Ronnie Fabre's powerful voice fills a room when she belts out an Ethel Merman tune.
During a singing career that has spanned almost 40 years, the 52-year-old entertainer has earned the respect of her peers for her talent.
But Fabre's skill as a voice coach is beginning to overtake her reputation as a vocalist.
"I never took singing lessons in my life until I went to Ronnie," Jessica Marciel said.
Marciel, 50, began singing professionally at the age of 12. She took three lessons from Fabre about two years ago.
"After the first lesson I noticed a change in my voice," Marciel said. "She said I could strengthen my range, and I did. I became a better singer."
Fabre has worked with hundreds of students since deciding to teach about seven years ago.
Among those she has coached are Darren Romeo, the singing magician at The Mirage; and 11-year-old Gina Maini, who recently received rave reviews as the lead in the musical "Annie" at Spring Mountain Ranch State Park.
"She is a wonderful person to work with," said Maini, a seventh grade student at K.O. Knudson Middle School. "She brings out the best in you."
Maini has taken lessons from Fabre for about two years, saying she always wanted to be a professional singer. But her instructor has inspired her to become a teacher herself and to work with children.
"My students range in age from about 8 to 70," Fabre said. "They are from all different walks of life and they want to sing for different reasons. Some are professionals -- some of the 'EFX' people used to come to me. Some want to be able to sing karaoke, others just want to sing in a church choir."
Fabre didn't have any formal voice training until she began to study under Seth Riggs in Los Angeles in 1991.
Riggs is one of the top voice coaches in the country. Among his elite clients are Michael Jackson, Bette Midler, Stevie Wonder and Liza Minnelli.
"He was doing a symposium in Las Vegas and a friend of mine said I should meet him," Fabre said as she sat in the kitchen of her Las Vegas home. "I knew who he was, of course. He was Stevie Wonder's vocal coach for 27 years. He worked with (Barbra) Streisand and Natalie Cole. You name it. He's had 150 Grammy winners."
After Fabre met Riggs she auditioned for his class in L.A., was accepted and took lessons for nine years.
"I never understood how the voice worked and I decided I would like to learn," Fabre said.
After about two years, during which she increased her range by one octave to 3 1/2 octaves, Fabre began to teach.
"People had always wanted me to teach them, so after I went back and learned how I did what I did, I began giving classes," she said.
Class act
Fabre says almost anyone can be taught to sing.
"Before, I never thought you could teach someone to have a voice," she said. "But I have found you can help somebody that doesn't have natural talent to sing in tune. All they have to do is want it and really, really practice, not just pretend."
Fabre is a gifted singer who says she owes her voice to her mother, Virginia Wolefle, an opera singer who made her debut at Carnegie Hall at age 18.
"She sang in four different languages," Fabre said.
But she didn't teach her daughter.
"Not a note," Fabre, a native of Long Island, N.Y., said.
The family moved to Glendora, Calif., when Fabre was 13. A shy, introverted child who lived a sheltered life, she used music as an escape.
Her parents bought her a guitar and she began to perform and sing at school functions and other venues.
"My name started getting around and people started calling me to perform with them," Fabre said. She sang with Linda Ronstadt's band, the Stone Ponies and Steppenwolf.
"There was a close-knit music scene in L.A. in the '60s," Fabre said.
The Safaris were a popular group of the day. They rehearsed at a residence behind Fabre's home. "I sat on the wall in my backyard and listened to them sing," she recalled.
The Vietnam War had heated up by then. In 1967 the Safaris were joining a lot of entertainers who were going to Southeast Asia to entertain troops. They invited Fabre to go with them. She was 16 years old and lacked a few credits before graduating from high school.
"(Singer) Richie Havens was a friend of mine," she said. "I sat on the steps of the Troubador Club and asked him what I should do. Should I go to Vietnam? He said to go on the road, so I did."
Only the road she took was full of mine fields, literally.
Ronnie get your gun
Fabre put high school on hold and traveled to Vietnam, where she packed an AK-47. She witnessed the start of the Tet Offensive in January 1968.
Fabre and the Safaris were up early preparing for a concert when they saw the Vietcong rising out of the ground, exiting from tunnels.
"We were in Phou Long. It was nice and calm, then chaos," Fabre recalled. "There were big rocket launchers and small-weapons fire. We jumped on our motorcycles and got the heck out. For the next two weeks we had to stay in the place where we had been living."
Fabre and the Safaris were in Vietnam for about nine months.
"We were the play-off band for the Bob Hope show," she said. "While he and his people were heading off into the sunset, we would be onstage, so if anyone got shot at, it was us."
In March 1968 Fabre returned to Glendora to complete high school.
"It was hard to go back after being in Vietnam," she said. "I was grown up by that time."
She became a strong supporter of the troops, but an opponent of the war. "I saw what was going on over there," she said. "Corruption was rampant."
After completing high school, she returned to Vietnam for nine more months.
"I co-hosted a television show for a couple of months," Fabre said. "A big mistake. After that ended, I got a job as a long-distance operator at the USO club for awhile. It was pretty weird."
Vegas bound
Fabre was 18 when she returned home and found she couldn't get a job because she was under 21.
"I had lost all my contacts by then," she said. "I kind of floundered around for awhile, but I couldn't really get a job."
She married Ed Grell, drummer for the Righteous Brothers, and they moved to Las Vegas in 1970. He performed at the Sands for five years while she performed at the Royal Inn (now the Greek Isles) for six years.
"I played mostly lounges, back when they were really good," Fabre said.
She recalled the Las Vegas atmosphere of that era.
"It was a small town with a lot of big names," she said. "Charo opened for Don Rickles. Sammy Davis Jr. was always giving parties. Lola Falana was always around. Everybody would just get together.
"Ed and I were like gourmet cooks. Those were the days your last night (at a gig) you had a big party. Today, they just pack up and leave."
The couple divorced in 1985. In 1987 Fabre joined "Legends in Concert" at the Imperial Palace. She stayed with the show about a year, performing a tribute to Merman and to Judy Garland, then struck out on her own. Fabre says she still does occasional gigs for "Legends."
She and her current husband, saxophonist Steve Golden, often perform together. He has toured with Frank Sinatra and Diana Ross, and plays for Don Rickles when Rickles is in Vegas.
Fabre says combining a teaching and a singing career has been a great experience. "It's important to do what you teach," she said.
And, in her case, to teach what you do.
"Performers don't interact with audience anymore," Fabre said. "Performances are mostly cut and dried. I teach my students what I have to give, and how to give that to audiences."
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