THE CHAIRMEN OF THE BOARD

The Chairmen of the Board enjoyed four consecutive top forty hits in a mere ten months.

Their lead vocalist, General Norman Johnson, had started singing in Norfolk, Virginia, at age twelve, with a doo-wop group called the Humdingers. During his senior year of high school, Johnson formed a new group called the Showmen, who worked with the legendary New Orleans producer, Allen Toussaint. Their first single was the rock & roll anthem, “It Will Stand.” It reached #61 on the Billboard Hot 100 in early 1962 and became a huge favorite on the Beach Music scene in the Carolinas. It also returned to the Hot 100 in 1964, topping out at #80. And the Showmen’s 1963 single, “39-21-46,” made Billboard’s “Bubbling Under the Hot 100” chart four years after its initial release.

By 1967, Johnson had relocated to Detroit. That same year, Motown lost its highly successful songwriting/production triumvirate, H-D-H (brothers Eddie and Brian Holland, and Lamont Dozier). The trio started their own group of record labels, Hot Wax/Invictus. H-D-H teamed up Johnson with Philadelphia native Eddie Custis, Danny Woods from Atlanta, and Canadian-born Harrison Kennedy as the company’s flagship act, the Chairmen of the Board.

While each group member had the chance to sing lead, it was Johnson’s quirky hiccup-laden style that became the Chairmen’s identifying sound. Their first Invictus release was also their biggest. “Give Me Just a Little More Time” entered the Billboard charts in January of 1970. It peaked at #8 in the Soul market and did even better on the pop side, topping out at #3. It also went to #3 in England. At the same time, another soul man, Clarence Carter, rode the charts with “Patches,” written by General Johnson and first recorded by the Chairmen in 1969.

Their second release, “(You’ve Got Me) Dangling on a String,” hit #19 Soul and #38 pop and did even better in England, where it topped out at #5. Their third single, “Everything’s Tuesday,” also met with a more receptive audience in the UK, where it hit #12 (as opposed to #14 Soul and #38 pop in the US). In early 1971, the American audience rediscovered the Chairmen, pushing “Pay to the Piper” to #4 Soul and #13 pop. (In the UK, it petered out at #34.) However, a pair of the group’s 1972 singles, “Elmo James” and “I’m On My Way to a Better Place,” did not chart in the U.S. but went top thirty in England.

Eddie Custis left the Chairmen after their second album. The other three members carried on as a trio, and each recorded a solo LP. Johnson also produced and wrote for other Hot Wax/Invictus acts. His compositions include 100 Proof Aged in Soul’s “Somebody’s Been Sleeping,” Freda Payne’s “Bring the Boys Home,” and the Honey Cone’s “Want Ads,” “Stick Up,” and “One Monkey Don’t Shop No Show.”

With Harrison Kennedy having quit the group, General Johnson and Danny Woods toured the UK in 1976 with a half-dozen musicians as the Chairmen of the Board. The group disbanded after the tour and Johnson signed with Arista. However, he re-formed the Chairmen with Danny Woods and Ken Knox in 1978. Their live act became immensely popular on the aforementioned Beach Music scene.

In 1999, the Chairmen of the Board were inducted into the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame. Two years later, the Virginia General Assembly designated June 9, 2001 as “General Johnson Day” in that state. In 2012, the Chairmen released a single, “You,” written and produced by Knox.

General Johnson, 69, died of lung cancer on October 13, 2010; and Danny Woods, 75, died on January 12, 2018.

Rock critic Dave Marsh included the Showmen’s “It Will Stand” and the Chairmen of the Board’s “Give Me Just a Little More Time” in his 1989 book, The Heart of Rock and Soul: The 1001 Greatest Singles Ever Made.

Charted singles:

“Give Me Just a Little More Time” (1970) R&B #8, Pop #3
“(You’ve Got Me) Dangling on a String” (1980) R&B #19, Pop #38
“Everything’s Tuesday” (1970) R&B #14, Pop #38
“Pay to the Piper” (1970-71) R&B #4, Pop #13
“Chairman of the Board” (1971) R&B #10, Pop #42
“Hanging On to a Memory” (1971) R&B #28, Pop #111
“Try On My Love for Size” (1971) R&B #48, Pop #103
“Men Are Getting Scarce” (1971) R&B #33, Pop #104
“Everybody’s Got a Song to Sing” (1972) R&B #30
“Finders Keepers” (1973) R&B #7, Pop #59
“Everybody Party All Night” (1974) R&B #80