THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, September 29, 1996 TAG: 9609260155
SECTION: CAROLINA COAST PAGE: 24 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: John Harper
LENGTH: 107 lines
The Chairmen of the Board, led by General Johnson, brings its legendary beach music act to Elizabeth City on Friday.
Known for the hits ``Give Me Just A Little More Time,'' ``Pay to the Piper,'' ``Carolina Girls,'' ``Beach Fever,'' and ``You Got Me Dangling on a String,'' the Charlotte-based Chairmen will play at the ``End of Summer Dance'' in the K.E. White Center from 8 p.m. to midnight on Friday.
Johnson's career as a songwriter, performer and producer spans 36 years. The Norfolk native was just 17 when he signed a recording contract with Minit Records. With his group The Showmen, he cut a dozen songs for the New Orleans-based label.
But only one, ``It Will Stand,'' hit the Top 40 nationally.
Johnson's quivering, raspy tenor on the rock 'n' roll anthem helped it chart twice, in 1961 and 1964. Another track, ``39, 21, 40 Shape,'' was a regional hit and is now considered a Carolina beach music classic.
When The Showmen broke up in 1968, Johnson moved to Detroit. Almost immediately, he signed on with a budding record label called Invictus. The label's founders, Eddie Holland, Lamont Dozier and Brian Holland, were fresh from Motown Records where they wrote and produced some of the era's greatest discs.
Johnson found himself sharing office space with the three men whose songwriting credits included ``You Keep Me Hangin' On,'' ``Reach Out I'll Be There,'' ``Baby Love,'' ``Where Did Our Love Go,'' ``I Can't Help Myself,'' and dozens of other bits of Motown magic.
By 1969, Johnson had a group, The Chairman of the Board, and his first million seller, ``Give Me Just a Little More Time.'' Soon, the student to the men from Motown was penning hits for other artists. The group Honey Cone took Johnson's ``Want Ads,'' ``Stick Up,'' and ``One Monkey Don't Stop No Show'' into Billboard Magazine's top 20.
Another Johnson song, 1970's Grammy award-winning ``Patches,'' launched the career of Clarence Carter.
From 1970 to 1979, The Chairman of the Board (Johnson, Kenny Knox and Danny Woods) toured eight months a year, appearing in venues such as The Apollo Theatre in Harlem, The Hammer-Smith Odeon in London and The Warner Theatre in Washington, D.C.
Since the late '70s, Charlotte has been the group's base of operations. The Chairmen of the Board records on its own label, Surfside Records. And the ever-prolific Johnson still writes and produces dozens of records a year for his group and others.
Among the band's latest hits are ``Gone Fishin' '' and ``I Wanna Doop, Doop, Doop Your Doo Wop She Doo Wop.''
The Chairmen of the Board is known for its high-energy stage show, with its crackerjack backing band, The Executives, and Johnson and Woods sharing center stage. Audience members often are invited on stage to share in the backup vocals as The Chairmen run through the hits.
In front of the stage, everybody shags.
This official dance of the Carolinas is much safer than moshing.
Tickets for The Chairmen of the Board dance are available at the Elizabeth City Chamber office at 502 Ehringhaus St. for $25, which includes beverages and hors d'oeuvres. For more information, call (919) 335-4355. Let It Beatles
Call them the ``Fab Two.''
Tim Beasley and Bill Staley impersonate John Lennon and Paul McCartney in a stage act called ``The '60s Beat,'' which opens Friday at George's Junction in Nags Head.
Beasley, a Virginia Beach-based actor, and Staley, a Great Bridge Middle School English teacher, play faithful renditions of Fab Four hits in a program that spans the Beatles' remarkable 1964-1970 recording career.
``I always knew I looked like him,'' says Beasley, who portrays Lennon on stage.``I had long hair when I first saw The Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1964. All I had to do was wash it and I had a Beatle haircut.''
Beasley, who also works as an Elvis impersonator, first met Staley about two years ago while performing as Lennon at Abbey Road Restaurant in Virginia Beach.
``I had been doing Lennon for years,'' Beasley says. ``Bill just walked up to me and said he impersonated Paul McCartney. We did a few songs together. It was a natural fit. Just like when John met Paul.''
So far, the duo has made about 50 appearances here, there and everywhere as The Beatles' songwriting team, including one really big show last year at Planet Music in Virginia Beach. The pair played 20 Beatles songs for the Fab Four fans who had lined up at midnight to buy the real band's first ``Anthology'' set.
Beasley says a typical ``60s Beat'' show contains about 50 songs - with equal parts performed by Lennon and McCartney.
``The show goes in chronological order,'' Beasley says. ``We always start with ``I Want To Hold Your Hand'' and we always end with a song from ``Let It Be.''
Both Beasley and Staley bear a resemblance to the moptops they impersonate. And over the course of the 2- to 3-hour show, the men go from Beatle boots and collarless suits to Nehru jackets and love beads to reflect the Beatles' fickle fashion statements.
But wait a minute. Weren't there four Beatles? What's up with no George and Ringo?
``We always tell people we're a '90s business,'' Beasley says. ``We've just downsized.'' Where: at George's Junction, M.P. 11 on the Beach Road, Nags Head MEMO: WHAT AND WHERE
Who: Lennon and McCartney impersonators, The '60s Beat Where: at
George's Junction, M.P. 11 on the Beach Road, Nags Heads When: at 10
p.m. Friday
Cost: Tickets $3 each
For more information: 441-0606 ILLUSTRATION: Photo courtesy of INSIGHT TALENT, INC.
The Chairmen of the Board, led by songwriter, performer and producer
General Johnson, center, will perform at the K.E. White Center on
Friday from 8 p.m. to midnight. Sharing center stage are Kenny Knox
and Danny Woods. by CNB