Dale Houston

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Dale Houston (April 23, 1940September 27, 2007) was an American singer who, along with his performing partner, Grace Broussard, rocketed to the top of the Billboard chart with two rock and roll hits - gold records with more than 1 million copies sold - "I'm Leaving It Up to You" (No. 1) and "Stop and Think It Over" (No. 8) in 1963 and 1964, respectively. In his later years, Houston was reunited on stage with Broussard.

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[edit] Life

[edit] Early years

Houston was born to Claude Houston and the former Essie Walters in Seminary, a small town in Covington County in southern Mississippi. He was delivered by a midwife on the family's kitchen table. The Houstons thereafter moved to nearby Collins, the seat of Covington County, where the senior Houston surrendered to the Christian ministry. Young Dale began piano lessons when he was a sixth grader, but the family stopped his training after three months because of financial difficulties. Thereafter, Dale was self-taught: his musical skills were enhanced by playing and singing in church.

At the age of eighteen, Houston recorded "Lonely Man," which reached No. 75 nationally. In 1960, while he was performing in Baton Rouge, record executive Sam Montel caught Houston's act in a local bar. Montel declared Houston "a pretty good writer" and signed him to compose exclusively for his label. Houston then wrote and recorded "Lonely Room," "Bird With A Broken Wing," and "That's What I Like About Us," none of which was particularly successful.

[edit] Partnership with Grace Broussard

In 1963, Houston was working in a bar in Ferriday, a small town in Concordia Parish, Louisiana along the Mississippi River. Montel approached Houston about teaming up with a female singer, Grace Broussard (born 1939) of Prairieville in Ascension Parish near Baton Rouge. The two met and practiced on Montel's home piano for four hours. When Houston began to play an old Don and Dewey song from the mid-1950s, "I'm Leaving It Up To You," Montel was awakened and declared that it would be "a hit!" According to The Billboard Book of Number One Hits by Fred Bronson, the song broke at Top 40 radio station KNUZ in Houston, where it was unanimously voted the "pick hit of the week" by the station's panel of seven deejays; Montel wanted to change the key in which the violins were recorded, but was persuaded by the KNUZ deejays to leave the recording as it was. Montel was vindicated when in November 1963, "I'm Leaving It Up To You" reached No. 1 on the U.S. chart, where it remained for two weeks.[1] The song also reached #1 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart.

In the autumn of 1963, Houston and Broussard toured with Dick Clark's Caravan of Stars. He appeared on Clark's American Bandstand program. The Clark caravan, which also included Brian Hyland and Bobby Vee, was standing on a street corner in Dallas waving at Kennedy on that fateful November 22. The limousine was two blocks away from the caravan when the president was killed, and Texas Governor John B. Connally was seriously wounded. According to Sam Montel in The Billboard Book of Number One Hits, the group went back to their hotel rooms after waving to Kennedy and didn't hear about the assassination until several hours later. ("I'm Leaving It Up To You" was also No. 1 when Kennedy was assassinated.) Six days later, Houston spent Thanksgiving Day at Clark's home.

Dale and Grace then produced "Stop And Think It Over", which went to No. 8 in 1964. However, the popularity of The Beatles, combined with personal problems between the two performers, Grace's homesickness, and a serious illness which landed Dale in the hospital, caused the duo to separate in 1965.

[edit] Later works

Houston then teamed with Connie Sattenfield to create a new "Dale and Grace", but their Cajun-country rock was out of style. No major hits followed. Grace Broussard and her brother also toured as another "Dale and Grace".

In the mid 1980s, Houston's wife, Patricia, succeeded in reuniting Dale with Grace Broussard, who had also married. Thereafter, Houston and Patricia divorced.

Meanwhile, the second "Grace", Connie Sattenfield, teamed up with Jimmy Jordan, who began to use the stage name of "Dale." The pair recorded the album Dale and Grace - Together Again and toured as 'The All New Dale & Grace Show'. The pair produced the gospel album Dale & Grace - In God's Hands in 1998. They operate Dale & Grace Ministries and offer a syndicated gospel radio program. Although the name of their act is the same, the duo readily explains that the two are not the original 'Dale and Grace' who sold over 7.5 million rock and roll records. Still, the similarity of the name confuses some fans.

[edit] Death

Dale Houston died at Wesley Medical Center in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. He was survived by four sons, Rusty Houston, of Lafayette, Chuck Houston of Monroe, Gary Wilson, of Little Rock, Arkansas, and Jeffrey Dale Houston, of Baton Rouge; two daughters, Vicki Lynn Houston-Hogg of Monroe, and Robin Houston Cannatella and her husband, John, of Baton Rouge; a brother, Don Houston and his wife, Barbara, of Cut Off in Lafourche Parish; two sisters, Judy Sykes and her husband, Tom, and Claudette Cascio, all of Sanford in Covington County; his singing partner, Grace Broussard, of Prairieville; seven grandchildren, and one great-grandchild.

Services were held on October 2, 2007, at the Wade-Nowell Funeral Home in Collins, Mississippi. Singer Troy Shondell gave a musical tribute to Houston, and two ministers, Glen Shoemake and Kendall Walters, officiated. Interment was in Smyrna Cemetery in Collins.

[edit] Honors

In 1995, Dale and Grace, having been reunited, were honored in Mississippi through resolutions of the Covington County Board of Supervisors and the Town of Seminary.

In 2000, the State of Louisiana inducted Houston into its Hall of Fame, and that same year, he received the "Louisiana Living Legends Award" from the Public Broadcasting Service. Earlier, he was inducted into the Texas Music Hall of Fame and the Gulf Coast Music Hall of Fame, both in 1998.

In 2007, newly-elected Louisiana Secretary of State Jay Dardenne announced that Houston and Broussard, along with John Fred and the Playboys founded by John Fred Gourrier (1941-2005) of Baton Rouge, were being named to the Delta Music Hall of Fame. To garner such an honor, one must have national or international recognition, said the museum director, Judith Bingham. Dale and Grace performed at the festival in Ferriday, where Houston had attended the ninth and tenth grades decades earlier at Ferriday High School.

In October of 2007, The Louisiana Music Hall Of Fame honored Dale & Grace for their contributions to Louisiana music by inducting them into The Louisiana Music Hall Of Fame.

"I'm Leaving It Up To You" has been a favorite of male-female duos for years and was performed by Sonny & Cher and Donny and Marie Osmond, who returned it to the top ten in 1974 (under the revised title "I'm Leaving It (All) Up To You") and released an album entitled I'm Leaving It All Up to You. Donny and Marie's version of the song also was a Top 20 country hit and won the 1974 Grammy for Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Joel Whitburn, Top Pop Singles 1955-1999 (Menomonee Falls, WI: Record Research, 2000), 923.

[edit] External links