Born and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii, Peter Gene Hernandez grew to local fame with his stellar Elvis Presley impersonation. Then, to pursue his music career, he moved to Los Angeles in 2003. Some of his most recent hits include “Die With a Smile,” featuring Lady Gaga, and “APT.,” featuring Rose. His most recent song, “I Just Might,” is already smashing records as it debuted at #1 on the Hot 100 as the opener for his new album releasing on February 27th. However, most do not know him by the name of Peter Hernandez but by that of Bruno Mars. He named himself that to escape the prejudice he met early in his career due to his ethnicity. He has spoken out about how early on he was expected to be just another Latin singer. This led him to naming himself Bruno Mars. Bruno was a nickname he was given for looking like wrestler Bruno Sammartino as a kid and has stated that the Mars portion of his name is because the ladies say he is out of this world.

Both of his parents came from musical backgrounds, which is also how they met. His mom was a hula dancer, and his father was a percussionist who played lots of Little Richard in his more professional career. They met while performing in a show and went on to have six kids. Due to their parents having musical careers, all of the kids learned and started playing instruments at a young age. Some even kept going and had separate musical careers.

Bruno Mars was inspired to become a singer as his uncle encouraged his Elvis impression, as he was an impersonator himself. That and his Michael Jackson impression helped bring his family band to local fame. At age five, he even played at the Aloha Bowl (a discontinued Hawaii college matchup that was hosted on Christmas Day).

However, things were not all sunshine and rainbows for Bruno as his parents divorced when he was 12 years old. He mostly lived with his father, who attempted many businesses during this time, and few to none were very successful. This led to Bruno and some of his family living in some weird places, like an abandoned bird zoo. During this time, he maintained a musical presence as he kept his Michael Jackson impressions going but in a more solo manner. 

Then, while still in high school, his sister gave Mike Lynn, the head of a large entertainment label, a demo of Bruno. Mike then summoned Bruno to L.A., which helped kickstart his professional career as a musician. After some time working under and with many artists from many bands and groups in the L.A. area, he released his first single song “Just The Way You Are,” which is the cover song for his album Doo-Wops and Hooligans. Some other notable titles of his first album include “Runaway Baby” and “Grenade.” And that was just a the start was the start of his long and infamous musical career that led him to being the current #1 top artist on Spotify