If you grew up in the 2000s, chances are you spent a good chunk of your time jumping around your room with your CD player blasting Now That’s What I Call Music, singing along to hits like Just The Way You Are at the top of your lungs.
That is, until your mom called you down for dinner.
But while you were busy singing into your hairbrush and hanging posters of Bruno, Britney, and the Backstreet Boys in your room, did you know that the guy you were singing along to on that Bruno Mars poster wasn’t actually named Bruno?
Bruno Mars was born in October 1986 in Honolulu, Hawaii, and his real name is Peter Gene Hernández.
At 17, Mars graduated from high school and moved to Los Angeles, California. It was around that time he made the switch.
So why did he choose Bruno? And why Mars?
Well, in an interview with Blues and Soul, Bruno explained: “Oh, my dad nicknamed me ‘Bruno’ when I was two years old! You know, I guess I was this chubby kid, and at the time there was this chubby (Italian) wrestler called Bruno Sammartino!
But why Mars? It wasn’t just his dad’s nickname that made him drop Hernández. Bruno felt the music industry might stereotype him because of his last name.
As for “Mars,” it came about as a joke in the studio. Bruno said: “One day I was in there messing around and just telling people ‘Hey, I’m outta this world! I’m Bruno Mars!’!… And from that, it just stuck!”
Social media, of course, has plenty to say about it. One Twitter user remarked, “Interesting!”
Meanwhile, a third was completely shocked: “Are u fking kidding me, Bruno Mars’ real name is Peter?”
And to everyone who was surprised, someone else chimed in: “You’re clearly not a day one fan lmaooo.”
Fairs.
