How would you like to have the #1 record the week JFK was shot?

Note: Dale died last month.

Dale Houston

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Dale Houston (April 23, 1940 – September 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.

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.

Partnership with Grace Broussard

In 1963, Houston was working in a bar in Ferriday, a well-known 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!" Montel was vindicated when in November 1963, I'm Leaving It Up To You reached No. 1, where it remained for two weeks.^[1]

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. ("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, caused the duo to separate in 1965.