When you hear the word “Detroit,” a couple of things surely come to mind: cars and music. If you’re a music lover, you’ve got to give props to the “Motor City” for being the place where the Motown sound was born.
In 1979, a couple of guys who’d left Detroit and headed South formed Surfside Records in Charlotte in 1979. It didn’t take long for the label to incorporate that brand of rhythm and blues into the beach music scene, singing “You’ve Got Me Dangling On A String” and “Carolina Girls” among other hits for going on 50 years.
And while Ken Knox is the only original band member still performing, the Chairmen of the Board continues to perform its brand of beach music, mixing the old standards with some of the more modern tunes to reach multiple generations of listeners.
The Chairmen of the Board is bringing its signature sound to McGregor Hall for a 7:30 p.m. performance on Friday, Feb. 13. Tickets available at the door.
Knox said this is the first time the band has performed in Henderson, but he was quick to bring up that he knows Henderson is where fellow musician Gerald Alston is from. Like Alston, Knox and the Chairmen of the Board are members of the N.C. Music Hall of Fame in Kannapolis.
“I owe it all to General Johnson and Danny Woods,” Knox said in an interview on TownTalk Wednesday.
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General Norman Johnson, the longtime “front man” of the group, died in 2010. Woods died in 2018, leaving Knox to keep the band going.
These days, he’s more of the front man for the group, and he shares the stage with Patrick McGuire and Thomas Hunter and their top-notch band The Executives.
“I’ve never wanted to be the lead guy,” Knox said. “I always wanted to be the guy on the sidelines.”
But, when Johnson’s health was failing, Knox said Johnson told him “’to go out and give the people what you know.’ And that was the music, the showmanship. And how to treat people,” Knox recalled.
“I made a promise to those guys to stay strong.”
He calls himself “everyday people,” someone who enjoys this time of year when indoor concert venues allow the band to be up close and personal with friends and fans they’re playing for.
What’s his favorite song?
Well, that’s like asking who’s your favorite child, he said. But if he had to choose a couple, he’d say “Patches” and “Give Me Just A Little More Time.”
You can bet they’ll be on Saturday’s set list.
