Chairmen of the Board

Chairmen of the Board
Chairmen of the Board
	Chairmen of the Board's General Norman Johnson in 2007
Background information
Origin	Detroit, Michigan, United States
Genres	Soul
Years active	1967–present
Labels	Invictus, Surfside Records, MoPhilly
Website	www.thechairmenoftheboard.com
Members	Ken Knox; Thomas Hunter; Brandon Stevens
Past members	General Johnson (deceased); Eddie Custis; Harrison Kennedy; Danny Woods (deceased); Darryl Johnson; Richard Figueroa

Chairmen of the Board is an American-Canadian, Detroit, Michigan-based soul music group, who saw their greatest commercial success in the 1970s.

Recording career

General Johnson (1941–2010)[1] had a hit as the lead singer of The Showmen in the early 1960s, with the New Orleans rock and roll anthem "It Will Stand" and Carolina Beach classic "39-21-40 Shape".

When Holland/Dozier/Holland left Motown in 1967 to establish their own Invictus/Hot Wax group of record labels, they teamed Johnson up with Eddie Custis, Danny Woods and Canadian born Harrison Kennedy as the new company's flagship act, under the appropriate name "Chairmen of the Board". Custis left the group after their second album.

Although they all had a turn at lead vocals, it was Johnson's quirky hiccup-laden style and his songwriting that became increasingly showcased, with the group selling a million plus copies of their single, "Give Me Just a Little More Time". The disc was released in December 1969, reached number three on the US Billboard Hot 100, with one million sales confirmed in May 1970, when the group were presented with a gold record by the R.I.A.A.[2] Chairmen of the Board also charted with "(You've Got Me) Dangling on a String", "Everything's Tuesday", "Pay to the Piper", "Finders Keepers" and (in the UK) "Working on a Building of Love" and "Elmo James". They also recorded the original version of "Patches", co-written by Johnson, which became a 1970 hit for Clarence Carter. The song received a Grammy Award in 1971.

Kennedy, Woods and Johnson all went on to record solo albums, whilst Johnson wrote and produced (with Greg Perry) for other Invictus/Hot Wax acts, notably Honey Cone. Kennedy having left, Johnson and Woods toured the UK in 1976 with six musicians as Chairmen of the Board. The final night of the tour was at Middleton Civic Hall on March 11, 1976. The act was broken up immediately afterwards, Johnson having signed for Arista Records as a solo artist.

In 1978, Johnson reformed the Chairmen of the Board along with Danny Woods and Ken Knox. In 1980, the new Chairmen founded Surfside Records and began recording beach music. The group remain popular on the beach scene, and Surfside Records still exists as an independent record label based in Charlotte, North Carolina.

The Chairmen of the Board (General Johnson, Danny Woods and Ken Knox) were inducted into the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame in 1999.[3]

General Johnson continued to perform with Woods and Knox as the "Chairmen of the Board" until his death from lung cancer in 2010.[4]

In 2012, Chairmen of the Board released a single, "You", which was written and produced by Knox. In 2013, former member Harrison Kennedy was nominated for a Blues Music Award in the "Acoustic Artist" category.[5]

Danny Woods (born Daniel Woods, Jr. on March 27, 1942 in Atlanta, Georgia) died on January 12, 2018, at the age of 75.[6][7]

Discography

Albums

Year	Album	US Top 200	US R&B	UK Albums Chart
1970	The Chairmen of the Board ¹	133	27	-
1970	In Session	117	16	-
1972	Bittersweet	178	-	-
1973	Greatest Hits ²	-	-	-
1974	Skin I'm In	-	52	-
1980	Success	-	-	-
1983	A Gift of Beach Music	-	-	-
1987	The Music	-	-	-
1990	Alive and Kickin'	-	-	-
1993	What Goes Around Comes Around	-	-	-
2006	Beach Music Anthology	-	-	-
Notes: Reissued as Give Me Just a Little More Time UK only release

Chart singles

Year	A-side / B-side	Album	US Hot 100	US R&B	AUS[8]	UK Singles Chart[9]
1970	"Give Me Just a Little More Time"/ "Since the Days of Pigtails"	The Chairmen of the Board	3	8	90	3
1970	"(You've Got Me) Dangling on a String"/ "I'll Come Crawling"	The Chairmen of the Board	38	19	-	5
1970	"Everything's Tuesday"/ "Patches"	In Session	38	14	-	12
1971	"Pay to the Piper"/ "Bless You"	In Session	13	4	67	34
1971	"Chairman of the Board"/ "When Will She Tell Me She Needs Me"	In Session	42	10	-	48
1971	"Hanging On to a Memory"/ "Tricked and Trapped"	In Session	-	28	-	-
1971	"Try On My Love for Size"/ "Working on a Building of Love"		-	48 -	-	20
1971	"Men Are Getting Scarce"/ "Bravo, Hooray"	Bittersweet	-	33	-	-
1972	"Everybody's Got a Song to Sing"/ "Working on a Building of Love"		-	30 -	-	-
1972	"Elmo James"/ "Bittersweet"	Bittersweet	-	-	-	21
1972	"I'm On My Way to a Better Place"/ "So Glad You're Mine"	Fresh	-	-	-	30
1973	"Finders Keepers"/ "Finders Keepers" (Instrumental)	Skin I'm In	59	7	-	21
1974	"Everybody Party All Night"/ "Morning Glory" (Instrumental)	Skin I'm In	-	80	-	-
1986	"Lover Boy" (billed as General Johnson and the Chairmen of the Board)	n/a	-	-	-	56
2012	"You" Chairmen of the Board	n/a	-	-	-	-

Bibliography

The Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Black Music - Salamandar Books - ISBN 0-86101-145-7

References

Wilson, Deryck (2010). "Beach music icon General Johnson dies". The Charlotte Observer. Archived from the original on January 19, 2013. Retrieved October 14, 2010.
Murrells, Joseph (1978). The Book of Golden Discs (2nd ed.). London: Barrie and Jenkins Ltd. p. 255. ISBN 0-214-20512-6.
"1999 Inductees". North Carolina Music Hall of Fame. Retrieved September 10, 2012.
Brown, Steven (14 October 2010). "Beach music icon General Johnson dies". The Charlotte Observer. Archived from the original on 19 January 2013. Retrieved 14 October 2010.
"Blues Music Awards Nominees - 2013 - 34th Blues Music Awards". Blues.org. Retrieved 2013-03-20.
Daniel Woods Jr. March 27, 1942 ~ January 12, 2018 (age 75) accessdate July 20, 2018
"Passings: Danny Woods, Co-Founder of Chairmen of the Board (1944 - 2018)". Vintagevinylnews.com. Retrieved 16 January 2018.
Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. p. 59. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 99. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.

External links

General Johnson & The Chairmen Of The Board interview by Pete Lewis, 'Blues & Soul' August 1987 (reprinted December 2010)

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[1] Wilson, Deryck (2010). "Beach music icon General Johnson dies". The Charlotte Observer. Archived from the original on January 19, 2013. Retrieved October 14, 2010.

[The_Book_of_Golden_Discs-2] Murrells, Joseph (1978). The Book of Golden Discs (2nd ed.). London: Barrie and Jenkins Ltd. p. 255. ISBN 0-214-20512-6.

[3] "1999 Inductees". North Carolina Music Hall of Fame. Retrieved September 10, 2012.

[charlotte_dead-4] Brown, Steven (14 October 2010). "Beach music icon General Johnson dies". The Charlotte Observer. Archived from the original on 19 January 2013. Retrieved 14 October 2010.

[5] "Blues Music Awards Nominees - 2013 - 34th Blues Music Awards". Blues.org. Retrieved 2013-03-20.

[6] Daniel Woods Jr. March 27, 1942 ~ January 12, 2018 (age 75) accessdate July 20, 2018

[7] "Passings: Danny Woods, Co-Founder of Chairmen of the Board (1944 - 2018)". Vintagevinylnews.com. Retrieved 16 January 2018.

[aus-8] Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. p. 59. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.

[British_Hit_Singles_&_Albums-9] Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 99. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.