Chairmen of the Board (band)

Chairmen of the Board
Chairmen of the Board's General Norman Johnson in 2007
Background information
Origin	Detroit, Michigan, United States
Genres	Soul
Years active	1967–Present
Labels	Invictus, Surfside Records, MoPhilly
Website	www.thechairmenoftheboard.com
Members	Ken Knox Thomas Hunter, Brandon Stevens
Past members	General Johnson (deceased) Eddie Custis Harrison Kennedy Danny Woods Darryl Johnson Richard Figueroa

Chairmen of the Board is an American-Canadian, Detroit, Michigan-based soul music group, who saw their greatest commercial success in the 1970s.

General Johnson (1943 - 2010) 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 "39-21-40 Shape".

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.

Although they all had a turn at lead vocals, it was Johnson's quirky hiccup-laden style and his songwriting that became increasingly showcased, with the group selling a million plus copies of their single, "Give Me Just a Little More Time". The disc was released in December 1969, reached number three on the US Billboard Hot 100, with one million sales confirmed in May 1970, when the group were presented with a gold record by the R.I.A.A. Chairmen of the Board also charted with "(You've Got Me) Dangling on a String", "Everything's Tuesday", "Pay to the Piper", "Finders Keepers" and (in the UK) "Working on a Building of Love" and "Elmo James". They also recorded the original version of "Patches", co-written by Johnson, which became a 1970 hit for Clarence Carter. The song received a Grammy Award in 1971.