Robert Johnson died in 1938 with nothing, and a Mississippi court found his heir 62 years later

Robert Johnson recorded 29 songs in 1936 and 1937 and died at 27, owning almost nothing. Three graves in Mississippi claim his body^†. After 1960 his recordings were reissued and influenced the Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton and Led Zeppelin. A 1990 boxed set brought royalties that by 2000 totalled about $1 million. His half-sister Carrie Thompson had licensed his rights and photographs in the 1970s^†. Then Claud Johnson, a retired truck driver from Crystal Springs, Mississippi, claimed to be his son. A witness testified that she had seen Robert Johnson and Claud's mother together in 1931. A Mississippi chancery court declared Claud the sole heir in 1998. In June 2000 the Mississippi Supreme Court upheld the ruling, and Claud, 69, received the royalties. Thompson's relatives then fought over the income from the only two known photographs of Johnson. In 2014 a court held their claims were filed too late. Claud died in 2015^†, and his family runs the estate.