Kingdom Heirs

For more than fifty years a rotating lineup of vocalists and musicians has carried the Kingdom Heirs across the Southern gospel circuit, earning the ensemble a string of SGMA, Dove, and Singing News Fan Awards along with hundreds of recordings and videos. The group first took shape in the early 1970s and secured its longest-running engagement in 1986 when it became the official gospel act at Dollywood in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.

Steve and Kreis French, raised in a religious household in East Tennessee, launched the Kingdom Heirs in 1981 to extend their church-based ministry into a wider ministry. After performing regionally they assembled a quartet featuring Steve French on baritone, Eric Bennett on bass, David Sutton on tenor, and Arthur Rice on lead, supported by an instrumental trio of Kreis French on bass, Dennis Murphy on drums, and Jeff Stice on keyboards. That configuration toured the contemporary Southern gospel circuit, played at Silver Dollar City—the park that later became Dollywood—and issued its debut album, Just Arrived, on the Morada label in 1982.

The 1986 Dollywood residency exposed the ensemble to a steady national audience of country and Christian listeners, prompting the 1989 release of Steppin' on the Bright Side on Arrival. Multiple personnel changes followed, yet the Kingdom Heirs maintained a prolific schedule, issuing nearly an album each year through the 2010s with titles that included Something Good, The Last Big Thing, Everything in Between, and Something Good, Vol. 2. In 2021 the group collaborated with 3 Heath Brothers on the single “Good Day Coming On.”