Dwayne Johnson remembers childhood dreams of becoming a country star as he tears up over late father
Dwayne 'The Rock ' Johnson used to dream of becoming a country music singer.
The 51-year-old Hollywood star has carved out solid careers as an actor, businessman, and WWE legend but remembered that his late father
Rocky Johnson - who was a professional wrestler himself but died in 2020 at the age of 75 - introduced him to the Southern genre.
He told 'Entertainment Tonight': "By the time I was eight years old, I could sing every Hank Jr. song, a lot of Hank Sr. songs, Merle [Haggard] songs, Johnny Paycheck.
"I was in Nashville when I was 15 years old, we had no money. I was living in a motel, I had the bright idea that I could become a country star.
"I went down to Broad Street and I started hanging out in these honky-tonks, and I tried to get into Tootsie's Famous Orchid Lounge.
"Country music connects me with my dad, and I miss my dad, you know? I lost him unexpectedly in 2020, and it was a way that we bonded. My dad was a professional wrestler before the big bright lights of WWE. This is why we lived in Texas and Georgia and Tennessee and Florida."
The 'Black Adam' star has now appeared in the music video for country crooner Chris Janson's latest track 'Whatcha See Is Whatcha Get' and is hoping that the pair of them can team up once again for a show at the Grand Ole Opry in Tennessee as a tribute to his father.
He added: "If there's a moment where we're on stage at the Opry, it's just [going to be] so much more than a song. It's a brotherhood, it [represents] a father-son relationship, [too].
"I’m just gonna call it here. When we make our Opry debut together, we will just call it 'A Night For Rocky'.