Groovin in Yarkon Park
Bruno Mars will be bringing the magic to Tel Aviv, with the crooner announcing not one but two shows for his first visit.
Have you heard of Peter Gene Hernandez? No?
Perhaps you’ve heard of Bruno Mars?
Yep, they’re one and the same.
Bet you also didn’t know that the American singer, songwriter, and record producer is part Jewish.
The singer was born in Hawaii to a half-Puerto Rican, half-Jewish father, and a Filipino mother with Spanish and Chinese ancestry. According to Mars, his Jewish ancestors were from Hungary and Ukraine. One grandparent was apparently a Hebrew teacher.
One of six children, Mars was exposed to a diverse mix of music genres from a young age. His mother was a singer and dancer, and his father was a musician. It’s how the pair met – his father was playing percussion and his mother was a Hula dancer in a show they were performing in.
But it goes further than his parents. His uncle was also an Elvis Presley impersonator.
Mars was brought up in a home that blasted rock and roll, reggae, hip hop, and rhythm and blues, and was often encouraged to perform songs by Presley and Michael Jackson. He had his very own child-sized drum kit, guitar and piano as well as other percussion instruments, and he learned to play them all.
A lot of this explains his own diverse range of musical talent, and according to Mars, the time he spent impersonating Presley had a major impact on his music and performing techniques, as did rock guitarist Jimi Hendrix and his time growing up in Hawaii.
“Growing up in Hawaii made me the man I am. I used to do a lot of shows in Hawaii with my father’s band. Everybody in my family sings, everyone plays instruments… I’ve just been surrounded by it,” he has said in the past.
But it wasn’t all music and roses.
His parents divorced when Mars was 12 years old. He moved out of the family home with his father and his brother, and it wasn’t always comfortable living. The trio well and truly lived in the ‘slums of Hawaii’ as his father’s various businesses, including temporary tattoo parlours and memorabilia shops, failed time and time again. At one point, they found themselves living in an abandoned bird zoo called Paradise Park, where his father worked before it closed.
It was his sister who helped get him his big break.
Living in Los Angeles, she gave his demo to Mike Lynn who was head of artists and repertoire at Dr. Dre’s Aftermath Entertainment record label. Shortly after graduating high school at the age of 17, Mars moved to LA to pursue his music.
And the rest is Top 40 history.
As for his name… how does one get from Peter Gene Hernandez to Bruno Mars?
First, Mars explained, it was his way of avoiding the stereotype that was often thrown his way – that he was ‘another Latin artist’.
But, more importantly, when he was two years old, his father nicknamed him Bruno because he resembled professional wrestler Bruno Sammartino – apparently Mars was a chunky little thing. The Mars bit was to add a bit of magic to his moniker.
“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,” he told Rap-Up.
Recently, the Uptown Funk singer announced he will be making his way to Israel for the first time to perform at Tel Aviv’s Yarkon Park in October. The show sold out within two hours. Mars has since announced a second performance slated to take place three days later. Again, his second show sold out within hours.
Israel clearly loves the crooner.
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