Chairmen of the Board (band)

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Chairmen of the Board
Origin Detroit, Michigan
Genre(s) Soul
Years active 1967–1976
Website Official website
For the position of chairperson of a board of directors, see Chair (official).

Chairmen of the Board is a Detroit, Michigan based soul music group active mostly in the 1970s, that is still touring today.

Contents

[edit] Recording career

General Norman Johnson (born 23 May 1943, Norfolk, Virginia) 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 "39-21-46".

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 which became increasingly showcased, with the group selling a million plus copies of their single, "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 Grammy Award winning ballad when 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 still records.

[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:
  1. Reissued as Give Me Just a Little More Time
  1. UK only release.

[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"
(billed as General Johnson and the Chairmen of the Board)		 n/a - - 56

[edit] References