Peter Gene Hernandez (born October 8, 1985), known professionally as Bruno Mars, is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. He is known for his stage performances, retro showmanship, and for performing in a wide range of musical styles, including pop, R&B, funk, soul, reggae, disco, and rock. Mars is accompanied by his band, the Hooligans, who play a variety of instruments, such as electric guitar, bass, piano, keyboards, drums, and horns, and also serve as backup singers and dancers.
Born and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii, Mars moved to Los Angeles in 2003 to pursue a musical career. In 2009, he co-founded the production team The Smeezingtons, responsible for various successful singles for Mars himself and other artists. He rose to fame in 2010 buoyed by the success of "Nothin' on You" by B.o.B and "Billionaire" by Travie McCoy, both of which featured his vocals. That year, Mars released his debut studio album Doo-Wops & Hooligans, which blended pop with reggae and R&B. It spawned the international number-one singles "Just the Way You Are", "Grenade", and "The Lazy Song". Drawing inspiration from disco, funk, rock, reggae and soul genres, his second studio album, Unorthodox Jukebox (2012), was his first number one on the Billboard 200. It amassed two Billboard Hot 100 number-one songs, "Locked Out of Heaven" and "When I Was Your Man".
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Mars has sold over 130 million records worldwide, making him one of the best-selling music artists of all time. Eight of his songs have reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and his concert tours are some of the highest-grossing in history. He has received 15 Grammy Awards (including three Record of the Year wins), four Brit Awards, eleven American Music Awards, 13 Soul Train Awards and holds three Guinness World Records, among other accolades. He featured on Music Week's best songwriters (2011) and Billboard's Greatest of All Time Artists (2019) lists and rankings such as the Time 100 and Forbes Celebrity 100. Mars became the first artist to receive six Diamond-certified songs in the United States and has been regarded as a pop icon due to his influential career.
Mars is one of six children and came from a musical family which exposed him to a diverse mix of music genres, including first and foremost rock and roll, and later reggae, hip hop, and rhythm and blues.[8][9] His mother was both a singer and a dancer, and his father performed Little Richard's music, which inspired him as a young child.[4][10] His uncle was an Elvis Presley impersonator, and also encouraged three-year-old Mars to perform songs on stage by Presley and Michael Jackson.[7] At the age of four, Mars began performing five days a week with his family's band, The Love Notes, and became known in Hawaii for his impersonation of Elvis Presley.[11] When he was five he urinated on himself during a performance of Presley's "Can't Help Falling in Love" (1961), which led his parents to think they could be making a mistake. However, Mars never wavered.[4] In 1990, Mars was featured in the Hawaiian tabloid shopper MidWeek as "Little Elvis" and performed in the halftime show of the 1990 Aloha Bowl.[7][12]
The time Mars spent impersonating Presley had a major impact on his musical evolution and performing techniques.[14] He later began playing guitar after being inspired by American rock guitarist Jimi Hendrix.[15] In 2010, he also acknowledged his Hawaiian roots and musical family as an influence, explaining: "Growing up in Hawaii made me the man I am. I used to do a lot of shows in Hawaii with my father's band. Everybody in my family sings, everyone plays instruments ... I've just been surrounded by it."[16][2] When he attended President Theodore Roosevelt High School in Honolulu he sang in a group called The School Boys, who did several shows including opening for his father's new band, performing songs by the Isley Brothers and the Temptations.[4][7] The singer, while in high school, became well known in Hawaiian entertainment, becoming the opening gig for a huge magic show and impersonating Michael Jackson in a celebrity-impersonators show, making $75 per performance.[4]
Shortly after moving to Los Angeles, Mars signed a record contract with Motown Records in 2004, but the deal "went nowhere", leading him to have a conversation with will.i.am's management, which also turned out to be fruitless.[22][20] However, the singer's experience with Motown proved to be beneficial to his career. American songwriter and record producer Philip Lawrence was also signed to the label.[22]
Lindsey showed Mars and fellow songwriters Brody Brown and Jeff Bhasker (who Mars met through Mike Lynn) the ins and outs of writing pop music and acted as a mentor, helping them to hone their craft.[17][24][25] Bhasker explained that Lindsey would "mentor us, and kind of give us lectures as to what a hit pop song is, because you can have talent and music ability, but understanding what makes a hit pop song is a whole other discipline." Lindsey confessed he "held Mars back for five years while they learned an extensive catalog of hit music."[23][25] In a different interview, Brown corroborated the former story.[24] During this time, Mars played cover songs around Los Angeles in a band called Sex Panther, with Bhasker and Eric Hernandez (the former's brother), who eventually became the drummer of The Hooligans.[17][26]
When Lawrence was first told he should meet Mars he was reluctant to do so since he did not even have money for bus fare. Keith Harris, the drummer for the American musical group The Black Eyed Peas, told Lawrence: "Whatever it costs you to get out here, I'll reimburse you." Lawrence responded: "Just give me five dollars back for the bus."[27] The pair began collaborating, writing songs for Mars, but they received many rejections from record labels. In 2006, Lawrence introduced Mars to his future A&R manager at Atlantic Records, Aaron Bay-Schuck.[28] After hearing him play a couple of songs on the guitar, Bay-Schuck wanted to sign him immediately, but it took roughly three years for Atlantic Records to finally sign Mars to the label, because they felt it was too early and that he still needed to develop as an artist.[28]
In 2008, on the verge of giving up, they received a call from Brandon Creed, who was looking for songs for a reunited Menudo. He liked their song "Lost", which was written for Mars. The duo did not want to give the song away, but when they were offered $20,000 for it, they agreed. The sale of this song allowed them to continue working,[27] and Mars and Lawrence decided that they would write and produce songs together for other artists.[17] Eventually, Creed became the former's manager for nine years.[27][29]
Before becoming a successful solo artist, Mars was an acknowledged music producer, writing songs for the likes of Alexandra Burke, Adam Levine, Brandy, Sean Kingston, and Flo Rida.[8][21] He also co-wrote the Sugababes' hit song "Get Sexy" (2009) and provided backing vocals on their album Sweet 7 (2010).[30] In 2009, he was featured as a singer on Far East Movement's second studio album, Animal, on the track "3D".[31] In the same year, he was also featured on American pastor and hip hop artist Jaeson Ma's debut single "Love" and on American rapper Travie McCoy's "One at a Time", a charity single for MTV's Staying Alive foundation.[32][33] He reached prominence as a solo artist after being featured on, and composing (as part of the production group the Smeezingtons) American rapper B.o.B's "Nothin' on You" (2009) and McCoy's "Billionaire" (2010); both songs peaked within the top ten of various music charts, with the former charting at number one on both the United States Billboard Hot 100 and the UK Singles Chart.[34][35][36]
Mars said of these successful singles: "I think those songs weren't meant to be full-sung songs. If I'd sung all of 'Nothin' on You', it might've sounded like some '90s R&B."[37] On May 11, 2010, Mars released his debut extended play (EP), It's Better If You Don't Understand.[38] It peaked at number 99 on the US Billboard 200 and a music video was released for the song "The Other Side" featuring American singer CeeLo Green and B.o.B.[39][40] Mars, under the Smeezingtons, also composed Green's successful single "Fuck You" (2010).[41]
On July 20, 2010, Mars released "Just the Way You Are" as the lead single from his debut studio album, Doo-Wops & Hooligans (2010), an album produced mainly by the Smeezingtons.[42][43] The song topped the charts in various countries, including Australia, Canada and the U.S.[34][44][36] The album, released on October 5, 2010, debuted at number three on the Billboard 200 and number one in the UK.[45][46][35] It also charted at number one in the Netherlands and Canada.[36][47] Doo-Wops & Hooligans has since sold 15.5 million copies worldwide.[48] It spawned two other international singles, "Grenade", which topped the Billboard Hot 100, New Zealand, the UK, as well as multiple other charts, and "The Lazy Song", which peaked at number four on the Billboard Hot 100 and reached the top spot in the UK and Denmark.[34][35][36]
"Locked out of Heaven" was released on October 1, 2012, and preceded the release of Unorthodox Jukebox, an album produced mainly by the Smeezingtons.[67] The song topped the U.S. and Canada charts, peaking at number two on the UK.[34][44][35] It also charted within the top ten in various countries.[36] Other singles released from the album include "When I Was Your Man", "Treasure", "Gorilla" and "Young Girls". Because "When I Was Your Man" reached number one Billboard Hot 100, aside from Elvis Presley, no other male artist has achieved five number-one singles more quickly than Mars.[71] It also peaked at number three in Canada, number two in the UK, and was top-ten in various countries.[44][35][36] "Treasure" reached number five on the Billboard Hot 100 and number four in Canada, but had less commercial success in other countries.[34][44][36] Mars contributed vocals to Jamaican-American EDM trio Major Lazer's "Bubble Butt", released in May 2013. The single also features American rappers Tyga, 2 Chainz, and American hip-hop singer Mystic.[72] 2ff7e9595c
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