Salukis in Business — Lee England, Jr.
B.S. 2008 Music Education, minor, violin performance; College of Liberal Arts — Professional Violinist; Director, Love Notes Music Organization
Lee England Jr. is a rebel. He’ll tell you so himself. While studying violin performance and music business at SIU he expressed that through his dress: he wore tux and tales around campus, styled his hair in dreads and sported timberland boots or all black tennis shoes.
The Waukegan native is rebellious in his business life, too, preferring to earn his daily bread as a street performer in cities around the world. It’s also one of the reasons he was one of the first non-athletes signed to the Jordan Brand.
England says that before he got to SIU no one had “fed” him at a professional level. He had been reading music, but had no one challenging him. His ear was so good that he would have something memorized almost immediately after hearing it. But he was playing what he heard, not what was on the page.
“I actually learned the Mendelssohn Concerto without looking at sheet music. But I had never explored phrasing, or chord structure. And though I had some friction with some of my professors, they taught me how to practice,” England said.
“My education at SIU was invaluable to me. I learned to stop compartmentalizing each subject — and to start making connections between all of them. When the education was put in my hands, I thrived. When I stopped grouping things like islands, and started to approach them as one land mass, I started getting straight A’s. I give my mom a lot of credit for that,” England said.
After graduation, England got a job as an elementary school teacher in Chicago, and spent his free time as a street performer while he tried to figure out how to get on bigger stages.
Developing an Audience
In 2009 he auditioned for MTV’s “Making His Band,” a talent show in which performers competed to be a part of a new band. His audition was so powerful that the production team changed the rules to allow “non-traditional” instruments to be considered.
England capitalized on that success by going on to appear on shows like Jimmy Kimmel Live! and The Mo’Nique Show, perform in concert with stars like Stevie Wonder, Babyface, and K’Jon, and open for rappers Ludacris, Jermaine Dupri, and Akon among others.
During this time he also produced, composed, and starred in several BET commercials. But he continued to hone his skills through street performing.
“I approached street performing as a scientist. I was found out what songs I could play that would stop a person dead in their tracks. And then, armed with that knowledge, I play on stage somewhere where there was a captive audience, and knew they had no idea what was going to hit them,” England laughed.
And it’s a good thing he did that research, because in 2010, while touring with the R & B singer K’Jon, England ended up at the Fabulous 23 Dinner during the 2010 NBA All-Star Weekend in Dallas, a star-studded affair where Chris Paul, Carmelo Anthony, and Amad Rashad mingled with the likes of Michael Jordan and Spike Lee.
England was not the headliner — K’Jon had been hired to play background music for the cocktail party before the main event and England was just a guy in his employ. But K’Jon gave England a few minutes to perform solo, and the rest is history.
“I played everything from centuries-old classical pieces to Jay Z and Biggie. The star power in that room was so intimidating that I had to keep my eyes closed while playing. But at the end of it, everybody in the room was fixated on me,” England says.
And that included Michael Jordan who was there to greet him when he came off stage. “MJ said, ‘I’m going to take care of you.’ I didn’t have any idea at that time what that meant,” England said.
But he soon found out. After England’s tour finished, he stared receiving packages from the Jordan Brand — clothes, shoes, and eventually, a contract.
Star Power
“Whatever Michael Jordan saw in me in that short time was enough for him to recruit me as one of the first non-athletes signed to the Jordan Brand. And that recognition has opened door for me that I didn’t even know existed,” England said.
After signing with Jordan, England began performing halftime shows for the NBA and became one of their most sought after halftime performers.
In 2014 he was commissioned to compose music for, and star in, a Super Bowl XLVII commercial. In 2016 he performed at the Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles for an audience that included George Lucas, Elton John, Lady Gaga, and Quincy Jones
Because of that performance, Jones ended up producing a showcase performance for England at the Geffen’s Gil Cates Theatre, and signing England to his management company, Quincy Jones Productions.
But during all of this, England kept up his street performing, moving to Venice Beach for five years, then to New York City, where he now resides.
“Street performing feeds into the business side of music. It allow me to choose which gigs I want to take. It boils down to sheer volume. I made more street performing when I played the Essence Festival in New Orleans, than I did as a performer on their main stage. Plus I sold thousands of CD’s,” England said.
Keeping it Real
England says he will always return to street performing. It’s his roots.
“A few years ago I did an event for Bono’s ONE foundation after which he hopped up on stage and thanked me. Two years later I got a call from them asking for me to play a private event with the ONE Foundation’s Board of Directors. You can imagine the illustriousness of the people in that room,” England said.
In other words, England is the person Bono calls to entertain him after he entertains thousands of fans at a sold out Madison Square Garden.
“Its heady stuff, and street performing keeps me grounded. It’s what I come back to. It’s my Carnegie Hall. To quote Carlos Santana, ‘As a musician you have to know where you’re going — straight to the listener’s heart to tell them that they’re loved and they can change the world.’ and I believe that,” England said.
And England working to change the world, one heart at a time, through the non-profit organization he founded called Love Notes.
“I am from Waukegan, and benefited directly from the philanthropy of the great entertainer Jack Benny. He donated money to the fine arts so that someone like myself could emerge. And I did. And so I have an obligation to respond to his vision and his philanthropy with the same. So now, in my home town, we have one of the biggest string programs in the whole county. It’s like an orchestra music fine arts oasis,” England said.
So what comes next? Perhaps, Carnegie Hall.
“I recently did a walk-through of the venue and got an estimate.” England said.
To fill Carnagie Hall would mean he would need to sell 2,804 tickets, but England feels it would be a sell-out performance.
England is also, and always, working on music, and has plans to produce one more “cover” CD, before concentrating on his own vocal music, composition and production.
To find out more about Lee England, Jr. Please visit his website at: http://www.leeenglandjr.com or visit him on Facebook to track his progress toward Carnegie hall.
“Salukis in Business” celebrates the our Saluki Alumni who have taken the risk to go into business for themselves.
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