Bruno Mars (born October 8, 1985, Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S.) is an American singer and songwriter who is known for both his catchy pop music—which often features upbeat lyrics, blends different genres, and has a retro quality—and his energetic live performances.
He was the son of Pete (“Dr. Doo-Wop”) Hernandez, a Latin percussionist of Puerto Rican extraction from Brooklyn, and Bernadette Hernandez, a Filipina vocalist and hula dancer. He was nicknamed Bruno when he was a toddler and began entertaining in Honolulu at the age of four as an Elvis Presley impersonator with his parents’ band, the Love Notes. He had a small role as Little Elvis in the 1992 film Honeymoon in Vegas (billed as Bruno Hernandez). As a young teenager, he appeared in a local revue impersonating Michael Jackson, and he taught himself to play piano, guitar, bass, and percussion. After graduating from high school, he moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career as a musician. About that time he took the stage name Bruno Mars.
Mars signed with the record company Motown in 2004. Although no recordings resulted, the relationship did pave the way for Mars’s introduction to songwriter Philip Lawrence. Mars, Lawrence, and sound engineer Ari Levine began writing and producing songs for other artists under the name the Smeezingtons, creating new music with a vintage feel. Popular songs produced by the Smeezingtons included “Long Distance” (2008) for contemporary rhythm-and-blues (R&B) singer Brandy, “Right Round” (2009) for hip-hop MC Flo Rida, and “Wavin’ Flag” (2009) for Somalian Canadian rapper K’Naan; the latter became the theme song for the FIFA World Cup 2010 in association football (soccer). Mars was a cowriter and coproducer for Cee Lo Green’s huge 2010 hit “Fuck You!” He contributed his soulful tenor vocals to the Smeezingtons-penned singles “Nothin’ on You,” together with hip-hop artist B.o.B, and “Billionaire,” along with rapper Travie McCoy. The latter songs led in 2009 to Mars’s signing with the label Elektra.
In 2010 Mars released the four-song EP It’s Better if You Don’t Understand, followed five months later by the album Doo-Wops & Hooligans, which introduced the hit singles “Just the Way You Are,” “Grenade,” and “The Lazy Song.” The album made him a star and garnered him his first Grammy Award, for best male pop vocal performance (for “Just the Way You Are”). Unorthodox Jukebox appeared in December 2012, two months after he debuted its breakout single, “Locked out of Heaven.” The album, which also included the hit songs “When I Was Your Man” and “Treasure,” won the Grammy for best pop vocal album. Mars’s pliant voice was subsequently featured on the 2014 single “Uptown Funk,” a collaboration with British producer Mark Ronson that recalled 1980s funk and R&B. The song, which appeared on Ronson’s album Uptown Special (2015), became a major worldwide hit and won the Grammy for record of the year.
Mars’s success continued with the release of his third studio album, 24K Magic (2016), which drew inspiration from 1990s R&B music. A commercial hit, it also won numerous Grammy Awards, most notably for best album, record, and song (“That’s What I Like”). Mars later joined with Anderson .Paak to form Silk Sonic, and in 2021 they released the album An Evening with Silk Sonic. It featured a number of popular singles, including “Leave the Door Open,” which received Grammys for best record and song, among other awards.
