“THAT KID WAS MICHAEL BUBLÉ."

A Star Is Born

After years on the local music scene, actively playing jazz gigs and large corporate events, he would receive a phone call that would play a vital role in the life and career of this emerging musical star.

“Producer, coach and adjudicator Beverly Delich called to tell me of this fantastic 16-year-old kid who had just won the PNE ‘Teen Talent Search,’ and could I get him working?” says Hasselbach.

That kid was Michael Bublé.

“Michael started singing with my big band. He was a little shaky but full of potential,” he recalls.

“He recorded the tune ‘I’ve Got You Under My Skin’ on one of my albums, and I produced his album ‘Dream,’ dedicated to his mentor and grandpa Mitch.”

After working together for a few years, the fuse was lit and Bublé’s career trajectory soared.

“He worked for me for a few years, then after he met David Foster the tables turned, and I started working for him for a couple of years.

They would go their separate ways when Bublé hit the ranks of superstardom.

“When he really took off big-time, we parted ways amicably,” he says.

“I had my own destiny to fulfill.”

In the ensuing years, the well-travelled musician has toured extensively, playing for various dignitaries along the way; he established a number of personal achievements with gold and platinum jazz albums; and has since recorded 18 albums, won ‘Album of the Year’ and ‘Instrumentalist of the Year’ awards and charted eleven Billboard hits of his own.