“You wouldn’t believe how many label presidents I’ve heard say, ‘Bruno doesn’t have what it takes, we don’t know how to market him, we don’t know what kind of music he does,’” Mars says. Kids would come to school with guitars and ukuleles on their back, and we’d all jam at lunch.” At age 18, he’d moved to Los Angeles, quickly scoring a solo deal with Motown within a couple years, however, that deal soured. “Honolulu is a melting pot,” he explains. By age 4, he was performing onstage as “the world’s youngest Elvis impersonator,” and appeared in the film “Honeymoon in Vegas,” where he sang “Can’t Help Falling in Love.” Mars attributes his unique sound to this multicultural upbringing. We’d assumed he was a hip-hop artist, and all of a sudden he’s Billy Joel!”īorn to a Puerto Rican father and Filipino mother (his birth name is Peter Hernandez), Mars grew up in Hawaii, playing in his family’s cover band, the Love Notes. When we first heard ‘Just the Way You Are,’ it was a little shocking. “No one in the past year has had hits as varied. “Bruno’s songs have no boundaries,” says John Ivey, program director for the influential top-40 radio station, KIIS-FM. Mars’ voice and production style - blending classic soul, reggae-tinged grooves suggesting the Police and Sublime, OutKast’s iconoclastic hip-hop and Sade’s smooth internationalism - have become pop radio’s dominant sound.
I’d been trying my whole career to write a song like that, which incorporates live instruments with hip-hop and singing.”Īnd Green’s 2006 hit as part of Gnarls Barkley, “Crazy,” captured Mars’ imagination: “It epitomized what I wanted to achieve: a song that would be played on pop stations, on hip-hop stations, on rock stations - just because it was good.” (At the 2011 Grammy Awards ceremony, Mars will perform with B.o.B and another crossover success of last year, Janelle Monáe.) “‘Nothin’ on You’ by B.o.B was the first song where I heard myself on the radio. “I’m fortunate to work with guys like Cee Lo and B.o.B,” he says. Indeed, although “Just the Way You Are” was nominated for “Best Pop Vocal Performance” alongside John Mayer and Michael Jackson, Mars seems more excited by his collaborations. I’m not the guy who screams ‘This is a world smash!’ when I finish a song.” The Grammy Awards take place next Sunday at Staples Center. They stay crossed: I tend to overthink things. “But I’m still crossing my fingers about the Grammys.
“I’m feeling like a winner right now, sir - I’m not going to lie!” Mars exclaimed in a recent phone interview between European tour stops. “Bruno is poised to be one of the next generation’s greats,” notes Green, whose Grammy-nominated hit " You” was co-written and produced by Mars and his production team the Smeezingtons. “Hearing Bruno on the radio for the first time is almost like discovering the pre-pubescent Michael Jackson,” says McCoy, whose 2010 hit single “Billionaire” was a Mars collaboration. “Grenade” would also top the charts, making him the only male solo artist to do so with his first two singles. They did, demonstrated by Mars’ seven Grammy nominations in 2011, second only to Eminem’s 10. His label, Elektra, was preparing to follow up “Just the Way You Are” with a soulful power-pop ditty called “Grenade,” and Mars exuded anxiety about its reception: “What’s ‘Grenade’ compared with ‘Just the Way You Are’? I’m crossing my fingers, hoping people dig it.” But Mars didn’t know this back in September: Despite the hit-making firepower backing him, he was nervous. 1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100, attaining triple-platinum status “Doo-Wops” would also eventually crest at No. At this point, Mars had already helped write and produce chart-toppers for artists such as B.o.B, Flo Rida, Cee Lo Green and Travie McCoy as a solo artist, Mars’ first single, the stirring ballad “Just the Way You Are,” was midway through its chart ascent.īy early October, that song would reach the No. Marroquin’s Midas touch is legendary, blessing hits for Alicia Keys, Rihanna and Usher, among others in his short career, Mars’ ability to create pop blockbusters is proving similarly gilded. Platinum discs from artists who’ve recorded there line Larrabee’s walls, and in an adjoining room, renowned mix engineer Manny Marroquin rushed to complete the 25-year-old singer-songwriter-producer’s debut album, “Doo-Wops & Hooligans,” due out less than a month later. In early September 2010, Bruno Mars found himself sitting in the posh lounge of North Hollywood’s Larrabee Studios, a high-tech temple designed for creating pop-music smashes.