Chairmen of the Board
Chairmen of the Board | |
---|---|
Origin | Detroit, Michigan, United States |
Genres | Soul, Beach music |
Years active | 1967–present |
Labels | Invictus, Surfside Records |
Members | Ken Knox Thomas Hunter Richard Carey Figueroa (Riche Rich) |
Past members | General Norman Johnson (deceased) Eddie Custis Harrison Kennedy Danny Woods Darryl Johnson |
Website | Official website |
Chairmen of the Board is a Detroit, Michigan-based soul music group active mostly in the 1970s, that is still touring today.
Recording career
General Norman Johnson (May 23, 1943, Norfolk, Virginia – October 13, 2010, Atlanta, Georgia)[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.
Though 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 #3 on the 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", a 1970 hit for Clarence Carter, whose recording 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. Appearing at Middleton Civic Hall on March 11th 1976 and this was to be their final performance as they were not as successful as before. 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, for which the group still records. Surfside Records is an independent record label based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The reformed group had a regional hit with "Carolina Girls", a popular beach music song in North and South Carolina.
The Chairmen of the Board 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]
Woods left the group to pursue a solo career, but Knox continued to tour in 2011 as "The Chairmen of the Board" with new members, Thomas Hunter and Richard [Riche Rich] Carey Figueroa.
In 2013, former member Harrison Kennedy was nominated for a Blues Music Award in the 'Acoustic Artist' category.[5]
Discography
Albums
Year | Album | U.S. Top 200 | U.S. 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 | - | ||
2006 | Beach Music Anthology | - | - | - | ||
Notes:
|
Chart singles
Year | A-side / B-side | Album | U.S. Hot 100 | U.S. R&B | UK Singles Chart[6] |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1970 | "Give Me Just a Little More Time"/ "Since the Days of Pigtails" |
The Chairmen of the Board | 3 | 8 | 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 | 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 |
Bibliography
- The Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Black Music - Salamandar Books - ISBN 0-86101-145-7
References
- ^ Wilson, Deryck (2010). ""Beach music icon General Johnson dies"". Charlotte Observer. Retrieved October 14, 2010.
{{cite web}}
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(help) - ^ 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". Charlotte Observer. Retrieved 14 October 2010.
- ^ "Blues Music Awards Nominees - 2013 - 34th Blues Music Awards". Blues.org. Retrieved 2013-03-20.
- ^ Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 99. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.