When you’re a record holder in the Guinness Book of World Records, you know you have a good thing going.

It’s been a wild ride for Ethan Bortnick; a lot happening since a very young age, but Bortnick’s personality, which seems born for the stage, has driven the success he’s found forward into extending a helping hand to people.

And what might that record be?

Bortnick is the youngest solo musician to headline his own concert.

He has raised over $50 million dollars for charities across the globe — and he’s only 17.

That’s a lot of change.

“It’s pretty insane,” Bortnick said in a phone interview. “The more we can do the better. There’s never a shortage of problems. As long as I can do my part, especially put out a good message. That’s the coolest part.”

Bortnick, who will be performing tonight, at 7 p.m. in Austin High School’s Knowlton Auditorium, began this long road at a very young age with one strike already in place. He’s the only musician to come out of his family.

“It’s kind of nuts,” Bortnick began. “My parents, none of my family, they really can’t play instruments. Nobody is really musical.”

Bortnick said he was inspired to play the piano when he was about three-years-old. He would watch kids older than him play and the idea of himself playing began to take hold.

There was an obstacle, however. Convincing his parents to let him take the lessons.

“They offer a program at the school and I wanted to take piano lessons,” Bortnick said. “The curious three-year-old that I was I asked if I could have piano lessons.”

Bortnick said there was some hesitation from his parents but he continued to push, even at such a young age.

“I was so convinced that I wanted those piano lessons,” he said. “My parents got me this little keyboard and I started copying all the music from television. My parents heard me, somewhat, copying the music and it convinced them into getting me piano lessons.”

It was only the beginning. Bortnick started singing and along the way started picking up and learning things from others. He eventually came to be mentored by Dave Rosenthal who had worked with Billy Joel for 20 years

“He mentored me,” Bortnick said. “We went through jazz and rock … he was a factor on how I grew as a musician.”

In a very relative short amount of time, Bortnick began earning money for charities. He said that around the age of five and six-years-old he began to utilize his talents to fundraise, though he admits he was too young to truly understand the path he was on.

That nexus point began with the birth of his brother, who was born with half a heart — a condition known as hypoplastic left heart syndrome. His brother spent a lot of the time in the hospital, dealing with three heart surgeries.

During that same time period, the hospital was holding a fundraiser and staff asked Bortnick to perform.

“That night we earned a ton of money,” Bortnick said.

After that he began taking on more and more until a defining moment of playing another fundraiser for that same hospital at American Airlines Arena in Miami, Florida. That night he found himself the host at the ripe old age of eight.

“That moment I knew exactly what I wanted to do,” Bortnick said. “We raised $12 million (for the hospital). The fact that we were going to help so many with costs and families getting treatment. It was amazing to me.”

Along the way, playing on a number of big stages, Bortnick also gets to work with area youth and young talent. During tonight’s show, Bortnick will perform with area talent through a cross-promoting talent show. The winner will be announced.

“Honestly, it’s incredible,” Bortnick said. “I think it is one of my favorite things of the entire tour. Every city we’re going to, we’re working with young musicians from the local area. We’re doing a bunch of songs with the kids choirs. I’m thrilled with being able to work with some local, young kids.”

Being able to utilize and work with younger singers and artists is important to Bortnick.

“Overall, it’s awesome to be able to see the appreciation of music and art in all the cities we go to,” Bortnick said. “It’s super important for kids to work with music and art.”

Tickets are $25 and if you would like to check in to see if tickets are still available, visit www.KSMQ.org or Austin Hy-Vee.