Though he didn’t know it then, at the young age of six, Lee England Jr. learned a lesson from his father that would alter the course of his life forever.

The young boy told his parents he wanted to play the violin. His inspiration was none other than the late great Jack Benny, musician, comedian, entertainer extraordinaire, who coincidentally shared the same home town as the aspiring violinist: Waukegan, Illinois.

England Jr.’s parents agreed, purchasing their son his first instrument.

Inspired to follow in the footsteps of Benny, England Jr. picked up the instrument and attempted to emulate his hero. But when he the sounds he played didn’t match those he had heard, he was discouraged.

“I thought it was broken” England Jr., now 32 and among the greatest violinists and musicians on Earth, said in a telephone interview. He immediately wanted out.

“I went to my father and told him I wanted to quit,” England Jr. said. “And what father wants their son to start quitting anything when they’re six years old? So he said, ‘You want to quit?’ And I’m like, ‘Yeah.’ He’s like, ‘Sure, you can quit, but you have to practise 15 minutes a day.’ ”

That was all he needed to hear.

“All I really heard was you can quit,” England Jr. recalled. “I literally was practising so I could quit and it wasn’t until I got to college that I realized how much smarter my father was than I was.”

Had his late father not used creative means to teach his son that valuable lesson, and skills, life would have been much different for England Jr., who went on to perform on shows like Jimmy Kimmel Live, The Mo’Nique Show and perform alongside musical legends such as Stevie Wonder, Beyonce and Jay Z. England Jr. is also the first non-athlete signed by Michael Jordan’s brand.

None of it would likely have been possible if not for England Jr.’s father, who passed away in 2003, before he could witness his son’s massive success.

“Around that time, right before (he passed away), I had won this talent show that he came to at my school and watched me perform at,” England Jr. recalled. “I remember the pride and the look in his eyes. The day after, when we went to breakfast, I told him he was going to have to come right back down here to the school because I was going to win this concerto competition.”

It wasn’t to be, however, as his father died before seeing his son perform again.

“I actually won that as well,” England Jr. said.

His father, England Jr., said, has continued to guide him on his journey in the subsequent years, through a meteoric rise to success, success that saw England Jr. invited by World Wrestling Entertainment to perform live during SummerSlam weekend in New York.

At a sold-out Barclays Center in Brooklyn, England Jr. performed one of the most powerful and memorable live entrances in pro wrestling history, playing NXT and Japanese megastar Shinsuke Nakamura to the ring as a stunned and boisterous crowd soaked up every second.

As a child, England Jr., said, he and his dad watched pro wrestling.

"When I was growing up, I actually was a wrestling fan. I used to watch it with my father. That was one of the things that we did together,” he said, adding he lost interest in it over the years, but became an instant fan again on Saturday night.

“It was a reintroduction to (wrestling) and I remembered the agility and the co-ordination and the theatrics and what goes into that and I became a fan again."

The opportunity to perform live at NXT, the WWE’s hottest and fastest growing brand, came through his relationship with NBA legend Jordan’s company.

"I am a brand ambassador for Michael Jordan,” he said, adding that the company is always trying to create opportunities for him. “They had been in conversation with the head of the music department over at WWE. They started to have that conversation because of (Shinsuke) Nakamura’s theme. When the guys at the Jordan brand heard it, they were like, ‘Man, it’d be great if you all could use Lee to tie him in there some way.’ I think before he was even able to suggestion something, Neil (Lawi, head of WWE Music) was like, ‘He should do it live.’ So they just figured out a time for me to make it happen."

Make it happen he did.

As the anxious crowd awaited the main event NXT championship match, the lights went down. A lone figure made his way partway down the ramp, before stopping. The crowd went completely silent. Seconds later, England Jr. began to play, softly at first. Silently, which is almost unheard of at a live wrestling event, the crowd listened. As if a light switch went on, the crowd then recognized what they were witnessing as the violinist began to play Nakamura’s theme. The crowd exploded as Nakamura appeared at the top of the ramp. Chanting with England Jr.’s notes followed. The entire arena joined in serenading Nakamura, who would go on to win his first title in WWE, beating Samoa Joe.

The experience was not only unforgettable for wrestling fans, but for England Jr. himself, who isn’t easily rattled at this stage in his accomplished career, but admits he had some new pre-performance jitters.

"I’ve been performing for a long time, man. I have learned not only to channel my nervousness, but I’ve learned that when I get nervous, it’s only because something beautiful is about to occur in my life as a result of the performance. So when I do get nervous, I actually welcome it and I look forward to it when it happens,” he said. “I was nervous in sound check. I go to sound check and I stepped out on the platform and I looked out and I saw the seats. I’ve performed at Barclays (Center) before with no problems. But when I looked out and realized what was going on, with the theatrics of everything, I was like, ‘This is going to be absolutely incredible,’ and I felt that nervousness right then and I had to rehearse it three times. And I still was feeling a little nervous.”

Wanting to shake his jitters prior to his performance, England Jr. joined some friends he’d brought to watch his performance in the crowd. That didn’t help.

“For a second, I forgot that I was going to be performing,” he said, admitting he was caught up in the show. “I was listening to the way that the crowd was chanting, I mean even way before the main event even started, they were singing, they were chanting, they were clapping. I was overwhelmed by the atmosphere inside of the arena. When I went back to my room, I’m like, ‘I literally just forgot everything.’ I forgot all the notes. I was like, ‘This never happens. What is this?’ I had it down cold. I could play it backward, forward. But I had literally forgotten everything.”

Venturing into uncharted territory professionally, England Jr. took some time to regroup before his performance.

“I had to stand there for a second like, ‘Man, I’ve got to get this together.’ I didn’t know I was going to be this nervous. Leading up to right before going out, I had to sit down, quiet myself, pray and just gather myself so I would go out and execute as I always do. But it was nerve wracking. It was nothing that I had ever experienced before. It was like, ‘Get it together, get it together, get it together.’ "

Nakamura, meanwhile, was as cool as the other side of the pillow and completely grateful, England Jr. said.

"He loved it. We had an opportunity to chat with one another during sound check and he was definitely excited about it. He just kept thanking me. ‘Thank you, thank you, thank you.’ He understood what was about to happen so he had a better grasp on it than I did. He was more calm than I was. When he came out, I had no idea what he was doing behind me. At a certain point, I was just like, ‘It’s happening.’ ”

What happened after England Jr. came out and played can only be described as magical.

It wasn’t until after his performance that England Jr. was able to watch what unfolded and appreciate how well received it was. He did, however, note the silence at the beginning of his performance.

"I’ll tell you how I was feeling during (the performance),” he said. “When I first walked out to get on my mark, everybody was quiet, like there was nothing going on the arena. I felt like when I walked out that everybody was looking at me like, ‘What is he about to do?’ But it was captivating. It wasn’t like, ‘What is this!’ It was like, ‘What is this?’ I’ve never experienced the stillness of that many people.’ ”

England Jr. was amazed by what he saw when he watched the performance and added that he’s hoping to make some adjustments to his equipment for future performances so he can take in some of what is unfolding as it happens.

"Man, I thought it was amazing. I thought it was amazing. I really was dialed in and I had my inner ear monitors in. I’m actually going to talk to my inner ear sponsors because there has to be a way to pipe in some of the crowd noise because I had no idea that the crowd was that into the performance. I know as an artist and as a musician, being on stage, I know that if I do this, this is the response that I usually get. I wasn’t 100% certain if that was the response I was going to get, I just knew that if you play it like this — the beginning part was improvised so I had kind of pre-thought out what I wanted to do and then just went out there to execute. If I had known that the crowd was going (that) nuts … that was beautiful."

Following his stirring performance, England Jr. even got a taste of what WWE stars experience every day, the admiration of wrestling fans.

"NXT fans, or WWE fans, I don’t know how to categorize them, but they are absolutely amazing,” he said. “They are first-rate individuals. They love and support the whole movement like it’s a culture among them. The first thing I experienced with them after the performance was when I was going to get in the car to go back to my hotel. They were all out there lined up waiting for superstars and when I got out there and they saw who I was, they saw my violin, they just started chanting. First they starting singing the song, and then they just started chanting ‘You are awesome!’ I was just like, ‘Yo, wow.’ Everybody really loved it and it feels very sincere.”

So powerful was the love and experience that NXT had on England Jr. that he said he would rank the NXT appearance as among the greatest of his already storied career.

"If we go outside of philanthropy and things that feel good, fuzzy warm feels and we just go straight up performances, top three, top three,” he said of the experience.

Looking back, besides the challenge that his father made that sent him down a path with destiny and greatness, England Jr., looks back at Jack Benny and his influence on him as a boy. It instilled a sense of giving back in him that exists today, stronger than ever.

"He put music back into the fine arts there, and I feel like I’m a direct result of his philanthropy and charity. That definitely drew me to his work and who he was as a person,” England Jr. said of Benny.

That philanthropy and charity is something England Jr. holds near and dear to his heart. Earlier this year, England Jr. started his owner charitable endeavour, the Love Notes Music Organization, which is his way of giving back.

"I truly believe that there are people in life who are going to influence other people, whether they know it or not. Because I understand that I have been gifted by someone who had the mindset to reach into the future, I feel like it’s not only something that I feel honoured that I’m able to do, but I feel like it’s an obligation. It’s necessary for me to think ahead as well because if I became who I became based on his charitable donations and just who he was in life.

“If I can get one person to do, one child to do that, then the world is a better place for all of us. But imagine if I can get more than one. If I can get a hundred and infuse in them the same beliefs I have about returning love and giving it all back. It’s exponential tool, it’s an exponential gift that will always remain as I do my part, my due diligence to share and then the next person that gets that kind of life pays it forward."

After his moving performance on Saturday night in New York, a whole new fanbase can call themselves fans of the artist, and the person.

jmmurphy@postmedia.ca

twitter.com/Jan_Murphy