Harold “Rocky” Benton
DOB Unknown – May 6, 2009
Rocky Benton was a favorite in and around the Corpus Christi blues scene for many years thanks in part to his outstanding harmonica playing. Blind since childhood, Benton gravitated toward music early, first learning to play the harmonica at age six and later, keyboards and drums. By ten, he was singing and drumming in a jazz band while attending the Texas School For The Blind in Austin. By the early ’90s, Benton was living in Corpus Christi where he became a fixture in the city’s music scene, sharing the bill with the likes of Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown, B.B. King and others. In 1993, Benton released his one and only album, and in 2007, he earned a spot on the South Texas Music Walk of Fame. He died of heart failure on May 6, 2009 at the age of 57.