Bruno Mars' Family Tree Revealed: Historic Photos and Archival Roots from Manila to San Juan
By James H. Sterling
Q1: Is Bruno Mars Black or Afro-Latino?
Mars is not Black or Afro-Latino. His mother was of Filipino and Spanish ancestry, and his father is of Puerto Rican and Jewish descent. While he performs genres rooted in African American culture, he has publicly clarified his lineage on multiple occasions.
Q2: Why did Bruno Mars change his real name?
His birth name is Peter Gene Hernandez. He changed it after arriving in Los Angeles because music industry executives repeatedly tried to push him into Spanish-language Latin pop based solely on his surname, ignoring his stylistic preferences for R&B, soul, and pop.
Q3: What was the origin of his nickname Bruno?
His father gave him the nickname around age two. Mars was an assertive, energetic toddler, and his father felt he resembled Bruno Sammartino, a celebrated Italian-American professional wrestler who dominated the WWWF circuit during the 1960s and 1970s.
Q4: What language did Bruno Mars speak growing up?
Mars grew up speaking English and Hawaiian Pidgin (Hawaii Creole English) in Honolulu. Despite his father’s Puerto Rican roots, Spanish was not his primary language at home, which contributed to his reluctance to be marketed as a traditional Latin pop artist.
James Sterling reports on renewable energy developments, climate policy, ecological conservation, and green tech innovations around the globe.
