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. Following a brief contract with Motown Records, he first established his name in the music industry as a songwriter. 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 as a solo artist 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. In the same 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".
In 2014, Mars was featured on Mark Ronson's "Uptown Funk", which topped various music charts, spending a total of fourteen and seven weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100 and the UK Singles Chart, respectively. Mars's third studio album, the R&B-focused 24K Magic (2016), received seven Grammy Awards, winning the major categories of Album of the Year, Record of the Year, and Song of the Year. The album also yielded the top-five singles "24K Magic", "That's What I Like" (his seventh Billboard Hot 100 number-one single), and a remix of "Finesse" featuring Cardi B. In 2021, Mars and Anderson .Paak, as Silk Sonic, released the collaborative studio album An Evening with Silk Sonic, which delved into 1970s R&B and soul and was led by the chart-topping single "Leave the Door Open". It received four Grammy Awards, including Record of the Year and Song of the Year.
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 Weeks best songwriters (2011) and Billboards 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.
Life and career
1985–2003: Early life and musical beginnings
Peter Gene Hernandez was born on October 8, 1985, in Honolulu, Hawaii, to Peter Hernandez and Bernadette San Pedro Bayot growing up in the Waikiki neighborhood of Honolulu. His father has Puerto Rican and Jewish heritage, and is originally from Brooklyn, New York. Mars has stated that his Jewish ancestors were from Hungary and Ukraine. His mother emigrated from the Philippines to Hawaii, and was of Filipino and Spanish ancestry. His parents met while performing in a show in which his mother was a Hula dancer and his father played percussion. At the age of two, he was nicknamed "Bruno" by his father because of his resemblance to professional wrestler Bruno Sammartino.