Early years Robert Dale Houston He was delivered by a
midwife on the family's kitchen table. The Houstons thereafter moved to nearby
Collins, the county seat, where Claude Houston entered the
Christian ministry. In 1960, she released a single "Feel So Good" (b/w "Young Girls") with him under the name Van & Grace on Montel Records. When Houston began to play a song written and recorded in 1957 by African-American performers
Don and Dewey--"I'm Leaving it Up to You"—Montel, asleep in the next room, woke up screaming: “Play it again! That's a hit!” Montel's prophecy was vindicated when "I'm Leaving It Up to You" reached No. 1 on the U.S.
chart, where it remained for two weeks. Dale and Grace performed on tour with another Louisiana singer,
Jay Chevalier. The song was
No. 1 during the week that Kennedy was assassinated and also reached No. 1 on the
Billboard Adult Contemporary chart. The duo appeared on
Dick Clark's
American Bandstand in August 1964. In autumn 1963, they toured with his Caravan of Stars. The group, which also included
Brian Hyland and
Bobby Vee, was standing on a street corner on Main Street in
Dallas waving at
John F. Kennedy on that fateful
day. Moments later, the
presidential limousine turned right onto, ironically, Houston Street, then left onto Elm Street, where the president was killed and
Governor John B. Connally was seriously wounded. The stars had gone back to their hotel rooms after waving to Kennedy and did not hear about the assassination until several hours later.
Breaking up The popularity of
The Beatles, combined with personal problems between the two performers, Broussard's homesickness, and a serious illness which landed Houston in the hospital, caused the duo to separate in 1965. Grace returned to singing with her brother.
Death of Dale Houston Houston died on September 27, 2007, of
heart failure at the Wesley Medical Center in
Hattiesburg, Mississippi, at the age of 67. At his funeral, his friend
Troy Shondell gave a musical tribute, and interment was in Smyrna Cemetery in
Collins, Mississippi.
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, Houston 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, were being named to the
Delta Music Museum 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 2007, Dale and Grace were inducted into the
Louisiana Music Hall of Fame. ==Dale & Grace discography==