Bruno Mars Fan Guide

By Diana Atkinson

Bruno Mars is an American singer-songwriter and record producer. Mars started making music at a young age and performed in a string of behind-the-scenes jobs before making a name for him. Raised by a Hawaiian family of musicians, Bruno got involved in manifold music engagements early in his career like writing songs for Brandy, singing backup for the Sugababes, and impersonating Elvis. But it was his co-writing of Flo Rida's hit song Right Round in 2009 that catapulted Mars to worldwide fame. A year later, he worked in collaboration with rapper B.o.B on Nothin' on You and co-wrote Travis McCoy's Billionaire, both of which were Top Ten hits. Mars turned this momentum in his favor launching a solo career with his debut album, Doo-Wops & Hooligans.
He cemented his status as the album peaked at number three on the Billboard 200, and his Just the Way You Are and Grenade become worldwide number-one singles.

• Language: English
• Publisher: XinXii
• Release date: May 28, 2014
• ISBN: 9781304921819

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Early Life

Born Peter Gene Hernandez on October 8, 1985, in Honolulu, Hawaii, popular singer-songwriter Bruno Mars grew up in a very musical family. His father, Pete, was a Latin percussionist from Brooklyn, and his mother, Bernadette (Bernie), was a singer. Mars received his nickname, Bruno, while he was still a baby. The name Bruno came from baby times, older sister Jamie explained. Bruno was always so confident, independent, really strong-willed and kind of a brute—hence the name Bruno—and it kind of just stuck.

In Waikiki Beach, Mars's family performed a Las Vegas-style revue that included Motown hits, doo-wop melodies and celebrity impersonations. Growing up around entertainers, Mars began picking up musical instruments from early childhood. I've always had a drum set, a piano, a guitar ... and never got trained to play. It was just always there, he later recalled. That's just how I learned, just being surrounded by it my whole life. At the age of 4, he joined the family musical act as an Elvis impersonator and quickly become one of the stars of the show. He continued to perform with his family throughout his childhood, and as he approached adolescence he added Michael Jackson to his impersonation repertoire.

Mars attended Roosevelt High School, where he and several friends formed a band, the School Boys, performing classic oldies hits alongside his family's act at the Ilikai Hotel in Honolulu. Mars credits his fearless stage presence to his unusual childhood. Performing from such a young age just got me so comfortable on stage, he said. Growing up performing—that was normal for me. Everyone in my family sings plays instruments. It's what we do.

After graduating from high school in 2002 at age 17, Mars decided to leave Hawaii for Los Angeles, California. Over his first few years in L.A., he struggled to make a breakthrough in the music industry. And especially because he had performed so frequently while growing up in Honolulu, Mars grew frustrated with waiting for his career to move forward. It was during this period that Mars first turned to songwriting. I only started writing songs when I moved up to L.A. because when I was in Hawaii, I never really needed to, he recalled. "But it stemmed from just learning that you have