Dale And Grace



Dale Houston was delivered by a midwife on a kitchen table in Seminary, Mississippi on April 23, 1940. The family later moved to Collins Mississippi, where Dale's father became a minister. By sixth grade, Dale began his musical training by taking piano lessons, but had to quit after three months as his parents could no longer afford them. From that point on Dale was self taught and polished his musical skills by playing and singing in church. Determined to make music his life, an 18 year old Dale recorded a song called "Lonely Man", which climbed to #75 on the national record charts.

Dale was playing in Baton Rouge in 1960 when Montel Record executive, Sam Montel, caught his act in a local bar. Sam had a recording studio in Baton Rouge inside his father's produce company. It was a demo studio for local musicians and singers to try and get an idea of what their material would sound like. After listening to some of Dale's material, Sam decided that Dale was, in his words, "a pretty good writer" and signed him to compose exclusively for his label. Dale wrote and recorded "Lonely Room", "Bird with a Broken Wing" and "That's What I Like About Us", but none met with great success.

In 1963, Dale was working in a honkey tonk bar in Ferriday, La., when Sam and a friend, Tommy Guarino, drove from Baton Rouge to get Dale. Sam had an idea that Dale doing harmony with a female would be a good production. He picked up Dale that night and drove back to Baton Rouge, then went to Prairieville and picked up 19 year old Grace Broussard and introduced them to each other. Sam had a piano at his home and the two started rehearsing in preparation of a recording session the next day. It was after midnight and the duo had been at it for about four hours, doing old songs and some that Sam had given them to learn, when Dale started playing the old Don & Dewey song from the mid '50s called "I'm Leaving It Up To You". Sam came out of a dead sleep when heard it from the bedroom, ran in, still in his underwear and screamed "play it again... that's a hit!"

The next day Sam took Dale & Grace to the recording studio where they cut four songs. Montel Records then released "I'm Leaving It Up To You" as a single and by October, 1963 it was the number one record in the nation, eventually knocked out of the top spot by The Beatles. The pair spent much of the rest of the year touring with Dick Clark's Caravan Of Stars and had Thanksgiving at Clark's house. While on tour in Dallas Texas, on November 22, 1963, they were standing on a street corner waving at John Kennedy. His limo had just passed and was about two blocks away when he was assassinated.

Dale and Grace followed their first hit with a song called "Stop and Think It Over" which went to #8 in 1964, but The British Invasion and personal problems were starting to take their toll. Finally, in 1965, Grace had her fill and split from Dale. Dale carried on, teaming with Connie Sattenfield to form a new Dale And Grace, although by this time their style of Cajun-Country Rock was out of style and no major hits followed. Grace Broussard and her brother also toured as Dale And Grace.

Twenty years later, Dale's wife, Patricia, played a part in reuniting Dale with Grace Broussard, who had also married. The two put their differences aside to sing together again for a while, but the reunion lasted just long enough to split Dale and Patricia. The other "Grace", Connie Sattenfield, later teamed up with a man named Jimmy Jordan who started using the stage name of Dale. The pair recorded an album called "Dale and Grace - Together Again" and toured as "The All New Dale & Grace Show". The duo recorded a Gospel album called "Dale & Grace - In God's Hands" in 1998 and own Dale & Grace Ministries, as well as having a syndicated, Gospel radio show. Although the name of their act is the same, they make it clear that they are not the duo that sold over seven and half million Rock 'n' Roll records, although many fans are often confused. Dale Houston continued on the road with his band and Grace Broussard sang as a solo act across the United States. They were inducted into the Louisiana Hall of Fame in 1997, and into the Gulf Coast's Hall of Fame in 1998.

Dale Houston died on September 27th, 2007 of heart failure at the Wesley Medical Center in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. He was survived by four sons, two daughters, a brother and two sisters, seven grandchildren and one great-grandchild. Interment was in Smyrna Cemetery in Collins, Mississippi. In October of that year, Dale And Grace were inducted into the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame

(The bulk of information for this biography was supplied to us by Dale's former wife, Patricia Houston as well as Sam Montel and Jimmy Jordan)