Bruno Mars

Honolulu native Bruno Mars (legally known as Peter Gene Hernandez) was born on October 8, 1985. The 29-year old comes from a musical family; his mother is from the Philippines, starting out as a hula dancer where she met her husband who was playing the percussion of the show. He is one of six children, and the whole family often performed together in shows. From an early age, he was introduced to a wide array of musical genres, including R&B, hip-hop, and reggae.

His parents nicknamed him Bruno, as he resembled the famous wrestler Bruno Sammartino. He later added on “Mars” to his nickname to create the stage-name “Bruno Mars.” He was in a band while in High School, called The School Boys, and graduated at 17. Instead of going to university, he chose to follow his dream of pursuing music and fame, moving straight to Los Angeles.

He didn’t actually reach stardom immediately; he signed to his first label, Motown Records, was later dropped and then went into music publishing. He is actually known for his songwriting, nominated several times for Grammys not only for his singing and music but also for his songwriting abilities for himself and other artists.

His style has also been compared to that of Michael Jackson, as he has a great range in his voice (he can hit many different notes). He is also known for putting on great live shows; he does not rely on lip-synching when performing in front of an audience. It is in this respect that his performance method is reminiscent of that of the past, when artists would put on great shows for ticket holders.

 VOCABULARY

starting out as: comenzar a trabajar como
array of: despliegue de
nicknamed: apodo
wrestler: luchador
stardom: estrellato
lip-synching: playback
reminiscent: recuerda, evoca