Speaker 1: Wait, Joseph, I can see you in our zoom. By
Speaker 1: the way, you guys, we do record these as zooms
Speaker 1: in case you're looking for a little BTS. Joseph, that
Speaker 1: does not look like your usual apartment.
Speaker 2: Where are you or who are you here?
Speaker 3: Excuse me? I'm in my penthouse with my versace on
Speaker 3: the floor. Where else?
Speaker 4: Okay, just kidding. I don't have a penthouse and I
Speaker 4: don't even know whose penthouse this is.
Speaker 2: To be honest, Okay, if you need help text me.
Speaker 3: Got it.
Speaker 2: Now it's time to introduce our next icon.
Speaker 3: Let's go baby Cakes.
Speaker 1: Over one hundred and thirty million records, soul worldwide.
Speaker 3: Fifteen Grammy Awards.
Speaker 2: Thirteen Soul Train Awards.
Speaker 4: Eleven American Music Awards, eight Number one hits, six.
Speaker 3: Diamond certified songs in the United.
Speaker 4: States, four brit Awards, three Guinness World Records, two super Bowls.
Speaker 3: And one heck of an Artist.
Speaker 2: Our new icon Peter Dean at none This junior an
Speaker 2: icon as Bruno Mars.
Speaker 4: Oh yeah, he makes that music you want to either
Speaker 4: get married to or honeymoon too.
Speaker 2: If you know what I'm saying, I think everybody knows
Speaker 2: what you're saying.
Speaker 3: Yeah, sure, because I mean sexy tech.
Speaker 2: Okay, I know we got it.
Speaker 3: Muchos Movimian does sexy.
Speaker 2: I love that song, but enough, we got it. Okay,
Speaker 2: we got it.
Speaker 1: And by the way, there is so much more musically
Speaker 1: to Bruno Mars than just that, and we are so
Speaker 1: excited to break it all down for you pop, R
Speaker 1: and B, funk, soul, disco, reggae, and even a little rock.
Speaker 3: He's throwing it all in there like Mayabuela's Morley.
Speaker 1: On today's episode, the Rise of Bruno from child Elvis
Speaker 1: impersonator to homeless in La and all the way to
Speaker 1: his penthouse. I'm your host, Liliana Oosquez.
Speaker 3: And I'm Joseph Carrio and this is Becoming an.
Speaker 1: Icon a weekly podcast where we give you the rundown
Speaker 1: on how today's most famous latinv stars have shaped pop culture.
Speaker 3: And given the world some extra level.
Speaker 2: Sit back and get comfortable.
Speaker 4: Because we are going in the only way we know how,
Speaker 4: with buena buenasriesas.
Speaker 1: And a lot of opinions as we relive their greatest
Speaker 1: achievements on our journey to find out what makes them
Speaker 1: still iconic.
Speaker 3: Okay, those who is Bruno Mars to you?
Speaker 1: Oh well, I wish he was my friend because I
Speaker 1: feel he knows how to throw a really good party.
Speaker 2: He dresses really well, and the boy can move.
Speaker 3: Gosh.
Speaker 1: I think of movement when I think of Bruno, like
Speaker 1: I want to dance, I want to have a good time.
Speaker 1: My life is good, not in my feelings, just like
Speaker 1: out of my body, ready to party.
Speaker 2: That's how I think of Bruno.
Speaker 3: Okay, wait, wait, so when was the first time you
Speaker 3: heard of Bruno?
Speaker 1: Probably that video like the Way You Are video, I
Speaker 1: would say, like that first album.
Speaker 2: I mean, it was all over the radio.
Speaker 1: And every time I say radio, I think that like
Speaker 1: our listeners think were like eighty seven years old, and
Speaker 1: we live in Florida.
Speaker 2: Y'all, we're not.
Speaker 1: We're young, okay, but but I listened to the radio
Speaker 1: in my car, like I know y'all listen to Spotify.
Speaker 1: My old ass listens to the radio, and back in
Speaker 1: the day, I certainly listened to the radio when that
Speaker 1: album came out and you couldn't escape it. And I
Speaker 1: think what I remember most is like that song was
Speaker 1: on all the station. It was on the hit station,
Speaker 1: it was on the jazz station, it was on the
Speaker 1: adult contemporary station like he was all of the demos,
Speaker 1: what about you.
Speaker 4: When I first heard his music, it was The Victoria's
Speaker 4: Secret Show, or I guess that's when I put him
Speaker 4: to the music. When I saw him on The Victoria's
Speaker 4: Secret Show, I started liking his music, and then all
Speaker 4: of a sudden, he started collabing with people that I
Speaker 4: knew of.
Speaker 3: So that was my entree to Bruno.
Speaker 2: You're entree into Bruno.
Speaker 1: Now would you consider yourself to be a Bruno Mars fan?
Speaker 4: You know, I'm not not a fan, So like I
Speaker 4: like his music, I could say that if you wanted
Speaker 4: to go to his concert, I would be like, yeah,
Speaker 4: that would be fun. But I'm not sure that I
Speaker 4: have more than four songs on my Spotify.
Speaker 1: Okay, well, I love that you said if I wanted
Speaker 1: to take you to a Bruno Mar's concert, you would
Speaker 1: come with me. Yeah, I would go with Thank you
Speaker 1: so much. That's very generous of you and your time.
Speaker 1: But what is so great about saying that is that
Speaker 1: you actually have a different level of respect and appreciation
Speaker 1: for his musicality and for his ability as a performer
Speaker 1: when you see him in concert, Because, like listen, I
Speaker 1: go to a lot of concerts, like I've been to
Speaker 1: all the big ones like jay Z, Beyonce, Taylor Swift,
Speaker 1: Like okay, I didn't go to Bad Bunny, but.
Speaker 2: Lesie Jalo fifty times.
Speaker 1: When you play an arena, you can get everyone in
Speaker 1: the arena, And I'm not talking about the floor, like
Speaker 1: everyone to stand up and not just like clap and
Speaker 1: like bounce up and down, but I mean like dance
Speaker 1: it out and like sweat flying at you from like
Speaker 1: the row behind you.
Speaker 2: Like that is a party.
Speaker 1: And Bruno's concerts are like a massive dance party. I
Speaker 1: don't know how to describe it other than that I
Speaker 1: have been three times.
Speaker 2: Three times.
Speaker 3: Wow, so you're a fan.
Speaker 2: I'm such a fan again, Like his music is so fun.
Speaker 1: I remember I was going through like a very dark
Speaker 1: time in my life, and I was like, can I
Speaker 1: tell you all the therapy in the world did not
Speaker 1: make me feel as good as dancing for like ninety
Speaker 1: minutes out of bruno Mars concert. It was so therapeutic,
Speaker 1: And ever since then, I was like, Bruno, he snapped
Speaker 1: me out of my funk. He took me to like
Speaker 1: a better place, and I'll forever thank him for that.
Speaker 4: And he took you to a funky place. Oh you
Speaker 4: know what I mean, because you good poppy and funky music.
Speaker 1: And Bruno's music, like we described, is so undeniable. But
Speaker 1: most people think his success was inevitable and that it
Speaker 1: was just kind.
Speaker 2: Of given to him.
Speaker 3: Wait, it wasn't, not at all.
Speaker 2: But for this story, we need to take you guys.
Speaker 1: All the way back to Hana Lulu, Hawaii, where he.
Speaker 2: Was born and raised.
Speaker 3: Okay, I got it from here.
Speaker 2: Go, Joseph go.
Speaker 4: Peter Jean Ernandez Junior was born on October eighth, nineteen
Speaker 4: eighty five, making him Boo boo boo boo boo boo,
Speaker 4: a Libra's son and a Leo Moon. Oh that Leo
Speaker 4: Moon is strong ish. His birth time is unknown, so
Speaker 4: there's a bunch of speculations about his rising, but I
Speaker 4: don't know, so don't ask me either way. This makes
Speaker 4: him charming, as fuzz, loyal, and a natural born leader.
Speaker 4: It also means he's a great collaborator, able to hear
Speaker 4: people out and make people feel seen and heard.
Speaker 1: Excuse me, when am I getting this Walter Mergado treatment
Speaker 1: like I'm your co host?
Speaker 3: Just some respect not happening.
Speaker 2: I love what you just said about Bruno.
Speaker 1: And one thing I want to add was that he
Speaker 1: was also raised by his father, Peter gen ed Nandez
Speaker 1: Senior and his mother Bernadette.
Speaker 3: Bernie tell me how they hooked up.
Speaker 1: So, Peter is half Puerto Riquano and half Jewish from Brooklyn,
Speaker 1: and he was playing a show at the Hilton in
Speaker 1: Waikiki Beach where he met Bernadette.
Speaker 2: Get this, she was a hula dancer.
Speaker 4: A girl is up there shaking her hula, getting Peter axcited.
Speaker 1: Well, Bernadette was shaking it and she had immigrated to
Speaker 1: Hawaii from the Philippines.
Speaker 4: Wait, so Bruno is half Moriqua, half Jewish and Filipino.
Speaker 3: That's a lot of.
Speaker 1: Has, yes, And that's exactly why Bruno and his sound
Speaker 1: and his history and kind of everything about him feels
Speaker 1: so hard to define. So Bernie and his dad had
Speaker 1: six kids, four daughters and two boys, and one of them,
Speaker 1: of course, was Brunico. A rolling stone feature on the
Speaker 1: Singer revealed that his dad, Peter, a doctor do wop
Speaker 1: at Nandez as they like to call him, dim the
Speaker 1: lights in the delivery room as his wife was giving birth,
Speaker 1: So it was almost like a nightclub.
Speaker 2: Y'all, I love this man. I don't even know this man.
Speaker 3: I love this yet I'm gonna say eye roll uh.
Speaker 2: And he was not done. He was playing old.
Speaker 1: These book goodies on a boombox listeners. If you're too
Speaker 1: young to know what a boombox is, please look it up.
Speaker 1: It's an artifact. Anyway, he was playing oldies on his
Speaker 1: boombox as Bruno was literally coming into the world.
Speaker 4: Literally at this point. What do you think the mom
Speaker 4: was yelling at this time?
Speaker 1: I don't know, but I would have been like, snip snip, motherfucker,
Speaker 1: snip snip. And the second Daddy Mars saw his beautiful
Speaker 1: baby boy, he thought he looked a lot like a
Speaker 1: professional wrestler named Bruno Sammartino, so they nicknamed him Bruno.
Speaker 2: As for Mars's.
Speaker 1: Musical abilities, his home was filled with music. There was
Speaker 1: a little bit of everything playing all.
Speaker 2: The time, hip hop, reggae, and R and B, most
Speaker 2: importantly rock and roll, specifically the King of rock himself.
Speaker 3: Oh, thank you, thank you very much.
Speaker 2: Wait was that supposed to be Elvis or Austin Butler?
Speaker 3: Don't be jealous of my talent. Okay.
Speaker 1: Bruno's uncle John Valentine was an Elvis Presley impersonator, and
Speaker 1: we have him to thank for setting tiny Bruno on
Speaker 1: the path to greatness. Back in twenty eleven, Valentine recalled
Speaker 1: during an interview witnessing his nephew's budding interest in music
Speaker 1: when he was just three years old. He happily encouraged
Speaker 1: young marsh to perform songs on stage, not only as Presley,
Speaker 1: but also as MJ Michael Jackson.
Speaker 3: Okay, but it's chill. I cannot do a Michael Jackson impression.
Speaker 2: Honestly, I'm kind of rather you not well sooner.
Speaker 1: Bruno gained notoriety in Hawaii for his uncanny musical impersonations.
Speaker 3: He was quite literally a little celebrity, and.
Speaker 2: He was featured in magazines.
Speaker 1: He was even in a Hawaiian tabloid called Midweek as
Speaker 1: the quot unquote Little Elvis. He made an appearance in
Speaker 1: the nineteen ninety documentary Viva Elvis, and he was on
Speaker 1: the Arsenio Hall.
Speaker 2: Show at the age of six.
Speaker 3: Well.
Speaker 1: Bruno went on to perform in the halftime show of
Speaker 1: the nineteen ninety.
Speaker 4: A Low Hubble think of it as a baby super
Speaker 4: Bowl for college football at Aloha statement.
Speaker 1: And if all that wasn't enough, in nineteen ninety two,
Speaker 1: he even had a cameo in Honeymoon in Vegas with
Speaker 1: Nick Cage and Sarah Jessica Parker.
Speaker 3: Ooh and just like that.
Speaker 1: Ooh, I like what you did there, Joseph. There was
Speaker 1: no denying Bruno's talent. And remember he had all those
Speaker 1: other siblings, so why not spread the love and start
Speaker 1: a band.
Speaker 3: Like Selena Ilosinos Preston Peace Rena.
Speaker 1: From age four and all through grade school, Marsh performed
Speaker 1: five days a week with his family's band, The Love Notes.
Speaker 1: Sometimes they were even doing two shows a night.
Speaker 3: It's very much the Jackson Five vibes.
Speaker 4: But while his siblings were shy about the whole thing,
Speaker 4: Brune loved the spotlight kind of.
Speaker 2: Like just like you.
Speaker 1: If you're wondering what they performed, it was pretty much
Speaker 1: covers of other songs, which meant they were only as
Speaker 1: popular and successful as any cover.
Speaker 2: Band would be.
Speaker 1: All I have to say is, how in the world
Speaker 1: does a baby, because he looks like a baby up there,
Speaker 1: that tiny have so much stage presence? You know how
Speaker 1: they say, how some kids just have it and some don't. Ooh,
Speaker 1: Brunito had it. It was like inevitable that he would
Speaker 1: become a star. Like anybody watching that, any talent scout,
Speaker 1: any music executive would watch that and say, I'm putting
Speaker 1: all my money on that kid right now. It was
Speaker 1: a family affair from the beginning.
Speaker 3: Once a family band, always a family band.
Speaker 2: But performing as a child takes a toll on any kid,
Speaker 2: even when it's talented as Bruno. So his parents started
Speaker 2: wondering if they were doing the right thing by Bruno when.
Speaker 3: He wait, what did he do?
Speaker 2: He went himself on stage?
Speaker 3: Oh my god, poor guy. If only he had Depends
Speaker 3: as always.
Speaker 4: This episode of becoming an Icon is brought to you
Speaker 4: by the premier adult diaper on the market, Depends Joseph.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Depends is not a sponsor of this podcast.
Speaker 3: Not yet big now.
Speaker 1: For any parent this would have been a major cause
Speaker 1: for concern, and it was coupled with the fact that
Speaker 1: he was so focused on performing that he also wasn't
Speaker 1: taking school all that seriously.
Speaker 4: So they had to step in with some serious discipline.
Speaker 1: I tell Santi this, if you don't take a nap,
Speaker 1: you can't watch Blippy. Bruno's mom said, take a nap,
Speaker 1: or you won't perform tonight.
Speaker 2: Like there's a difference there, right.
Speaker 1: His mother was even quoted saying this, he knows he
Speaker 1: cannot get away with skipping his three hour nap.
Speaker 2: Or he will not go on stage. Hold on a second,
Speaker 2: Hold on a second.
Speaker 1: She had a child that took a three hour nap, Like,
Speaker 1: I'm so jealous right now, Like my baby, we'll sleep
Speaker 1: for forty two minutes, and I want to throw a
Speaker 1: party for him. So Bruno not only was he like
Speaker 1: super talented, he also took three hour naps.
Speaker 2: This kid is fucking gold, Okay gold.
Speaker 4: I was also just going to say it's probably because
Speaker 4: he was a performer and like, it just takes so
Speaker 4: much hole and baby boy, Bruno didn't like missing his shows.
Speaker 1: Nope, and all that time on stage impersonating the king
Speaker 1: of rock and roll and the king of pop served
Speaker 1: as the foundation for his eventual artistry.
Speaker 4: Bruno grew up surrounded by music, and he was determined
Speaker 4: to learn to play every instrument he could get his hands.
Speaker 1: On, and his parents totally indulged him when he was
Speaker 1: a child. It was clear he was a musical prodigy
Speaker 1: and the centerpiece of the family band. A friend of
Speaker 1: their is told Rolling Stone that at the band's peak,
Speaker 1: Peter had seven cadillacs, and Bruno even had a room
Speaker 1: as big as an average living room just to house
Speaker 1: all of his instruments.
Speaker 3: But like with all great loves, it had to end.
Speaker 2: Joseph, are you going through another breakup?
Speaker 3: Lila? I feel like I've been locked out of heaven.
Speaker 2: Way didn't bring it back, Cauz.
Speaker 4: Sadly, for Bruno, when he was only eleven, his parents
Speaker 4: divorced and the band broke up. Bruno's four sisters stayed
Speaker 4: with their mom, while Bruno and his brother stayed with
Speaker 4: their dad.
Speaker 1: His father tried to keep the family afloat with a
Speaker 1: variety of side hustles, but they all failed. They ended
Speaker 1: up living in the back of a car, on rooftops,
Speaker 1: and even in an abandoned bird zoo called Paradise Park,
Speaker 1: where Bruno's father had worked.
Speaker 3: When the zoo closed, Bruno and his family stayed.
Speaker 2: For over two years. They lived in a one room
Speaker 2: building with only one bed. During an interview with sixty Minutes,
Speaker 2: Bruno explained that it didn't even have a bathroom. If
Speaker 2: they had to go in the middle of the night,
Speaker 2: they would have to go to the other side of
Speaker 2: the park to another building that did.
Speaker 4: Because Mio, that's a long way from seven fucking Cadillacs.
Speaker 1: It is, but Bruno actually remembers it fondly, sharing with
Speaker 1: sixty mens. We had each other and it never felt
Speaker 1: like it was the end of the world. I was
Speaker 1: shocked when we came across this, like I did not
Speaker 1: know this part of Bruno's history. And when you see
Speaker 1: the interview, which by the way, you guys should all
Speaker 1: go back and watch it, like, I think it just
Speaker 1: gave me a totally different level of like understanding and
Speaker 1: just appreciation for who he is and how he was
Speaker 1: raising how humble he is.
Speaker 4: I honestly, itch, I'm speachless, I know.
Speaker 1: I think when we like first talked about it, you
Speaker 1: thought I was lying. You were like, he did not
Speaker 1: live in a fucking zoo. He lives in a penthouse
Speaker 1: with versace on the floor.
Speaker 4: I thought you meant he owned like a menagerie and
Speaker 4: there was like animals and shit, I didn't like an
Speaker 4: abandoned zoo. Also, where were the animals? This is just
Speaker 4: all too much.
Speaker 1: I think we should do an entire special with Bruno
Speaker 1: where we get to ask him questions about Paradise Park
Speaker 1: because it's just I've I mean, listen, we hear a
Speaker 1: lot of coming up stories, right, So many of our
Speaker 1: icons have had like very humble beginnings. I don't believe
Speaker 1: any other icon we've researched and done has ever lived
Speaker 1: in an abandoned zoo. Joseph can't even handle it, y'all.
Speaker 1: He's like checked out, he's done.
Speaker 2: I've done, He's done.
Speaker 1: But what I think is so interesting is when you
Speaker 1: listen to his lyrics and you watch his videos, everything
Speaker 1: is so flashy. It's like cash and cars and diamonds
Speaker 1: and twenty four carrot like it's just a very high
Speaker 1: rolling kind of lifestyle.
Speaker 2: So now knowing.
Speaker 1: That he was living in the back of cars in
Speaker 1: a one bedroom zoo without a bathroom, does that change
Speaker 1: your perception of him at all?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean it makes it more relatable.
Speaker 4: And Bruno didn't miss the material things he had his family,
Speaker 4: but he did miss the.
Speaker 1: Stage, that's right, and that was the one thing he
Speaker 1: wouldn't give up so easily.
Speaker 4: So we already discussed how Bruno literally came into this world.
Speaker 1: The boom Box is Back and the soundtrack of Bruno's
Speaker 1: youth included Jodasy and Keith Sweat, Little Motown, led Zeppelin,
Speaker 1: and the Beatles.
Speaker 3: He lived and breathed these artists.
Speaker 2: Bruno was inspired by these varied sounds.
Speaker 1: Especially doop, which is a very specific style of rhythm
Speaker 1: and blues that prioritizes vocals over the instruments.
Speaker 2: Like I said, this kid was a musical prodigy.
Speaker 4: Now he just needed a new band to perform with.
Speaker 4: But first he needed to make a discovery about himself.
Speaker 1: Soon he was in high school and the lead singer
Speaker 1: of the Schoolboys. It was actually during this time when
Speaker 1: he got in trouble for singing the word horny while
Speaker 1: covering Genuines Pony Wait. He covered Pony in a high school.
Speaker 1: I don't even know that you were allowed to sing
Speaker 1: y'all lyrics to pony Wait. Hold on, I gotta look
Speaker 1: it up. Let's look it up. Just a bachelor looking
Speaker 1: for a partner, remember this.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it was just a horingy thought.
Speaker 2: Oh oh, that's in the chorus.
Speaker 3: Yes, it was nasty. I need some wada.
Speaker 2: I know you do, because you read the lyrics to Pony.
Speaker 2: Oh my god.
Speaker 1: Well, I can understand why the teachers were angry at Bruno.
Speaker 1: But the girls, that was a different story. They were
Speaker 1: going crazy over him.
Speaker 3: And that's when it clicked for Bruno. That endless charm.
Speaker 4: Plus his sex appeal meant he could be more than
Speaker 4: just an impersonator.
Speaker 3: He could do his own thing.
Speaker 1: He graduated in two thousand and three, grabbed his diploma
Speaker 1: and said aloha to Los Angeles. And it was an
Speaker 1: easy decision, especially after one of his sisters called him
Speaker 1: up and told Bruno she played his demo for Mike Linn,
Speaker 1: the head of A and R AKA artist and repertoire
Speaker 1: at Doctor Dre's Aftermath Entertainment record label.
Speaker 4: Yeah, the Doctor Dre, It's the d and I staid
Speaker 4: out love for the Streets.
Speaker 2: So Bruno leaves Hawaii. He's on his way to LA
Speaker 2: but something was missing that X factor. Listen, he knew
Speaker 2: Bruno was a good name, but it's not Madonna. It
Speaker 2: can't stand solo right.
Speaker 4: We needed mass. So you're probably wondering how did he
Speaker 4: get to Mars.
Speaker 1: I don't think I could actually explain it if I
Speaker 1: could in my own words, so I'm just going.
Speaker 2: To read you what he said quote. I felt like
Speaker 2: I didn't have no pizzazz and a lot of girls
Speaker 2: say I'm out of this world. So I was like,
Speaker 2: I guess I'm from Mars.
Speaker 3: Stop. I can't stop. I can't stop it.
Speaker 2: I can't. I call this like swag he's got. The
Speaker 2: boy has swag.
Speaker 1: It's not even confidence because like, okay, a lot of
Speaker 1: people are confident. I'm confident, Joseph, you're confident, but I'm sorry,
Speaker 1: I do not have swag like that. This man has
Speaker 1: so much swag is like off the chart swagger.
Speaker 4: I also just have to say the fact that he goes.
Speaker 4: I felt like I didn't have no pizzazz. The word
Speaker 4: pizzazz is otherworldly, like if you feel you don't have pizzazz,
Speaker 4: you just are from Mars, because who says pizzaz?
Speaker 2: Clearly Bruno.
Speaker 1: But there is something else to his adoption of this name, right.
Speaker 1: It was also a very specific effort by him to
Speaker 1: avoid being stereotyped. And you're probably wondering, wait what I know?
Speaker 1: Let me explain.
Speaker 2: The music industry was trying to pigeonhole him as another
Speaker 2: Latin artist because his last name was Ernandez.
Speaker 3: Right, what did he spend their hosts have against the
Speaker 3: z Z.
Speaker 2: I don't know. I got twosies in my name.
Speaker 1: I just know that the Morsi's you have the badder
Speaker 1: bitch you are, so I don't know why they're anti Z,
Speaker 1: but these executives were even trying to convince Bruno to
Speaker 1: sing in Spanish. And listen before you get all angry
Speaker 1: and you go out and tell me that Bruno's denying
Speaker 1: his Latini that that is not what was happening here. Okay,
Speaker 1: It's not that he was ashamed of his Puerto Rican roots.
Speaker 1: It won thousand percent influences him musically, and he is
Speaker 1: so proud to represent Puerto Rico.
Speaker 4: But as we've known from listening to all of our
Speaker 4: other previous episodes, the music industry doesn't always know what
Speaker 4: to do with Latino talent.
Speaker 1: That was one of the biggest challenges that Bruno faced
Speaker 1: when he actually got to LA They wanted to put
Speaker 1: him in a box, just like Shakira, just like Jlo,
Speaker 1: just like Ricky. He had seen this story before. He
Speaker 1: was either going to be Puerto Rican or Filipino or
Speaker 1: Jewish to them like they wanted to put him in
Speaker 1: one of those boxes. They needed to figure out how
Speaker 1: they could sell and market him. But Bruno unapologetically embraced
Speaker 1: all parts of his identity, and that left all the
Speaker 1: right people scratching their heads.
Speaker 3: A year after signing with Motown, he.
Speaker 2: Had a shot to make it big, but it fell
Speaker 2: through the cracks.
Speaker 3: As fast as he was signed girl, he was dropped.
Speaker 4: And to top it off, the culture shock he faced
Speaker 4: when he got to La was a brutal.
Speaker 1: Yeah, La, La Land can be devastating for people when
Speaker 1: they first get here. And here's what Bruno had to
Speaker 1: say about his experience moving to La. He said, quote,
Speaker 1: I'd always been a working musician in Hawaii and never
Speaker 1: had problems paying rent. And then it's like, now I'm
Speaker 1: in La, my phone's getting shut off. That's when reality hit.
Speaker 1: I started DJing. I told this person liked a DJ
Speaker 1: because I said they could pay me seventy five dollars
Speaker 1: cash under the table.
Speaker 2: I didn't know how to DJ. I lost that job
Speaker 2: pretty quick.
Speaker 4: Our boy was Baroke, but he wasn't a quitter. Daddy
Speaker 4: Peter was a hustler and taught his boy the art
Speaker 4: of the game.
Speaker 2: Bruno knew he had to give it another shot before
Speaker 2: calling it quits. At Motown, he met Philip Lawrence, a
Speaker 2: songwriter and producer Lawrence and Mar had hit it off,
Speaker 2: and they started writing songs together, along with sound engineer
Speaker 2: Ari Levine.
Speaker 4: Together they founded a production team called the Smeeezing Tins.
Speaker 2: Bless you what a name man.
Speaker 3: The Smoothing Tens a Goodbye.
Speaker 1: During this time, Mars played cover songs around La in
Speaker 1: a band called sex Panther with his brother Eric, the.
Speaker 2: Future soon to be drummer of the Hooligans.
Speaker 4: Wait, sex Panther, I need to call my trademark attorney
Speaker 4: because Bruno owes me some moo lah.
Speaker 2: Good luck with that case anyway.
Speaker 1: Soon sex Panther was meeting with an A and R
Speaker 1: guy at Atlantic Records. He was blown away by their talent,
Speaker 1: but his colleagues they were hashtag not impressed.
Speaker 4: It's a Shakira all over again. These moas in charge
Speaker 4: need to start getting some.
Speaker 2: Exactly.
Speaker 1: The A and R guy wanted to sign him right
Speaker 1: then and there, but everyone else thought Bruno needed time
Speaker 1: to develop himself as an artist.
Speaker 3: So they agreed on a middle ground.
Speaker 2: The Sumeezingtons were hired to write and produce songs for
Speaker 2: other artists under Atlantic Records, like.
Speaker 4: Bieber Flow, Rita, even Beyonce and jay Z, hell even Kanye.
Speaker 1: I know you're probably wondering, Wait, what songs were they, y'all?
Speaker 1: These were like big fucking hits. Mealving me right, babe,
Speaker 1: run like a record, baby, right right, right right.
Speaker 4: Marge took the l and was mostly in the background,
Speaker 4: either writing and producing or providing backup vocals for other artists.
Speaker 1: That was until two thousand and nine, when he was
Speaker 1: featured in two songs, Bob's Nothing On You and Travi
Speaker 1: McCoy's Billionaire.
Speaker 4: But I bet y'all didn't even know that Bruno wasn't
Speaker 4: supposed to be on these songs.
Speaker 2: That's right.
Speaker 1: Somewhat at the record company thought the hooks Bruno wrote
Speaker 1: would be better if someone white, blonde and blue eyes,
Speaker 1: saying them.
Speaker 4: Blonde, blue eyed, white people just don't have enough apparently, Yes, I.
Speaker 1: Know, give them, give them, give them more things, Please
Speaker 1: give them the world.
Speaker 2: Oh wait, they already own it. Never mind. Mars called
Speaker 2: this moment the lowest of his career.
Speaker 1: He said, even with that song in my back pocket
Speaker 1: to seal the deal, things like that are coming out
Speaker 1: of people's mouths.
Speaker 2: It made me feel like I wasn't even in the room.
Speaker 1: It's clear that people did not know how to promote
Speaker 1: an artist like Bruno with such a diverse background, or
Speaker 1: even someone that looked like him.
Speaker 3: But he stayed on the tracks and both songs were
Speaker 3: instant hits.
Speaker 1: Everything about him was instantly recognizable, his voice, his signature, Fedora,
Speaker 1: his boyish good looks as he likes to call them.
Speaker 3: Atlantic Records finally realized what they had and signed him
Speaker 3: to the label.
Speaker 2: On July twentieth.
Speaker 1: At twenty ten, Mars released Just the Way You Are
Speaker 1: as the lead single from his debut studio album, Doo
Speaker 1: Wop and Hooligans.
Speaker 3: Okay, just the Way You Are? Did you love or
Speaker 3: hate the song?
Speaker 1: I love, deeply love this song. I feel like when
Speaker 1: I first heard it, I was like, is anyone ever
Speaker 1: going to feel that way about me? Like he's really
Speaker 1: good with the lyrics, he's obsessed with her, but like
Speaker 1: in a not scary way, like not like not in
Speaker 1: like a you on Netflix stockery way, just in like
Speaker 1: a oh I want to be worshiped? Like yeah, it
Speaker 1: was really sweet and yes, I love that song. And
Speaker 1: what's crazy is that that song is one of my
Speaker 1: son's favorite songs, and my son has a little play piano.
Speaker 2: He's not as talented as Bruno. Let's be clear. He
Speaker 2: bangs on the piano.
Speaker 1: And so when he sees Bruno playing the piano in
Speaker 1: the video, he said, piano. So like he just has
Speaker 1: this real connection to the song. I think it's beautiful.
Speaker 3: I love that, But now it brings this question to me.
Speaker 4: So he's twenty two months and loves Bruno and you
Speaker 4: can be old and young. Obviously they were playing in
Speaker 4: all these, you know, different stations, and it was just
Speaker 4: kind of like this song.
Speaker 3: Why do you think this song worked?
Speaker 1: I think it's always a combination with music. I think
Speaker 1: that a the lyrics are widely acceptable, and what I
Speaker 1: mean by that is no one is offended by the lyrics.
Speaker 1: No one has like a bone to pick with these lyrics.
Speaker 1: Like you said, everybody wants someone to feel this way.
Speaker 1: So there's a natural kind of like desire for this feeling.
Speaker 1: So there's that connection to the song. So the lyrics
Speaker 1: check out. The connection exists, like you want to feel
Speaker 1: like this, He wants to make you feel like this.
Speaker 2: When he's singing to you, you're like, oh, do you
Speaker 2: feel like that about me?
Speaker 1: And I think that his music style just has really
Speaker 1: wide appeal, Like it's not for boomers, it's not for
Speaker 1: gen Z, it's not for gen X, it's not for millennials.
Speaker 1: It just has cross generation appeal.
Speaker 3: It does.
Speaker 4: But it's funny that you say that, because I feel
Speaker 4: like he has created this sound, that is, he's pigeonholed
Speaker 4: himself to this universal sound.
Speaker 3: Do you know what I mean? I do?
Speaker 1: But I'm I'm gonna like fight you on this because
Speaker 1: remember this was the lead single off of his debut album,
Speaker 1: So he's smart, he's been in the game and having
Speaker 1: this song be the first one to come out because
Speaker 1: he has then the ability to appeal to the widest,
Speaker 1: biggest audience.
Speaker 2: That's why I think it worked at this time.
Speaker 1: As he progresses as an artist, he gets bolder, he
Speaker 1: takes more risk, by the way, as all artists.
Speaker 2: Do you want that?
Speaker 1: But to start this album to me felt like that
Speaker 1: was a great introduction for him to this audience.
Speaker 3: Well, I actually have some juice for you.
Speaker 2: Give me the juice. Give me the juice.
Speaker 4: Originally it was going to be given to Selo Green
Speaker 4: or Lupe Fiasco, but Brunito said, no, man, you know
Speaker 4: what this one's mind and.
Speaker 1: It reached the top of the US Billboard Hot one hundred,
Speaker 1: ending the two week reign of Queen Katie Perry's Teenage Dream.
Speaker 1: You know Bruno had an undeniable hit in his hand
Speaker 1: because Teenage Dream was like.
Speaker 3: Everywhere it still is.
Speaker 1: Bruno was a star and he loved it. The fans
Speaker 1: loved him.
Speaker 4: There was money, he got special treatment wherever he went.
Speaker 1: The world was finally treating him like the vip he
Speaker 1: always knew he was.
Speaker 2: But all of that can go away with the snap of.
Speaker 3: A finger or the snort of a note. Hanni, yup.
Speaker 1: Bruno Mars might have had the number one song in
Speaker 1: the world, but a forthcoming arrest record threatened at all.
Speaker 1: You couldn't escape the headlines. They were everywhere.
Speaker 4: Bruno had the number one song in the country when
Speaker 4: he was caught with cocaine in Vegas.
Speaker 3: Talk about living in the rock star lifestyle.
Speaker 1: Bruno paid a two thousand dollars fine, performed community service,
Speaker 1: and completed a course on drug abuse in exchange for
Speaker 1: the arrest being erased from his record. When asked about
Speaker 1: the instan during an interview with GQ magazine, this is
Speaker 1: what the singer had to say.
Speaker 2: You've prepped your whole life, it's all you know how
Speaker 2: to do. Your kid experiencing life in Sin City, and
Speaker 2: that was the lesson. It can all be taken away,
Speaker 2: put you in a weird place, embarrass you.
Speaker 3: And this was a real wake up call for him.
Speaker 2: With an album underway, Bruno was more determined now than
Speaker 2: ever not to fuck it all up.
Speaker 3: But like they say, all press is good press, and
Speaker 3: just the way you are continue to perform well despite.
Speaker 1: His arrest and do Wop and Hooligans finally arrived. Did
Speaker 1: you know they gave them six months to.
Speaker 2: Work on this.
Speaker 4: Everyone on planet Earth and the aliens up in Alaska
Speaker 4: were like, who is this Bruno Mars?
Speaker 3: I want more of that.
Speaker 4: So the label called them and said, you know what,
Speaker 4: let's have this one done quickly instead of six months.
Speaker 3: Now you got one chu.
Speaker 1: They scrambled to put this album together and while the
Speaker 1: entire process had felt daunting, but looking back on those weeks,
Speaker 1: Philip Laurens had this to say, we had no idea
Speaker 1: what we were doing, and for the most part, we
Speaker 1: still have no idea. Back then it was just like,
Speaker 1: holy hell, how are we going to pull this off?
Speaker 1: But still in the midst of that, we couldn't believe
Speaker 1: we had a record deal and that we were making
Speaker 1: songs that were hits.
Speaker 2: So it was all this fantasy.
Speaker 4: The album itself is a breezy mix of pop, reggae, and.
Speaker 3: R and B.
Speaker 1: It speaks to Bruno who he is, how he grew up,
Speaker 1: and the people that surrounded him, especially his father.
Speaker 4: The album's divided into two parts, Duop and Hooligans.
Speaker 1: Bruno credits his dad, who loved duop, so he wanted
Speaker 1: to emphasize beautiful melodies and more importantly, the vocals.
Speaker 3: As for the Hooligans side, Bruno really likes to party.
Speaker 1: We really like to party, and the world clearly likes
Speaker 1: to party. Because the album went on to sell over
Speaker 1: fifteen million copies world wide. I mean, like, damn you guys,
Speaker 1: there's just not that much many albums that can hit
Speaker 1: these milestones, right.
Speaker 4: I think it became such a hit because despite him
Speaker 4: taking inspiration from so many bands and artists he admired,
Speaker 4: it still sounded like his own thing.
Speaker 1: You're one thousand percent right. It's it's always those moments
Speaker 1: with artists when you go whoa, what was that? And
Speaker 1: then you go, wait, who is that like Shakira has
Speaker 1: the same impact. Right at the time, I felt like
Speaker 1: it felt so fresh for my ears. And anytime you
Speaker 1: can capture freshness in music, everything in music and film
Speaker 1: and art is derivative. It's a different version of something
Speaker 1: you already know. It's the marriage of two things that
Speaker 1: are familiar. And when someone is able to really break
Speaker 1: that and come into their own with a really unique
Speaker 1: sound to your ear, that's like, that's major.
Speaker 4: Whenever I think about Bruno Mars, I do think of
Speaker 4: this very unique sound, right, people don't sound like Bruno Mars,
Speaker 4: And I think when I first heard it, I just
Speaker 4: was like, what is all this this?
Speaker 3: No?
Speaker 2: I knew you were gonna say, noise I do.
Speaker 4: Now it's like a melody, you know, But I just
Speaker 4: feel like I had my brain couldn't process like the
Speaker 4: sounds that were coming in, and I feel like I
Speaker 4: just needed a minute to warm up to him.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and everyone that was on the Bruno train back
Speaker 1: then is still on the Bruno train.
Speaker 2: Now.
Speaker 1: What's really interesting about this particular album is that this
Speaker 1: has been charting on the Billboard two hundred for a decade.
Speaker 2: Did you know that?
Speaker 3: No, I actually did not. I'm Shocked. That was a
Speaker 3: you really heard a shocked noise for me ten years.
Speaker 1: And this is not some light record, you guys. This
Speaker 1: is a hyper exclusive club. I mean, the only other
Speaker 1: albums that I think Joseph might know that are in
Speaker 1: this club, and the only ones that are in it
Speaker 1: period are Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon, Okay,
Speaker 1: Bob Marley and The Whaler's Legend, Like I mean iconic,
Speaker 1: talk about fucking iconic, Okay. Then Metallica, like the actual
Speaker 1: album Metallica, curt and call Eminem and last but not least,
Speaker 1: never Mind, which is the soundtrack to my entire like
Speaker 1: high school, middle school life.
Speaker 2: I mean, I'm.
Speaker 1: Speechless for Bruno. I feel like he's got to be
Speaker 1: speech I mean, that is some elite shit.
Speaker 3: How can you even just walk around your days like that? Really?
Speaker 4: Okay, sorry, I'm just still recurring on the top two.
Speaker 4: He's like I Got the pizzaz wow.
Speaker 1: I And you know, often we talk about debut albums,
Speaker 1: and you know, some of them are incredibly well done
Speaker 1: and they pop off when they launch, but then they
Speaker 1: kind of go away and they fade into obscurity.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's not what happened with this one.
Speaker 4: And it wasn't like anything on the radio at the time.
Speaker 4: Bruno reached notoriety most people could only dream of.
Speaker 2: Everyone wanted a piece of the suave singer songwriter.
Speaker 1: Even Twilight Mars released a single called it Will Rain
Speaker 1: for the Twilight Saga Breaking Dawn Part one soundtrack.
Speaker 4: I can totally believe that was a hit. Team Jacob
Speaker 4: at BT Dubbs, How.
Speaker 1: Did I know you were a Twyhart Beyond a Twilight song,
Speaker 1: Bruno now had a Grammy win to his name, the
Speaker 1: Grammy for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance for Just the
Speaker 1: Way You Are. All those years living in Los Angeles
Speaker 1: trying to break into the music industry left him oft
Speaker 1: and dejected. He was constantly yearning for home, but he
Speaker 1: never faltered because he didn't want to return home a failure.
Speaker 4: In twenty eleven, during his tour, he did anything but that.
Speaker 4: When he returned home, he wasn't empty handed.
Speaker 2: He had all these hit singles, he had an album,
Speaker 2: and he had a Grammy win to prove it. His family,
Speaker 2: alongside a legion of fans, waited for him for a
Speaker 2: well earned homecoming celebration. On December nineteenth. He performed to
Speaker 2: a soldout crowd of ten thousand people.
Speaker 3: All was good on mars Land.
Speaker 1: Now he had the platform to come back with an
Speaker 1: even bigger album the next time around.
Speaker 2: On the next Becoming an.
Speaker 5: Icon, Unorthodox Jukebox, twenty four Carrot Magic, Silkthnic, and two
Speaker 5: Super Bowl halftime shows.
Speaker 1: Becoming an Icon is presented by Sono and Iheart's Michael
Speaker 1: Duda podcast Network. Listen to Becoming an Icon on the
Speaker 1: iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcast