Chairman Of The Board

Nearly forty years after crashing onto the pop and soul charts with the hit "Give Me Just A Little More Time," the Chairmen of the Board continue to defy gravity, regularly playing to sellout crowds and recording while many of their early 70s R&B peers have long since left the music industry.
My career has been a long exciting journey with all roads leading to the musical oasis called Beach Music. In the spring of 1966 in Raleigh, North Carolina, as lead singer of the Showmen, I performed before my first Beach Music audience. Thinking Beach Music was music by artist like The Beach Boys and Jan and Dean, we nervously performed a variety of rhythm and blues classics. Surprisingly, each song was met with the audience's approval. As we ended the show with our regional hit "39-21-46" and our nationally charted hit song, "It Will Stand," the audience responded by applauding us back for an encore. Because we didn't know any other songs to perform, we sang two more verses of "It Will Stand" and spontaneously, began to adlib the chorus of Bruce Channel's song "Hey Baby." As we sang "Hey Baby," we waved our hands in the air and to our surprise, everyone in the audience responded by doing the same. When we concluded the show with a bow, the audience showed their appreciation by rewarding us with another thunderous round of applause. That spring night, I understood, appreciated and became a part of the Beach Music phenomenon.
Lakefront stage