name for himself with this bluesy, mid-tempo rock ballad. Keep it in sight.” – Cashbox reviewing I’ll Slip Away single |
| 1969 | |
| August / September | Cold Fact recorded at Tera-Shirma Studio in Detroit. Arranged and produced by Mike Theodore and Dennis Coffey. |
| 1970 | |
| March/April | Cold Fact is released on the Sussex label, but fails to sell. The album will be reissued in South Africa in 1971 and again in 1974 and will become a cult classic among National Servicemen and University students. |
| 18 April | Billboard gives Cold Fact a 4 star review. |
| Mid-to-late 1970 | Recording sessions for Coming From Reality held over 3 weeks at Lansdowne Studios in London during mid-to-late 1970. Produced by Steve Rowland. “We spent 30 wonderful days recording the Reality album. We stayed in Belgravia, London.” – Rodriguez |
| 1971-1995 | |
| April 1971 | Cold Fact released in South Africa. |
| November 1971 | Coming From Reality released in USA, but does not sell. |
| 1972 | I Think Of You/To Whom It May Concern 7″ single released in Brazil and both sides are played on Brazilian local radio. |
| 1972 | Coming From Reality released in South Africa. |
| 1972 | Steve Rowland (Coming From Reality producer) and Family Dogg release an album titled The View From Rowland’s Head which includes five Rodriguez-penned tracks. |
| 1972 | Street Boy, I’ll Slip Away and Can’t Get Away recorded at GM Recording Studios, East Detroit, MI. |
| 1976 | Coming From Reality reissued in South Africa again, but now re-named After The Fact to capitalise on success of Cold Fact. |
| June 1977 | At His Best released in Australia |
| May 1978 | Cold Fact released in Australia. |
| January 1979 | Coming From Reality released in Australia. |
| March / April 1979 | Rodriguez tours Australia. Shows on 17th and 18th March are recorded for a live album. |
| October 1981 | Second Tour of Australia. |
| October 1981 | Rodriguez Alive, recorded during the 1979 Australian tour, is released in Australia and New Zealand only. |
| 1981 | Rodriguez graduates from Wayne State University (Detroit) with a BA in Philosophy. |
| 1982 | The Best Of Rodriguez released in South Africa, with the same tracks as the Australian At His Best album, but with a different cover. |
| 1986 | At His Best and Cold Fact reissued in Australia by Blue Goose Music. |
| 22 April 1991 | Cold Fact released on CD in South Africa. |
| 1993 | At His Best and Cold Fact released on CD in Australia. |
| 1996 | |
| 30 April | Coming From Reality / After The Fact released on CD in South Africa with sleeve notes by Mad Andy Harrod and Stephen “Sugar” Segerman. |
| 17 September | Spurred on by the sleeve notes of the After The Fact CD, South African journalist Craig Bartholomew Strydom sets off in search of Rodriguez. |
| November | The Best Of Rodriguez reissued on CD in South Africa with extra tracks. |
| 1997 | |
| April | The Great Rodriguez Hunt website is published by Stephen “Sugar” Segerman and Alec McCrindle. |
| 3 August | Craig Bartholomew makes telephone contact with Mike Theodore. |
| 6 August | The first post (by Alec McCrindle) appears on The Great Rodriguez Hunt message board. |
| 12 September | Eva Alicia Rodriguez Koller publishes a message on The Great Rodriguez Hunt Message Board: “Rodriguez is my father! I’m serious.” |
| 15 September | Stephen Segerman speaks to Rodriguez on the phone. |
| October | Craig Bartholomew’s article “Looking For Rodriguez” published in “Directions” magazine. |
| 25 October | Brian Currin publishes the “Climb Up On My Music” website, a catalogue of information and trivia about Rodriguez and his music. |
| 26 October | Newspaper report on Stephen Segerman finding Rodriguez appears in The Sunday Times Cape Metro. This article refers to Craig Bartholomew as “a music detective”. |
| 27 October | The Great Rodriguez Hunt website becomes The Great Rodriguez Website as the hunt is now over. |
| November | I’ll Slip Away, originally released as a single in 1967, is released on The Best Of Impact Records compilation CD |
| 1998 | |
| 11 February | Eva announces on The Rodriguez Forum website that Rodriguez is coming to tour South Africa. |
| 16 February | Cape Times newspaper publishes an article announcing Cape Town concerts for March 6 & 7. |
| 17 February | The Star newspaper publishes a report confirming dates for the South African tour in March. |
| 20 February | The Mail & Guardian newspaper publishes an interview with Rodriguez by Craig Bartholomew. |
| 2 March | Rodriguez arrives in Cape Town, South Africa. |
| 5 March | Rodriguez is interviewed on MNet TV program “Front Row” and performs I Wonder unplugged in the studio. |
| 6 March | South African tour opens at Bellville Velodrome, Cape Town. Rodriguez is greeted with a standing ovation and the crowd sings along to every song. |
| 9 March | Sold-out concert at Standard Bank Arena, Johannesburg. After the show Rodriguez is awarded a platinum disc for Cold Fact (over 50 000 units sold in South Africa). |
| 10 March | Another sold-out show at the Standard Bank Arena, Johannesburg. This show is recorded to be released as a live album, Live Fact. |
| 23 March | South Africa rock band Just Jinger release 6-track EP CD Something For Now with a cover version of Sugar Man. This song has long been part of their stage repertoire. |
| 12 June | Live Fact, recorded on 10th March 1998, is released in South Africa. |
| 12-14 June | Rodriguez tours Sweden. |
| 16 June | Rodriguez appears on stage with Just Jinger at the State Of The Nation Concert at the Standard Bank Arena, but does not perform. |
| 17 & 18 June | Rodriguez plays two nights at The Blues Room in Johannesburg to launch the Live Fact album. |
| 1999 | |
| September | Universal Music (South Africa), the distributors of the Rodriguez back catalogue (except for Live Fact which is on the Sony label), confirm that they will no longer be pressing or distributing Rodriguez CDs. |
| 2001 | |
| April | 30th anniversary of the release of Cold Fact in South Africa. |
| 5 July | ‘Dead Men Don’t Tour’ documentary produced by Tonia Selley broadcast on SABC 3 TV. |
| 10 July | Stephen Segerman visits Rodriguez in Detroit for his 59th birthday and presents him with a copy of the ‘Dead Men Don’t Tour’ video documentary. |
| September | 16-date tour of South Africa |
| 2002 | |
| 15 April | Rodriguez ‘Sugarman’ + Muddy Waters ‘Tom Cat’ released as 500 limited edition 7-inch single, taken from David Holmes’ mix album ‘Come Get It I Got It’. |
| 1 June | The “Climb Up On My Music” and “The Great Rodriguez Website” websites combine as SugarMan.org. |
| 8 July | PT Music South Africa announces that Cold Fact and After The Fact will soon be available in South Africa on CD again. |
| 10 July | Rodriguez’s 60th birthday. |
| 15 July | Tim Forster’s article on Rodriguez appears in Mojo magazine. |
| 28 July | Cold Fact reissued in South Africa by PT Music. The Sugarman.org website is involved in correcting the lyrics and providing additional information. |
| October | After The Fact reissued on CD by PT Music in South Africa. The Sugarman.org website is involved in correcting the lyrics and providing additional information. |
| December | Sugarman listed at number 34 in “The 100 Greatest Drug Songs Ever!” published in the December 2002 issue of UK magazine Mojo. |
| 2003-2007 | |
| 17 & 18 April 2003 | Rodriguez meets David Holmes at Avatar Studios (formally the Power Station) and adds backing vocals to a new recording of Sugarman. |
| 1 September 2003 | Official release of the Free Association’s version of Sugarman on Mercury Records. |
| 10 July 2004 | Rodriguez arrives in Windhoek, Namibia from Detroit on his 62nd birthday and is met by his daughter, Eva, who now lives in South Africa. |
| 15 July 2004 | Rodriguez performs a one-off concert in a place called Otjiwarongo. This small Namibian town is approximately 400kms from Windhoek. This concert is part of the Cheetah National Arts Festival. |
| 1 August 2004 | Article appears in Sunday Times about Rodriguez meeting up with South African musicians, Garden Root. |
| 13-14 August 2004 | Rodriguez plays three sold-out concerts on the Garden Route in the Southern Cape this weekend. His band for these concerts was Graeme Sindall (lead guitar), Heath Sindall (drums), and Neil Lord (bass). |
| August 2005 | Remastered version of Cold Fact released by PT Music. |
| 12 August 2005 | London gigs announced. |
| 29 September 2005 | Sugarman – The Best Of Rodriguez CD, compiled by PT Music and SugarMan.org, is launched at the Independent Armchair Theatre in Cape Town with a performance by Rodriguez. |
| 7 & 8 October 2005 | Rodriguez plays live in London for the first time. |
| 23 November 2006 | Rodriguez plays live in London again. |
| April 2007 | Rodriguez plays live in Australia. |
| 14 April 2007 | Rodriguez plays live in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. |
| 2008 | |
| 19 August | Cold Fact remastered and reissued in the USA by Light In The Attic. |
| Rodriguez articles and positive reviews appear in various music magazines including Mojo and Uncut. | |
| 2009 | |
| 5 May | Coming From Reality remastered and reissued in the USA by Light In The Attic. |
| May to August | Rodriguez tours USA and Europe. The world’s biggest cult musician gains worldwide recognition at last. |
| August / September | 40th Anniversary of the recording sessions for Cold Fact. |
| September | Rodriguez tours South Africa |
| September | All The Facts 2CD set released by PT Music in South Africa. |
| 2010 | |
| 23 January | Australian Tour for March / April 2010 announced. |
| March | 40th Anniversary of the release of Cold Fact |
| 2010 to 2023 | |
|
Following the 2012 release of the Oscar-winning documentary Searching For Sugar Man, Rodriguez experienced worldwide recognition. The film, directed by Malik Bendjelloul, won the Academy Award for Best Documentary in 2013 and also received a BAFTA. Rodriguez’s albums were reissued internationally and charted in numerous countries.
From 2012 through 2020, Rodriguez toured extensively across the United States, Europe, South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand. Notable performances included headline shows at Glastonbury Festival (June 2013), Montreux Jazz Festival (July 2013), the Beacon Theatre in New York City (April 2013), and Wilderness Festival in the UK (August 2013). In 2014, he played at the Sasquatch Music Festival at The Gorge Amphitheatre. He also opened for Brian Wilson’s tour in 2015.
Wayne State University awarded Rodriguez an honorary doctorate in 2013.
Additional albums released during this period included Searching for Sugar Man (2012), the documentary’s soundtrack, and Rodriguez Rocks: Live in Australia (2016).
His August 2018 tour ended with a hometown show at Detroit’s Garden Theater.
Rodriguez’s final North American concert tour took place in late 2019 and early 2020, culminating on 20 February 2020, at Nashville’s City Winery.
In his later years, Rodriguez suffered from glaucoma which severely limited his vision and eventually led to blindness. In February 2023, he suffered a stroke, followed by surgery in March and post-operative physical therapy. His health continued to decline and he was placed in hospice care. |
|
| 2023 | |
| 8 August | Rodriguez passed away at the age of 81. |
| 12 August | A concert celebrating his life was held at Detroit’s Majestic Theatre. |
SugarMan.org 
Thank you for this info about a man who has such serenity and grace. If only there were more people like him in the world.
Hi from UK may I ask if Rodriguez is still performing now in 2021. Jill
Hi Brian, are there any gigs planned for Durban, south Africa, in the foreseeable future. Thanks
Hi Brian, just wanted to say thank you for compiling all this invaluable info.
Rodriguez played a gig @ the The Governor Hindmarsh (Adelaide, SA, Australia)on April 10, 2010.
Truly a humbling experience to personally meet & greet Rodriguez!
Ciao,
Branson
ps. Have some wonderful photos if you’d like for your collection.
Photos most welcome … please send to brian@sugarman.org
Thanks … fixed
In your entry for 2003-2007, 17 & 18 April 2003, you wrote “Avatar Studios (formally the Hit Factory).” It should read “Avatar Studios (formally the Power Station).” Not quite the same studio. Thanks.