Over the next four years, the Chairmen of the Board were among Soul Music's most consistent hitmakers, scoring big with "Pay to the Piper," "Finders Keepers," "Chairman of the Board," and the blissful "Everything's Tuesday." Johnson was also scoring as one of Invictus's hottest writers, penning such hits as Freda Payne's anti-war anthem "Bring the Boy's Home" and the Honey Cone's chart topper "Want Ads." However, contractual issues with Invictus (a common problem at that label) paralyzed the group, ultimately causing its break-up in 1975.

In 1980, Johnson re-formed the group with two other former members, Ken Knox and Danny Woods, and, still smarting from major label-itis, formed his own North Carolina-based Surfside label. The group has been together ever since, remaining a favorite local and international purveyor of "beach music," a somewhat amorphous term used to describe upbeat, danceable music derived from 60s and early 70s Soul Music. The group has continued to record with moderate success, scoring a surprise hit in Europe earlier this decade with the joyous "Bless Your Heart," a great tune and performance that sounds like it was plucked from their early 70s catalog. They followed its release with the album All In The Family, a solid album of both new material and newly recorded versions of older General Johnson compositions.

By Chris Rizik