Bruno Mars, born Peter Gene Hernandez, was born on October 8, 1985, and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii. The musician is known for his amazing stage performances, retro showmanship, and for writing in a wide range of musical styles, including pop, R&B, funk, soul, reggae, disco, and rock. At the age of two, his father gave him the nickname “Bruno” because of his resemblance to Italian professional wrestler Bruno Sammartino. His uncle was an Elvis Presley impersonator and encouraged Mars at three years old to perform songs on stage by Presley and Michael Jackson. By age four, he 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. At six years old, Bruno appeared on a segment of the Arsenio Hall Show in 1991.

Bruno’s Professional Music Career

Mars moved to Los Angeles in 2003 to pursue a professional musical career at 17 years old. He added Mars at the end of his stage name because, “I felt like I didn’t have no pizzazz, and a lot of girls say I’m out of this world, so I was like, I guess I’m from Mars.” In addition, the adoption of his stage name was an effort to “avoid being stereotyped,” as the music industry tried to pigeonhole him as another Latin artist. They even tried to convince Mars to sing in Spanish. Mars rose to fame in 2010 with the success of being featured on “Nothin’ on You” by B.o.B and “Billionaire” by Travie McCoy. That year, the singer-songwriter released his debut studio album Doo-Wops & Hooligans, which featured hits: “Grenade,” “Talking To The Moon,” “Count On Me,” “Just the Way You Are,” and “Marry You.”

From then, Bruno Mars came out with his second studio album, Unorthodox Jukebox, in 2012 and his third studio album four years later in 2016, 24K Magic. In 2021, Mars and Anderson .Paak formed the musical duo known as Silk Sonic, releasing their funky collaborative studio album An Evening with Silk Sonic, which delved into ’70s R&B and soul. In February 2023, Mars announced he was working on his fourth solo studio album, with a new sound and an unconfirmed release date. The artist is also in early talks with Live Nation Entertainment to set up a tour throughout 2024 and 2025, with “large-scale, three-dimensional” performances.

Mars has sold over 130 million records worldwide, making him one of the best-selling music artists of all time. He 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.

We have compiled our ten favorite Bruno Mars songs. See what they are below:

• Smokin Out The Window

  We love this era of Bruno Mars. The one that sings so sensually about smoking cannabis out of the window. In the music video, Mars is all good vibes and looks like he’s having the time of his life performing with Anderson .Paak.

• Locked Out Of Heaven

  This 2012 banger took over radio airwaves, and over a decade later, when we hear it, we can’t help but dance along. The drums and guitar that kick off the song in the beginning has us hooked on “Locked Out Of Heaven” for all time.

• Nothin' On You

  Being featured on B.o.B.’s song helped propel Bruno’s popularity in 2010; it was around the same time that he was featured on Gym Class Heroes’ frontman Travie McCoy’s song “Billionaire.” Mars’ voice in “Nothin’ On You” is a fun one to try to sing along to and hit all those high notes.

• Just The Way You Are

  This song may be over a decade old now, but it is still so freakin’ precious. Bruno Mars launched his music career with this song and it is still regarded as one of his best songs about love.

• Wake Up In The Sky

  Bruno Mars provides his vocals in this 2018 banger with rappers Gucci Mane and Kodak Black. Bruno hardly dips into the rap world, but he has also previously collaborated with Wiz Khalifa and Snoop Dogg collab on “Young, Wild and Free” from 2011.

• Leave The Door Open

  From his Silk Sonic project with Anderson .Paak, the duo first dropped “Leave The Door Open” and it became an instant hit. The fun memes that came to follow was a highlight when the single dropped during the Covid-19 pandemic.

• When I Was Your Man

  Bruno sure knows how to write those sad songs, and also how belt it out. This one is for the regret one feels after the end of a relationship by not realizing how they could have made their partner happy due to their pride and selfish ways.

• Grenade

  Saying that he’d catch a grenade for someone is a pretty serious way of showing how much they mean to you. On top of that, he brings one red flag: “Should’ve known you was trouble from the first kiss / Had your eyes wide open, why were they open?”

• Billionaire

  Gym Class Heros lead Travie McCoy’s first solo album Lazarus featured Bruno on this catchy track. After all, we can all relate to wanting to be a “billionaire so freakin’ bad,” making all of our financial troubles go away.

• Talking To The Moon

  Coming in at #1 is “Talking To The Moon” from his debut album, Doo Wops & Hooligans. The song became popular once more on TikTok in a remix featuring the late rapper Pop Smoke.

Sign me up for the WJBR email newsletter!

You love WJBR, so join the Insiders Club! Be the first to know about local events, concerts and contests, and get the latest updates with your favorite artists, and more delivered right to your inbox.

First Name *

Last Name

Email *

Subscribe

By clicking "Subscribe" I agree to the website's terms of Service and Privacy Policy. I understand I can unsubscribe at any time.