For more than fifty years, the Kingdom Heirs have carried Southern gospel music to audiences through an ever-changing roster of performers. The group surfaced in the early 1970s and, in 1986, settled into its long-term role as Dollywood’s house gospel act in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. Over that span the ensemble collected SGMA, Dove, and Singing News Fan Awards while issuing hundreds of recordings and video releases.
Steve and Kreis French, who had grown up in a religious household in East Tennessee, launched the Kingdom Heirs in 1981 to further their shared ministry. After beginning with church performances, the brothers moved into regional appearances and eventually assembled a fixed quartet featuring Steve French on baritone, Eric Bennett on bass, David Sutton on tenor, and Arthur Rice handling lead vocals. Kreis French anchored the accompanying instrumental trio on bass, joined by drummer Dennis Murphy and keyboardist Jeff Stice. This expanded lineup quickly found favor on the Southern gospel circuit, appearing at Silver Dollar City—the site that later became Dollywood—and issuing its debut album, Just Arrived, on the Morada label in 1982. The 1986 invitation to become Dollywood’s resident performers exposed the group to a steady stream of country and Christian music visitors, broadening its reach nationwide and prompting the 1989 release of Steppin’ on the Bright Side on Arrival Records.
Despite repeated changes in personnel, the Kingdom Heirs maintained a vigorous recording pace, turning out dozens of projects and gathering further industry honors. Maintaining a near-annual release schedule into the 2010s, the group closed the decade with the albums Something Good, The Last Big Thing, Everything in Between, and Something Good, Vol. 2. In 2021 the ensemble joined forces with the 3 Heath Brothers on the single “Good Day Coming On.”
