"Sugar Man" is a song written and recorded by

Sixto Rodriguez Sixto Diaz Rodriguez (born July 10, 1942), known professionally as Rodriguez, is an American singer-songwriter from Detroit, Michigan. Though his career was initially met with little fanfare in the United States, he found success in South Afric ...

in August–September 1969 and released on his debut

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

, ''

Cold Fact ''Cold Fact'' is the debut album from American singer-songwriter Rodriguez. It was released in the United States on the Sussex label in March 1970. The album sold poorly in the United States, but performed better in South Africa and Australia, w ...

'', in 1970. The song was banned by the South African government in the 1970s because of drug references in the lyrics, with records scratched to prevent radio airplay.

Covers

In 1998 the band Just Jinjer played the song in concert while supporting U2, and included a recording on their 2001 ''Greatest Hits'' album. In 2013, during their first-ever shows in South Africa, the birthplace of lead singer Dave Matthews,

Dave Matthews Band Dave Matthews Band (also known by the initials DMB) is an American rock band formed in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 1991. The band's founding members were singer-songwriter and guitarist Dave Matthews, bassist Stefan Lessard, drummer and bac ...

covered the song. They also included it on setlists throughout their 2014 Summer Tour. On June 21, 2022 at

Pine Knob Music Theatre Pine Knob Music Theatre (formerly DTE Energy Music Theatre) is an outdoor amphitheater located in Independence Township, Michigan, approximately northwest of Detroit (it has a Clarkston, Michigan mailing address). Built by the Nederlander Orga ...

, Matthews met Rodriguez for the first time, and covered the song again in his honor.

Samples

In 2001

Nas Nas (born 1973) is the stage name of American rapper Nasir Jones. Nas, NaS, or NAS may also refer to: Aviation * Nasair, a low-cost airline carrier and subsidiary based in Eritrea * National Air Services, an airline in Saudi Arabia ** Nas Air ( ...

sampled the song in "You're Da Man" on his album ''

Stillmatic ''Stillmatic'' is the fifth studio album by American rapper Nas, released on December 18, 2001, by Ill Will and Columbia Records. In contrast to his previous work's gangsta rap themes, the album contains socially conscious and philosophical theme ...

''.

Remixes

David Holmes

In 2003 DJ and producer

Holmes Holmes may refer to: Name * Holmes (surname) * Holmes (given name) * Baron Holmes, noble title created twice in the Peerage of Ireland * Chris Holmes, Baron Holmes of Richmond (born 1971), British former swimmer and life peer Places In the Uni ...

remixed the song for his album ''Come Get It I Got It''.

Yolanda Be Cool & DCUP

A remix of "Sugar Man" by Australian band

Yolanda Be Cool Yolanda Be Cool are an Australian music duo made up of Andrew Stanley and Matthew Handley. Biography In 2010, they collaborated with Australian producer DCUP (real name Duncan MacLennan) to release an international single " We No Speak American ...

and producer

DCUP Duncan MacLennan (born 13 March 1985), better known by his stage name DCUP (pronounced "D-cup"), is an Australian record producer, DJ and remixer. He is best known for his collaboration with fellow Australian band Yolanda Be Cool on their inte ...

was released on 28 November 2014 by Australian independent label Sweat It Out. The song peaked at number 15 on the

ARIA Charts The ARIA Charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling songs and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA became the offici ...

and was certified platinum by the

Australian Recording Industry Association The Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) is a trade association representing the Australian recording industry which was established in the 1970s by six major record companies, EMI, Festival, CBS, RCA, WEA and Universal replacing th ...

for shipments exceeding 70,000 copies.

Background

Following the success of "

We No Speak Americano "We No Speak Americano" is a song by Australian band Yolanda Be Cool and producer DCUP. It was released on the independent Australian label Sweat It Out on 27 February 2010. The song samples the 1956 Italian song " Tu Vuò Fà L'Americano" in ...

" in 2010, Matt Handley and Andrew Stanley (Yolanda Be Cool), and Duncan Maclennan (DCUP) found themselves in huge demand, travelling the world performing. Handley said, "We always intended to do more tunes together, but we just never seemed to be able to be in the same room for long enough. Then Duncan moved to Melbourne and for a while, I guess we just did our own thing." Maclennan takes up the story, "As much as we wanted to do more tunes together, apart from finding the time, we also knew that finding a sample with the same magic as 'Americano' was a must. We didn't want to just put out tunes for the sake of it. Fast forward to now, and it just felt right to get back in the studio. We had been passing sample ideas back and forth for a while and we all just fell in love with 'Sugar Man'. It felt right."

Music video

A music video to accompany the release of "Sugar Man" was first released on YouTube on 25 November 2014 with a total length of three minutes and fourteen seconds.Yolanda Be Cool & DCUP - "Sugar Man" [Official Video]
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YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

Track listing

Charts

Certifications

Release history

Movies

The 2006 film ''

Candy Candy, also called sweets (British English) or lollies (Australian English Australian English (AusE, AusEng, AuE, AuEng, en-AU) is the set of varieties of the English language native to Australia. It is the country's common language an ...

'' features the song. The 2012 BAFTA and Academy Award winning documentary ''

Searching for Sugar Man ''Searching for Sugar Man'' is a 2012 documentary film about a South African cultural phenomenon, written and directed by Malik Bendjelloul, which details the efforts in the late 1990s of two Cape Town fans, Stephen "Sugar" Segerman and Craig B ...

'' features the song and its name references the song.

References

{{Sixto Rodriguez 1970 songs 1970 singles 2014 singles Ultra Music singles Sussex Records singles Songs about drugs