In the film, Segerman explains how Rodriguez's songs, including "Sugar Man" and "I Wonder" became anthems for the country's white youth who began to stand up against Apartheid.

Malik Bendjelloul's documentary, "Searching for Sugar Man," about the quest to find Rodriguez, won a special grand jury prize at the 2012 Sundance Festival. (Photo by Sven-Ake Visen, Courtesy Malik BendjelloulSony Pictures Classics

"In the 1970s, if you walked into a random white, liberal, middle class household that had a turntable and a pile of pop records…you would always see 'Abbey Road' by the Beatles, 'Bridge Over Troubled Water' by Simon and Garfunkel and 'Cold Fact' by Rodriguez," he says. "To us it was one of the most famous records of all time. The message it had was 'be anti-establishment.' One song is called 'The Anti-Establishment Blues.' We didn't know what the word was until it cropped up on a Rodriguez song, and then we found it's OK to protest against your society, to be angry with your society."

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But Rodriguez remained a mystery, and rumors even spread that he had committed suicide during a performance.

Segerman and a South African journalist friend set out to discover the true story.

That quest led them to a run-down Detroit neighborhood where they found their hero, very much alive, but totally unaware of his fame and the impact of his music.

Record store owner Stephen “Sugar” Segerman led the search to find Rodriguez. (Photo by Camilla Skagerström, Courtesy Sony Pictures Classics)