Reggie King Sears
Selected Festivals and Venues
United States
• On the Waterfront Music Festival — Rockford, IL
• Magic City Blues Festival — Billings, MT
• McIntosh Farm Blues Festival — DeKalb, MS
• Roots and Rhythm Festival — Honesdale, PA
• Rock’n’Ribs Festival — Machesney Park, IL
• Sarasota Blues Festival — Sarasota, FL
• Overtown Music Festival — Miami, FL
• Buddy Guy’s Legends — Chicago, IL
• Kingston Mines — Chicago, IL
• Terra Blues — New York, NY
• Alfred’s on Beale Street — Memphis, TN
• Papa Turney’s BBQ / Miss Zeke’s Juke Joint — Nashville, TN
• BB’s Lawnside BBQ — Kansas City, MO
• Ground Zero Blues Club — Clarksdale, MS
• Ground Zero Blues Club — Biloxi, MS
• Northside Tavern — Atlanta, GA
• Madam’s Organ — Washington, DC
• Preservation Pub — Knoxville, TN
• B.B. King’s Blues Club — West Palm Beach, FL
• House of Blues — Orlando, FL
• House of Blues — New Orleans, LA
• Maui Sugar Mill Saloon — Tarzana (Los Angeles), CA
• Fremont Street Blues & Jazz — Las Vegas, NV
Europe
• New Blues Festival — Assen, Netherlands
• Bluesroute Festival — Helmond, Netherlands
• Fricktaler Blues Festival — Frick, Switzerland
• Chatka Blues Festival — Chatka, Poland
• Blues in the Garden Festival — Darmanesti, Romania
• Guitar Heroes Festival — Joldelund, Germany
• Tuesday Night Music Club — London, England (UK)
• Ventnor Performing Arts Centre — Isle of Wight, England (UK)
• Bourbon Street — Amsterdam, Netherlands
• Blues-Sphere — Liège, Belgium
• Bielefelder JazzClub — Bielefeld, Germany
VIDEOS
Biography
Reggie King Sears is an award-winning Contemporary R&B and Southern Soul Blues recording artist whose live performances connect powerfully with modern blues and roots audiences. His shows are built on feel, groove, and real-time audience connection rather than strict genre boundaries, making him a strong fit for blues clubs, roots rooms, and mixed-genre festivals.
While his recording career is rooted in Contemporary R&B and Southern Soul, Sears’ live show adapts naturally to blues, roots, and Southern Soul audiences, bridging modern songwriting with the pacing, dynamics, and emotional storytelling blues rooms recognize and respond to.
With more than two decades of professional touring and recording experience, both as a headliner and as a sideman, Sears is a seasoned live performer known for reading a room in real time and shaping sets that are emotionally grounded, dynamic, and intentional.
Born and raised in Fort Lauderdale, Florida’s Boulevard Gardens (“Tatertown”), like many other southern African American music artists he came up through church, working-class Southern life, juke joints, and the modern chitlin’ circuit. That foundation shaped his approach to music: lived-in storytelling, humor, grit, and songs drawn directly from real experience. His rich baritone voice, gospel-informed delivery, and grounded stage presence resonate strongly with audiences who value authenticity, emotional control, and connection over volume or flash.
A former child prodigy, Sears began playing guitar at 11, performing professionally by 12, and leading his own band by 13. Early in his life, he received direct, one-on-one mentorship from blues and soul legends who personally invested in his development as a musician and performer. Hubert Sumlin worked with him individually, shaping his guitar instincts and feel; W.C. Clark coached his singing; B.B. King and Buddy Guy offered public encouragement and shared the stage with him; and in 2008, Solomon Burke crowned him “King” and adopted him as a godson.
Southern Soul icons Marvin Sease, Denise LaSalle, Bobby Rush, and Fred Bolton personally worked with Sears onstage and off, schooling him in pacing, audience command, humor, sexuality, and emotional delivery — the unwritten rules of Southern Soul performance that continue to define his live shows.
By his early teens, Sears was already performing nationally and internationally, sharing the stage with, among others, B.B. King, Buddy Guy, Solomon Burke, The Temptations, Christone “Kingfish” Ingram, Betty Wright, Bobby Rush, Lonnie Brooks, Ronnie Baker Brooks, Johnny Rawls, Michael Burks, Shemekia Copeland, Samantha Fish, Ana Popović, and G. Love & Special Sauce- with whom he has appeared dozens of times over the course of his career.
At just 15 years old, Sears became the youngest touring member of James Brown’s Soul Generals, gaining discipline, stamina, and professionalism that continue to define his live performances. He paid his dues the hard way, performing more than 250 shows a year across blues clubs, Southern Soul venues, rural juke joints, festivals, and international stages throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, and the Caribbean.
While Sears is widely respected as a guitarist, his core identity is that of a songwriter, vocalist, and producer. His music prioritizes melody, groove, and emotional clarity over instrumental flash. In live settings, guitar appears organically — sometimes driving a moment, sometimes coloring the groove — always in service of the song and the room.
In keeping with blues tradition, Sears often features and spotlights a talented young guitarist within his band, using the stage as a place of mentorship and lineage. Just as he was given space onstage by legends early in his career, he continues that tradition by showcasing emerging players — a moment blues audiences consistently respond to.
His recorded catalog reflects a lifetime of evolution. His debut album Transitions (2005) introduced him as a teenage soul-blues artist. Blues Power (2006) leaned deeper into traditional soul-blues before he expanded into Southern Soul and R&B with Southern Soul, Florida Style (2006), Get Up On It (2007), and Sweet Thang (2009). His music has generated consistent Southern Soul and blues radio response, with songs that translate directly to live rooms, including “Dip My Dipper,” “Dirty Dancer,” and the award-winning slow jam “You Betrayed Me.”
In 2011, Sears was nominated for a Soul Blues Music Award for Best New Artist and won three Soul Patrol Awards for “You Betrayed Me,” including Best Male Vocal Performance, Best Slow Jam, and Best Blues Song, further cementing his reputation as a commanding live vocalist and storyteller.
As a producer and collaborator, Sears has contributed guitar, vocals, or production to sessions with Clarence Reid (Blowfly), Timmy Thomas, Son Little, Kurupt, Isaiah Rashad, and R.A. the Rugged Man, among others. He is currently preparing the release of his forthcoming album Crowned & Dangerous (2026) while continuing to tour nationally.
For blues and roots venues, Reggie King Sears performs a tailored live set emphasizing groove, storytelling, and blues-forward pacing while maintaining his Contemporary R&B and Southern Soul sound.
Select Quotes
“Reggie King Sears is a Florida legend. This guy’s been doing it long before me and is an amazing artist who is truly the real deal.”— Christone “Kingfish” Ingram, Grammy Award-winning artist
“This young man is a bad motherf*cker.”— Buddy Guy, 9-time Grammy Award winner & Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee
“Reggie Sears is the future. I first heard him play guitar and knew he was touched by God. Now that I’ve heard him sing, I crown him King.”— Solomon Burke, Grammy Award winner & Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee
“I have worked with Reggie King Sears and his band a number of times. He always puts on a great show and is always a pleasure working with him — an artist not to be missed.” — Paul Benjamin, former President & Chairman of the Board, The Blues Foundation, Blues festival promoter
“Reggie King Sears is an outstanding young Southern Soul/Blues artist. He’s a great singer, a great guitar player, and he puts on a great show.”— Stacy Mitchhart
“Keep on picking, young man. Keep this music alive.”— B.B. King
“He poured every ounce of passion into that set — his voice soared, his guitar burned, and the whole room felt it.”— Brad Shultz (Cage the Elephant)
“Reggie King Sears is everything that’s missing in music today — the voice, the presence, and the soul.”— Timmy Thomas
