Name: The Untold Truth Of Bruno Mars
Uploaded: 2018-04-30T05:53:20.000Z
Duration: 6 min 26 s
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He's a superstar who may have the name of another planet, but in reality, Bruno Mars

Mars' journey to fame has been marked with highs and lows.

While his laid-back demeanor doesn't hint at his troubles, Mars has had more than his

Think you know everything there is to know about this icon?

Bruno Mars comes from a tight-knit family.

He and his mother Bernadette San Pedro Bayot were especially close — and her death in

2013 from a brain aneurysm devastated him.

In 2017, Mars opened up to Latina magazine about his loss.

"The woman who taught you to love, showed you what a woman is supposed to be, when that

goes away, a little more than half your heart goes away with it."

He added that he would trade music to have her back.

At one time, his family was so poor that they crowded into a small home with no bathroom.

Despite this, Mars said his childhood was "the best" in an interview with 60 Minutes.

Mars added that there were days when his family didn't have electricity but they stayed positive

He says that he takes on that same mentality when it comes to music.

He wrote his first song at the age of four

Mars wrote his very first song when he was just four years old and dedicated it to his

In an interview with Inquirer Lifestyle before her death, she explained that Mars sang before

She also said how she bought him a piano at two years old, and he picked it up in no time.

"...he went on the piano and just started playing tunes, not just banging on it, but

Not only did the pint-sized Bruno write his first song when he was just 4 years old, he

was also the youngest Elvis impersonator at the time, which he started doing at just 2

He was such a great tiny Elvis that he performed at the 1990 Aloha Bowl and played "Little

He was featured in the 1990 documentary Viva Elvis, and appeared on multiple television

segments, like with Pauly Shore on MTV and, according to Rolling Stone, he appeared on

The Arsenio Hall Show by the time he was just 6.

"I like his singing and his dancing and his lips."

If Mars' stage presence and smooth singing voice seem effortless, there's a good reason

Music is in his blood, and the singer/songwriter grew up performing.

His dad was a Latin percussionist and his mom was a hula dancer.

That charm brought together Mars' parents who collaborated for years in a cover band

That's the very band that Mars joined as an Elvis impersonator by the time he was two

and through which he became something of a local celebrity.

Today, Mars keeps the family tradition alive.

His older brother, Eric Hernandez, plays the drums in Mars' band.

And let's not forget about Mars' sisters — Tiara, Tahiti, and Presley Hernandez — and Jaime

They're part of a group called The Lylas and landed a reality show in 2013.

The son of a Puerto Rican Jewish father and a Filipino mother, Mars has had to work hard

Born Peter Hernandez, Mars told GQ that in the early years of his career people would

"Your last name's Hernandez, maybe you should do this Latin music, this Spanish music….

While Mars didn't want to be forced into a genre of music on the basis of his race, he

explained to Latina Magazine that there's absolutely no truth to the rumor that he adopted

his stage name to hide his Puerto Rican heritage.

Mars says, because it, quote, "sounds bigger than life."

He gets frustrated when people try to put him and his music in a box.

He says, "My music is for anybody who wants to listen to it."

Even as a young Elvis impersonator, Mars wasn't going by his birth name of Peter Gene Hernandez.

Mars explains in an interview with Rap-Up,

"Bruno is after Bruno Sammartino, who was this big fat wrestler.

I guess I was this chunky little baby, so my dad used to call me that as a nickname."

He was once arrested for cocaine possession

While Mars has largely managed to avoid scandal, he was arrested for cocaine possession in

As part of his plea deal, he was required to serve 200 hours of community service.

Mars later told GQ that the arrest was a reality check for him.

He believes it was a lesson that everything he's worked for his whole life could be taken

Maybe it's that very lesson that has so far otherwise kept Mars out of the news for anything

During the torturous Typhoon Yolanda, Mars decided to do what he could to give back to

The Philippine Star reported that while Mars was in Manila for his Moonshine Jungle Tour,

he presented the ABS-CBN Lingkod Kapamilya Foundation with a donation of $100,000.

And in the wake of the Flint water crisis, Mars was also quick to lend a helping hand

to Michigan, donating $1 million to help recovery efforts.

In a statement released by Mars via Rolling Stone he said,

"Ongoing challenges remain years later for Flint residents, and it's important that we