Hase loves to share her voice

November 7, 2006

If you're a senior, you can remember way back when the old-time vaudeville stars performed on Joliet's own Rialto Square Theatre stage. Some made it to the big time.

Among the seniors who once enjoyed those shows is Joliet's Rosella Hase, whose dream was to perform on the Rialto stage.

Well, Hase, who's 81, did achieve that dream back in the '60s when she performed three variety shows with Roy Gordon's Orchestra.

"I got to sing on the Rialto stage. That probably was the time in my life on the Rialto stage with a hometown orchestra. That was thrilling for me. I really felt like I was a part of that Rialto Theatre," she said.

Although she started singing at age 3, she first sang for an audience when she was 7 years old and had a gig performing with Sammy Berk's Orchestra at the Dellwood Park Pavilion.

Local seniors remember Joliet Township High School's gifted music teacher and choir director Alex Zimmerman, who encouraged Hase's singing -- telling her "you really are in perfect pitch. I like that smile."

"I'm a blues, torch-type singer. I like Latin, but I think my voice is toward blues, ballads," Hase says. Her stage name through the years has been Hase Dario, taken from her maiden name, DeDesiderio.

Although she decided against trying for the big time herself, her rich voice has entertained thousands of music lovers through the years, in venues as varied as Joliet Township High School for almost a dozen Kiwanis Shows, Chicago hotels with Roy Gordon's and Gene Victor's orchestras, the Sabre Room Club as house singer with the Jules Ryan Quintet, the Trieste Club and Restaurant, Nordic Country Club and the Yoke & Spoke Club.