Reggie King Sears

At the age of 12 Reggie was dubbed “The Future” by legendary Hall of Famer Solomon Burke, referred to as the “young Rico Suave” by Blues star Ronnie Baker Brooks, Soul-Blues legend Theodis Ealey called him an “extraordinary talent” & guitar legend Guitar Shorty exclaimed that “The Blues is in good hands”, all referring to none other than former child-prodigy Blues guitarist turned musical wunderkind, 22 year old American recording artist, vocalist, multi-instrumentalist musician & record producer Reggie Sears.

Born in April 1991 in Fort Lauderdale, FL and grew up in a South Florida ghetto in Ft. Lauderdale's inner city. The son of an African-American/Native American mother and a Caucasian father, Reggie is an example of the melting pot of culture that is South Florida. At the age of 4 he received a cassette tape of Phil Thornalley’s “Swamp” album from his grandmother and immediately fell in love with music. Inspired by the sounds he heard, Sears asked for a guitar at age 5 years and got one for Christmas but didn't learn how to play. His interest shifted toward drums, and a few years later he got a toy drum set. The following Christmas the 8 year old boy got a real drum kit for Christmas. During his primary school years he absorbed the hit songs of the day but as Sears began to dive into his parents record collection, he got his first taste of Classic Soul, Classic Rock, Funk & Blues. By age 8 he became a Blues junkie. Buddy Guy, Lonnie Mack, B.B. King, Stevie Ray Vaughan, and Lightning Hopkins were his initial inspirations but at age 11 after receiving a Jimi Hendrix cd as a gift from a cousin he began taking guitar seriously. Instead of becoming a product of the streets, Reggie's love for music kept him out of trouble and he was dedicating up to 8 or 9 hours every day practicing guitar, often neglecting school work. At age 12 Reggie asked his dad to take him to an open-mic at a local club and began sitting in with local bands. Within a few months he was playing professionally. His love for music combined with his love of learning fused together and had Sears on the path of learning anything musical.

Sears began gaining recognition as a young Blues prodigy and soon began jamming alongside revered artists such as Blues legend Guitar Shorty, Ronnie Baker Brooks, Fruteland Jackson, Chris Beard, Ana Popovic, Michael Burks, Lil’ Ed and The Blues Imperials, Charlie Musselwhite, Bobby Rush, Inner Circle, Liz Mandeville Greeson, Henry Gray, John Primer, Jimmie Bo Horne, Pinetop Perkins and even with Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Solomon Burke, who dubbed a 12 year old Reggie Sears "the future [of Soul and Blues]". In early 2004 Sears assembled a band of veteran musicians and he began booking shows at local clubs & festivals on the weekends and developed a loyal fan base and by the summer was working the Blues circuit practically every night. Sears began building his name and attracted the attention of several independent labels.

Reggie's national debut album Transitions, a Jazz-Rock influenced collection of classic & obscure Blues covers was released in September 2005. During this time Sears took virtual school online and began touring in support of “Transitions” which lead to appearances at notable venues such as Sarasota Blues Festival in Sarasota, FL; Skippers Smokehouse in Tampa, FL; and slowly built his way to headlining or co-headlining appearances at House Of Blues in Orlando, FL; On The Waterfront in Rockford, IL and, Cultural Fest in Las Vegas. His 2nd CD “Blues Power” was released in fall of 2006. Looking to expand his musical horizons, Sears taught himself how to play over 20 instruments and learned his way around the recording studio- from the control room to producing.

In late 2006 Reggie moved to the Southern Soul genre with the release of his 3rd CD “Southern Soul, Florida Style,” a collection of Blues and Southern Soul songs that gained little exposure or radio play. The album’s main single “Back That Thang Up” began making its way on some radio playlists and club reports. Sears slowly built a strong fan base in the Southern Soul market by relentlessly touring to South's so-called “Chittlin circuit” of rural juke joints, ghetto bars, and blues festivals and, his often suggestive lyrics and racy concert performances became an underground success across the South and audiences -- especially female ones -- flocked to see Sears in concert. His 4th CD quietly dropped in summer 2007 with little recognition, but the lead single “Dip My Dipper” fared well on the chitin circuit and Sears’ tour dates increased. While not on the road promoting his music, Sears served as musical director & lead guitarist for Soul singer David Hudson as well as guitarist/bassist and musical director for The Soul Generals while recording material for his 5th CD “Sweet Thang” By the end of the 2007 Reggie went on hiatus from music at age 16 after a series of personal tragedies struck. Sears slowly soldiered on, focusing mostly on production and songwriting. His 5th CD “Sweet Thang” was shelved in 2009 and remains unreleased. After a bout of depression & an attempt at suicide, he turned his life over to God and began touring again, albeit editing the lyrics to most of his songs and cleaning up his stage show considerably.
The next few years went by with a few singles and some sporadic tour dates on the Chittlin Circuit. In 2010 Sears won a Soul Patrol “best of” in the Slow Jam category for his digital-single “You Betrayed Me”. In November of that year he released his most successful single to date "Dirty Dancer" in mid-2010 which scraped the Southern Soul charts. That same year Reggie was nominated for Soul Blues Music's "Best New Artist".

Reggie began to embrace the Neo-Soul and Urban Adult Contemporary R&B sound with the release of the low-profile single "Can't Get You out of My System" in early 2011. Nothing else was heard from him until early 2012 when he released "With Every Beat of My Heart." By this time Sears had dedicated most of his time to preaching but continued performing locally while doing session work, appearing as the featured guitarist on Anakarenn's debut album as well as production work on Black Zack's "Southern Soul Radio" album as well as producing and mentoring local artists. He retreated back to the studio and began work on a new project titled "So Many Roads” slated for released in 2014 and will be his first full-length release in 7 years.

-Biography courtesy of Artist Direct.