Peter Gene Hernandez, or Bruno Mars as he is known to the rest of the world, was born on October 8, 1985, in Honolulu, Hawaii, to Peter Hernandez and Bernadette San Pedro Bayot. He was one of 6 children. Peter, who is originally from Brooklyn, is half Puerto Rican, and ¼ each Hungarian and Ukrainian. (He was also reportedly Jewish, like Geraldo Rivera lol). Bernadette was of Filipino and Spanish ancestry. Peter and Bernadette met while performing in a show in which she was a Hula dancer and a singer and he was a percussionist.
At the age of two, Peter Gene was given the nickname "Bruno" by his father because he looked a lot like pro wrestler Bruno Sammartino. (Ok I looked him up and I see absolutely zero resemblance between the two, but maybe Bruno Mars looked like him as a kid, i dunno…ok i googled that too and no, i don’t see it…wait i googled it again and apparently Bruno was a chubby kid and resembled the wrestler’s physique, hence the nickname. I still don’t see it lol)
OMFG i googled it AGAIN and in an interview with Latina magazine, Bruno says this: “I was going to go by Bruno, one name. Mars just kind of came joking around because that sounds bigger than life. That was it, simple as that.” and yes, apparently he was a porky kid, so there.
I feel it’s important to note that as a child, Bruno grew up in a musically talented family and had a variety of instruments at his disposal (a small drum set, guitar and piano) and he learned to play them all. He was exposed to a very diverse mix of music, including rock and roll, reggae, hip hop, R&B, etc. Besides his parents being musicians, he had an uncle who was an Elvis impersonator! Uncle “Elvis” encouraged three-year-old Mars to start performing Elvis and Michael Jackson songs on stage. By the time he was 4, Mars began performing five days a week with his family's band, The Love Notes, and became known in Hawaii for his own Elvis impersonation. In 1990, he was featured in the Hawaiian tabloid magazine MidWeek as "Little Elvis" and even went on to perform at the halftime show of the 1990 Aloha Bowl.
In 1992, he had a small role in the movie Honeymoon in Vegas as a young Elvis impersonator and was even interviewed by Pauly Shore on MTV. When Mars was six years old, he was featured on The Arsenio Hall Show and throughout grade school, he continued performing with The Love Notes, two shows a night, covering songs by artists like Frankie Lymon and Little Anthony.
Unfortunately, when Mars was 12, his parents divorced, putting an end to The Love Notes. However, while in high school, Bruno became a singer in a group called The School Boys. They did several shows together, including opening for Bruno’s dad’s new band, performing songs by the Isley Brothers and the Temptations. Bruno started gaining popularity in local Hawaiian entertainment, becoming the opening gig for a huge magic show and impersonating Michael Jackson in a celebrity-impersonators show, making $75 per performance.
After graduating high school in 2003, when he was 17, Bruno moved to LA, where his sister was living. He figured he’d try to make a name for himself. It was at this point he went from Peter Gene Hernandez to Bruno Mars…
So one day, Bruno’s sister played his demo for the head of talent scouting and development at Dr. Dre’s record label, Aftermath Entertainment. He loved it and told Mars to come to LA. So, he did.
His first few years in LA, he worked hard, sometimes barely scraping by. He didn’t hit it big right away! At one point he lied and said he could DJ just so he could make $75 under the table (he got fired). He signed a contract with Motown, and spoke with will.i.am’s management company, but both things kinda went nowhere. But he was making connections, writing songs (he wrote for stars such as Adam Levine and Brandy), singing backup for other musicians, and performing (he was in a cover band called “Sex Panther”).
In 2006, Mars was introduced to a talent scout and development manager at Atlanta Records. He wanted to sign him immediately, but the label said he wasn’t quite ready, so they decided to hold off for about 3 years.
In 2008, Mars and a partner had been writing songs for Bruno himself to record, but they got rejection after rejection from record producers. They were both pretty broke! But then they met a guy named Brandon Creed, the manager of none other than Puerto Rican boy band Menudo! Creed was looking for a new song for Menudo, and there was one in particular he liked that they had written called “Lost.” At first they didn’t wanna sell the song, but Creed offered them $20,000 and they agreed. [Um, FYI, to book Bruno Mars today you need to cough up at least 2.5 million dollars! In 2021, the CEO of Motorola paid $3.2 million for Bruno to perform at his son’s wedding in Cape Cod, Massachusetts. I had a DJ. So don’t give up, good people!]
Brandon Creed would later go on to become Bruno Mars’ manager for 9 years.
In 2009, Mars co-founded a songwriting and production team called The Smeezingtons, which became very hot and sought-after. He also finally signed with Atlantic Records. Yay!
In 2010 Mars’ voice and songwriting got a lot more attention after he sang on two hit singles, "Nothin' on You" by B.o.B and "Billionaire" by Travie McCoy, and he cowrote the hugely successful, catchy song for CeeLo Green called “Fuck You.”
On May 11 of that year, Mars released his first record, which had 4 tracks. It was called It's Better If You Don't Understand and peaked at number 99 on the US Billboard 200.
Then, on October 4, 2010, Mars finally released his debut studio album called Doo-Wops & Hooligans. All four songs from It's Better If You Don't Understand went on this record, plus a little ditty you may have heard called "Just the Way You Are."
For the next couple of years, Bruno Mars promoted his album by opening for acts like Maroon 5 and One Republic, and headlining in smaller venues in order to build his own fan base. He apparently turned down offers to be an opening act for bigger arena tours for this reason.
2011: Mars won his first Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance for "Just the Way You Are" and received 5 other nominations.
Mars’ music is inspired by pop, R&B, disco, funk, rock, reggae and soul. His voice has received a lot of praise. Here are my favorite reviews:
Jim Farber of the New York Daily News said that Bruno’s voice has, quote: "the purity, cream and range of mid-period Michael Jackson.” In another food-related comment, Tim Sendra from AllMusic said Bruno’s voice is, quote: "the kind of smooth instrument that slips into your ear like honey."
Bruno Mars plays guitar, piano, drums, keyboard, bass, ukulele, and congas. Songs just come to him and he’ll start playing guitar or piano and thinking about the lyrics and putting it all together. Inspiration can strike him anytime, anywhere.
A lot of his songs are fun, happy and groovy. Very melodically pleasing. A lot of variety in his sound. He sings about romance and heartache. Some songs have racy lyrics, but there’s a hell of a lot worse out there.
“High energy” doesn’t even begin to describe one of his concerts. They sound like the most epic shows musically and visually. He uses pyrotechnics and strobe lights and dancers doing splits and all kinds of great stuff. He has huge plans for 2024 and 25. Now I wanna see him! Even his outfits have been written about, how they match his sound. He can do retro, from 1970s disco to 1990s R&B. His concerts have been highly praised; he’s one of those performers that connects with audiences of all ages around the world.
Mars isn’t content to just perform either. He’s directed and choreographed in his own music videos. So well done that the videos were nominated for or won various awards!
From December 29, 2013 - December 31 2015: Bruno Mars’ concert residency at The Chelsea in Las Vegas. I love this review from Don Chareunsy of Las Vegas Weekly. He described Mars as "one of the best live performers today. Mars can sing (anything), dance and charm the pants off audience members.”
In 2014, he had a voiceover part in the animated movie Rio2.
May 2016: Mars split up from his manager, Brandon Creed, after Creed sold half his company, and established his own management company, Gorilla Management.
Now some lists and by-the-numbers stuff!
LIST OF BRUNO MARS ALBUMS AND MAIN HITS
2010: Doo-Wops & Hooligans ("Just the Way You Are," "Grenade," "The Lazy Song," “Marry You”)
2012: Unorthodox Jukebox ("Locked Out of Heaven" and "When I Was Your Man")
2016: 24K Magic (“That’s What I Like”)
2021: An Evening with Silk Sonic (a collaboration with Anderson .Paak as Silk Sonic). [Anderson Paak is another musician.]
CONCERTS:
As of this recording, Bruno Mars has had 736 concerts. His first one shows as one single show in Australia in 2008. He’s played in Puerto Rico twice, in September of 2011 and September of 2013. In 2017, he was part of the “One Voice: Somos Live!” concert to raise money for Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria. Fast forward to today. Bruno Mars has been touring all of 2023, either as headliner or part of a festival, with appearances scheduled through September.
AWARDS
484 nominations
180 wins
He’s been nominated for and/or won a bunch of American Music Awards, BET awards, Billboard Music Awards, Grammys, IHeart Radio Music Awards, MTV Awards, NAACP Image Awards, Soul Train, Teen Choice, and many others, both here and internationally.
DISTINCTIONS
Bruno Mars also holds the distinction of being the First Male Artist to Achieve three 10-million-selling-singles.
Bruno Mars has participated in countless collaborations – writing, co-writing, or performing on songs with a variety of artists around the world, including Alicia Keys, Snoop Dogg, Adele and Ed Sheeran to name a handful. His songs have been used in soundtracks (Twilight) and as themes for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, and the 2010 Winter Olympics.
Bruno Mars has performed in the Super Bowl Halftime show twice, in 2014 and 2016. In 2014, he was the headliner. It was the most-watched halftime show in the history of the Super Bowl at that time. In 2016, Coldplay was the headliner and Mars was one of the special guests.
In 2022, he became the first artist to receive six diamond certified songs in the United States. These songs are: “Locked Out of Heaven, “Just the Way You Are,” “Grenade,” “When I Was Your Man”, “That’s What I Like,” and “Uptown Funk” which was a collab with Mark Ronson.
FUTURE PLANS THAT WE KNOW OF:
Mars is currently touring, as well as working on his 4th studio album which will be released sometime later this year. He’s planning on hitting the road again, and promoting it throughout 2024 and 2025.
In February of 2020, it was announced that Bruno Mars signed a deal with Disney to produce, write songs for, and star in a music-themed film. No other details were released and as of today I cannot find any updates as to plot, progress, or release date.
And this isn’t music-related but Bruno Mars also co-owns SelvaRey Rum (company based in LA, rum produced in Panama). It’s $40 a bottle FYI if you wanna try it.
And on that delicious note…he shows NO SIGNS OF STOPPIN!!
SOURCES:
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Bruno-Mars
https://www.billboard.com/music/rb-hip-hop/bruno-mars-latina-magazine-interview-7676207/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruno_Mars
https://www.smoothradio.com/artists/bruno-mars/elvis-presley-impression-video/
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=556339445772601
http://www.personal.psu.edu/users/v/q/vqm5074/BM%20pictures.html
https://www.gq.com/story/bruno-mars-interview-gq-april-2013
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_awards_and_nominations_received_by_Bruno_Mars
https://www.vibe.com/music/music-news/bruno-mars-diamond-record-locked-heaven-1234699007/
https://www.billboard.com/music/music-news/bruno-mars-repeat-super-bowl-halftime-performers-6686092/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_songs_written_by_Bruno_Mars
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruno_Mars_at_The_Chelsea,_Las_Vegas#cite_note-DCLVW-7
https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesdigitalcovers/2018/07/16/100m-magic-why-bruno-mars-and-other-stars-are-ditching-their-managers/?sh=70521c6f25b5
https://www.concertarchives.org/bands/bruno-mars
https://whatsondisneyplus.com/disney-to-produce-new-movie-featuring-bruno-mars/
https://www.brunomars.com/?frontpage=true
https://selvarey.com/