Chairmen of the Board
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Chairmen of the Board was a Detroit-based soul music group active in the 1970s.
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[edit] Recording career
General Norman Johnson (born 23 May 1943, Virginia) had a hit as the lead singer of The Showmen in the early 1960s, with the New Orleans rock 'n' roll anthem "It Will Stand".
When Holland/Dozier/Holland left Motown in 1967 to establish their own Invictus/Hot Wax group of 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 General Johnson's quirky hiccup-laden style and his songwriting which became increasingly showcased, wit hthe group selling a million plus copies of "Give Me Just A Little More Time". Chairmen of the Board also scored with "You've Got Me Dangling On A String", "Pay To the Piper", "Everything's Tuesday", "Working On A Building Of Love", "Elmo James", "Finders Keepers", and the original version of "Patches", a memorable ballad later covered with great success by Clarence Carter.
Kennedy, Woods and Johnson all went on to cut solo albums of varying quality, whilst Johnson wrote and produced (with Greg Perry) for other Invictus/Hot Wax acts, notably Honey Cone. Harrison having left, Johnson and Woods toured the UK in 1976 with six musicians as "Chairmen of the Board", but 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. In 1980, the new Chairmen founded Surfside Records, for which the group records for to this day.
[edit] Discography
[edit] Albums
| Year | Album | US Top 200 | US R&B | UK 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 | ||||
Notes:
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[edit] Charting singles discography
| Year | A-side / B-side | Album | US Hot 100 | US R&B | UK Chart |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 | "Chairmen 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 | "Working On A Building Of Love"/ "Try My Love For Size" |
Bittersweet | - | - 48 |
20 |
| 1971 | "Men Are Getting Scarce"/ "Bravo, Hooray" |
Bittersweet | - | 33 | - |
| 1972 | "Working On A Building Of Love"/ "Everybody's Got A Song To Sing" |
Bittersweet | - | - 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 | - |
| 1974 | "Lover Boy" (General Johnson and the Chairmen of the Board) |
n/a | - | - | 56 |
[edit] References
- British Hit Singles - 15th Edition - ISBN 0-85112-187-X
- The Illustrated Music of Black Music - Salamandar Books - ISBN 0-86101-145-7
