TikTok sensation Drew Wiegman of Grayslake will perform Saturday and Sunday at the College of Lake County. (Provided photos)

Drew Wiegman took a cello lesson each week from first through eighth grade, but there was a problem.

“I was not very good at it,” Wiegman said. “I never picked up anything. I was not good at sight-reading. I would copy the person sitting in front of me and play by ear.”

Something that Wiegman was good at was baseball. So good that he got a scholarship to the University of Louisville as a freshman at Carmel Catholic High School in Mundelein.

However, after a year and a half of 4:30 a.m. wake-up calls and COVID-19 shutting down his sophomore season, Wiegman was done with baseball.

“I told the coach my purpose on this planet was not to play baseball,” Wiegman said. “I said, ‘I don’t want to sit here when a thousand other guys would want my spot.’”

He went into golf thinking he would make the PGA tour, which didn’t happen.

After the relationship with his girlfriend ended, Wiegman was lost and looking for purpose.

His brother suggested he take up the cello again.

“I did a TikTok video and got 16 followers,” Wiegman said. “I was like, ‘This is awesome.’”

A baseball card of Wiegman when he was at the University of Louisville.

After three months of performing, he had 100 followers. When he did a live stream performance, he had 9,950 viewers.

He kept performing on TikTok and in his first year got 6 million views.

As the Grayslake resident started to gain a following, he was driving a landscaping truck for Naturescape.

“I said if I make the same, if not more, performing, I would quit my job and just perform,” Wiegman said.

He reached that level and started to perform daily on social media platforms.

Wiegman will bring his self-taught talents to his hometown of Grayslake on Saturday and Sunday at the College of Lake County.

Wiegman found that as his popularity increased so did the hate. Other cellists would rip him for lack of proper technique.

“Classical music is more toxic than Division 1 baseball,” Wiegman said.

Wiegman started to hear from other people who had been musicians.

Wiegman as a player at Carmel Catholic High School in Mundelein

“They would post about a teacher who would yell at them for their bow grip,” Wiegman said. “It made me wonder what the point of music is. I have a ton of followers who were in orchestra and quit, and it was always the same story. They were never good enough.”

Then, Wiegman wound up with a couple of stalkers who used fake accounts and would harass him online. One even went so far as to make screenshots of Wiegman, twisting his words and making political statements from the performer’s video footage.

“I got into a dark place, but I would still go live every day when the scandal was going on,” the cellist said. “I started drinking alcohol to get through the dark times.”

He started looking at alcohol percentages and kept going higher.

“I would go online and search for the negative comments to validate my drinking,” Wiegman said.

Working through mental health issues, Wiegman found religion again.

“At the core, God is there for our mental health,” he said.

As he was turning his life around, Wiegman made a video admitting that he was an alcoholic.

“I want people to know that if someone is ruining your life, you can fix it,” the Grayslake resident said.

Wiegman performs.

“I want them to find peace.”

Wiegman’s music is entirely improvisational. He plays by ear, with spontaneous musical creativity.

He also wants people to know that anyone can accomplish their dreams if they are willing to put in the effort.

Wiegman said doesn’t regret trading in a baseball bat for a cello bow.

“God gave me a gift and I get attention,” the Grayslake resident said. “I get to show up and play an instrument.”

Saturday’s show will be just the second time that Wiegman will perform on a stage.

“No matter who you are, I have a song for you. Even if you’re a hard rocker, you can have appreciation for ‘You Lift Me Up’ by Josh Groban,” Wiegman said. “I play from the perspective of a listener. All of my songs are encores.”

Drew Wiegman will perform at 7 p.m. Saturday and 3 p.m. Sunday at the James Lumber Center for the Performing Arts at the College of Lake County, 19351 W. Washington St., Grayslake. For tickets, go to www.jlcenter.clcillinois.edu/.

kbeese@chronicleillinois.com