He was born in Greencastle, Indiana, the son of a music teacher. After leaving school he found work as a baritone in touring light opera companies, and from the mid 1880s — with his wife, Sofia Romani, a soprano — toured the US, Mexico and South America as a member of the Emma Juch and Marie Tavary operatic ensembles. He continued to perform opera until 1896, when he began recording for the Berliner and Edison companies, both as a solo performer and as a member of vocal groups. On recordings he used the pseudonym S. H. Dudley, perhaps deliberately using the name of the black vaudeville performer Sherman H. Dudley who was becoming popular at that time. Rous later claimed he was ignorant of the "real" S. H. Dudley's existence. He principally recorded for Victor Records. As a solo singer, using the name Dudley, he often recorded "coon songs" and other stereotypical minstrel show material. One of his biggest commercial successes was his recording of "When Reuben Comes To Town" in 1901. He recorded the song "Whistling", a skill for which he was noted, and comic songs such as "Miss Helen Hunt", with the mildly risqué line "Go to Helen Hunt for it". He also recorded as a duo with Harry Macdonough. He was an integral member of the Edison Male Quartet, which became The Haydn Quartet, along with Harry Macdonough, John Bieling, and William F. Hooley. The group was one of the most popular of the period, and had a number of successes including "In the Good Old Summer Time", "Bedelia", "Sweet Adeline ", "How'd You Like To Spoon With Me", "Take Me Out to the Ball Game", "Sunbonnet Sue", "Put On Your Old Gray Bonnet", and "By the Light of the Silv'ry Moon". On some of the group's later recordings, he was replaced by Reinald Werrenrath. In 1902, Sam Rous, using his real name, was appointed as assistant manager of Victor Records' artists and repertoiredivision. He gave the company's star singer Billy Murray the sobriquet "The Denver Nightingale". Rous continued to record for several years, both as Dudley and using the pseudonym Frank Kernell, but at a much reduced level. He was also the first editor of Victor's record catalog, the Victor Book of the Opera, first published in 1912. This contained illustrated details of the plots and production histories of operas, and cataloged available Victor recordings of them. The book went through many editions, and remained in print until 1976. He retired in 1919, and with his wife went to live in France. They returned to the US shortly before World War Two, and lived in California. Rous died in Los Angeles in 1947, at the age of 83; his wife, who had been paralysed for several years, died the next day.
