Searching for Sugarman

How is it possible for a man with a standout voice, serious songwriting skills and great guitar playing to release 2 records in the early 70s and then completely drop out of sight?
It happened to Sixto Rodriguez. His first record was released in 1971.
Flash across the planet to South Afrika at the height of apartheid. An unusual and unique record (Cold Facts) is brought into Cape Town and passed around. It's bootlegged and spreads and helps to ignite the fire that brought apartheid to an end. How is that possible?
Then in 1997 a record store owner and a journalist team up to look for what ever happened to Sixto Rodriguez and eventually (after several tall tales about his suicide on stage) they find him, still living in Detroit, doing manual labor, in the same house he'd lived in for 40 years. They bring him to south afrika, he plays to soldout concerts. And today, he's still living in the same house in Detroit doing manual labor. He has 3 daughters. The text at the end of the film indicates he gave  most of his money away to friends and family. The question is, is he really a saint (almost christ-like figure) or is there another story underneath this impossible tale. Well, the movie does a great job of digging into this man's life... up to a point, but as an audience member and frankly, as a member of the society we live in, you have to wonder what else is going on with Sixto Rodriguez. Why did he go back to manual labor, why did he give all his money away? The mystery continues.