The General Dead At 67

General Norman Johnson, lead singer of the soul vocal trio Chairmen of the Board, died Wednesday at age 67.

His group was best known for the song “Give Me Just a Little More Time,” a favorite of Carolina beach music and shag dancing aficionados. It’s a defining song of the Southern soul sub-genre. The track climbed to No. 3 on the Billboard singles chart in 1970. The group would release three more Top 40 hits in 1970, but that was the end of the Chairmen’s chart run.

Johnson was born in Virginia but started his career in Raleigh, N.C., with another beach music phenomenon, the Showmen (“It Will Stand”), before relocating to Detroit in the late 1960s. The Chairmen of the Board came together there, but the group later flew south, where there was always demand for the singers who created beach music’s classics.


These guys defined Carolina Beach Music in the day and my subsequent hide out - Myrtle Beach, The General will be sorely missed. I had a lot of more poignant things to say and then I realized I didn't. RIP General.