Chairmen of the Board is an American-Canadian, Detroit, Michigan-based soul… Read Full Bio ↴Chairmen of the Board is an American-Canadian, Detroit, Michigan-based soul music group, who saw their greatest commercial success in the 1970s.
General Norman Johnson (23 May 1943, Norfolk, VA – 13 Oct 2010, Atlanta, GA), had a hit as the lead singer of The Showmen, in the early '60s, 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-up Johnson with Eddie Custis, Danny Woods &, Canadian born, Harrison Kennedy - as the new company's flagship act - under the appropriate name 'Chairmen of the Board'. Dozier explained, according to Songfacts: "We called them that because of their extraordinary talents. They each played several instruments, sang and wrote songs as well." 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.
The Chairmen of the Board (General Johnson, Danny Woods and Ken Knox) were inducted into the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame in 1999.
General Johnson continued to perform with Woods and Knox as the "Chairmen of the Board" until his death from lung cancer in 2010.
In 2012, Chairmen of the Board released a single, "You", which was written and produced by Knox.
In 2013, former member Harrison Kennedy was nominated for a Blues Music Award in the "Acoustic Artist" category.
Danny Woods died in January 2018.
General Norman Johnson (23 May 1943, Norfolk, VA – 13 Oct 2010, Atlanta, GA), had a hit as the lead singer of The Showmen, in the early '60s, 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-up Johnson with Eddie Custis, Danny Woods &, Canadian born, Harrison Kennedy - as the new company's flagship act - under the appropriate name 'Chairmen of the Board'. Dozier explained, according to Songfacts: "We called them that because of their extraordinary talents. They each played several instruments, sang and wrote songs as well." 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.
The Chairmen of the Board (General Johnson, Danny Woods and Ken Knox) were inducted into the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame in 1999.
General Johnson continued to perform with Woods and Knox as the "Chairmen of the Board" until his death from lung cancer in 2010.
In 2012, Chairmen of the Board released a single, "You", which was written and produced by Knox.
In 2013, former member Harrison Kennedy was nominated for a Blues Music Award in the "Acoustic Artist" category.
Danny Woods died in January 2018.
Finders Keepers
Chairmen Of The Board Lyrics
Instrumental
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@thomasminarchickjr.7355
Eddie Hazel, Billy Bass Nelson, Timi Fulwood and Bernie Worrell left P-Funk and became their backing band (CotB) for this album. Eddie and Billy also played on the Temptations albums 1990 and Song for You too. In fact, Billy Bass played most of the early Commodores bass parts and taught them to their bass player for the road. He also plays on Rose Royces tracks, such as Car Wash
@marksmith7202
An unsung masterpiece
@RonWylie-gk5lc
Soul music doesn't get any better than this, everything about it is amazing
@jeremybevacqua9262
2:18, At 1st I thought this was a keyboard doing a pitch modulation but it is actually the trombone! What a beast, one of my favorite solos I have ever heard, and I've been playing the instrument for 20 years.
@marqdiamond390
R.I.P. General Johnson
@Ston247
This was just before the death of Bruce Lee 1973. I was 10-11. After seeing this episode of Soul Train my cousin and I went to a little record store near River Ave. and bought the 45. Bernie Worrell was one of the masters of the Clavinet. It was the sound of the 70's, had a very short life span (until around '79) and a very specific sound.
George Clinton and Jeffery Bowen had a joint venture in Revilot Records. But because they were both Leo's and had strong personalities, they often clashed on many issues. Funkadelic played on Ruth Copeland's album (Jeffery's wife) with Eddie Hazel on guitar at that time.
@ivorcurtis3586
My personal favourite funk record ever! And one of my favourite albums.
@loveu1ish
This jam could knock you out the minute the needle touches the record !!!!!!
@song-rz6hi
awesome comment!
@Zephaniah3verse17
Destination FUNK!!! This classic hotted up the great summer of 1973 (which was pretty hot in UK anyway).