Chairmen of the Board

Chairmen of the Board was a Detroit-based soul music group active in the 1970s.

Recording career

General Norman Johnson (born 23 May, 1943, Virginia) had a much loved hit as the lead singer of The Showmen in the early 1960s, with the New Orleans' anthem to rock 'n' roll, "It Will Stand".

When Holland/Dozier/Holland left Motown in 1969 to establish their own Invictus/Hot Wax group of labels, they teamed Johnson up with Eddie Custis (who was to leave after their second album), Danny Woods and Canadian born Harrison Kennedy as the new company's flagship act, under the appropriate name "Chairmen of the Board".

Though they all had a turn at lead vocals, it was General Johnson's quirky hiccup-laden style and his superb songs which became increasingly showcased, 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", the frenetically exciting "Finders Keepers" and the original 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 they were merely trading on past glories and broke the act up immediately after, Johnson having signed for Arista Records as a solo artist.

Discography

Album discography

Title	UK ref. no.	US ref. no.
The Chairmen Of The Board	SVT 1002	ST 7300
In Session	SVT 1003	ST 7304
Bittersweet	SVT 1006	ST 9801
Greatest Hits	SVT 1009
Skin I'm In	65668	KZ32536

UK single discography

Single Title	Label ref. no.	Entered UK charts	Highest UK position
"Give Me Just A Little More Time"	Invictus 501	August 1970	No 3
"You've Got Me Dangling On A String"	Invictus 504	November 1970	No 5
"Everything's Tuesday"	Invictus 507	February 1971	No 12
"Pay To The Piper"	Invictus 511	May 1971	No 34
"Chairman Of The Board"	Invictus 516	September 1971	No 48
"Working On A Building Of Love"	Invictus 519	July 1972	No 20
"Elmo James"	Invictus 524	October 1972	No 21
"I'm On My Way To A Better Place"	Invictus 527	December 1972	No 38
"I'm On My Way To A Better Place" (re-entry)	Invictus 527	January 1973	No 30
"Finder's Keepers"	Invictus 530	June 1973	No 21
"You've Got Extra Added Power In Your Love"	Invictus 4507
"Loverboy" (featuring General Johnson)	EMI 5585	September 1986	No 56

References

• British Hit Singles - 15th Edition - ISBN 0-85112-187-X
• The Illustrated Music of Black Music - Salamandar Books - ISBN 0-86101-145-7