In later life, she frequently sang at public occasions and took part in some of the earliest radio broadcasts featuring Māori music.

The singing classes she took at the local primary school, from Mrs Banks, the wife of the headmaster, were the only formal music lessons she ever had.

[4] By the age of 16, Hato was a member of the Māori concert group run by Guide Rangi, and regularly performed solo at public occasions.

[5] In 1927, aged 20, she performed for the Duke and Duchess of York, in the old Tūnohopū meeting house at Ōhinemutu, singing with Waretini, with pianist Te Mauri Meihana and with the Rotorua Māori Choir.

[5] In the last eight years of her life she suffered from cancer, but continued to travel and perform until she was forced to give up singing in 1950.

[5] In March 2015, the organisers of a church fair in Wellington found a rare 1927 acoustic recording by Hato, Waretini and other local musicians, in a box of items for a jumble sale.