Top Bruno Mars Songs: The Stories Behind His Greatest Hits

A singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer. The winner of 16 GRAMMY Awards. A star with more than 130 million records sold and nine No.1 Billboard Hot 100 singles. The accolades used to describe Bruno Mars and his music career are diverse, as is his family background. 

Mars was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, to a mother who emigrated from the Philippines and a father with Puerto Rican heritage who grew up in Brooklyn. A performer from the start — Mars first took to the stage at age 3 — he steadily worked his way to the top to become a dynamic, versatile, multitalented, and energetic performer. His background, as you'll see, plays a major role in the stories and inspirations behind some of his biggest hits.

Before he became Bruno Mars, he was born Peter Gene Hernandez. The youngest of six siblings, he was born on Oct. 8, 1985. Mars came from a family of performers: His father, Pete “Dr. Doo-Wop” Hernandez, played percussion while his mother, Bernadette, was a vocalist and hula dancer. Mars first wowed crowds as a 4-year-old Elvis impersonator, entertaining audiences during sets with his parents' band, the Love Notes.

Self-taught on the piano, guitar, bass and percussion, he moved to Los Angeles after high school to pursue a music career, where he adopted the stage name of Bruno Mars. Though a versatile performer, Mars first made his mark behind the scenes in the studio. He teamed with songwriter Philip Lawrence and sound engineer Ari Levine to form a production team named the Smeezingtons. The trio focused on writing and producing songs for other artists. Their work included “Long Distance” for the R&B performer Brandy and “Right Round” for hip-hop artist Flo Rida.

In 2009, Mars got his big break as a featured artist on “Nothin' on You” with hip-hop artist B.o.B and later on Travie McCoy's “Billionaire.” A contract with the Elektra record label soon followed, and the stage was set for big things — including the development of some of the top Bruno Mars songs of all time.

Mars's “Just the Way You Are” set the tone for his professional singing career, becoming a radio sensation and award winner. The lead single from his first album, it was a breakthrough hit, earning him the GRAMMY Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance in 2011. It went Platinum 13 times and racked up numerous other nominations from the Billboard Music Awards, the Teen Choice Awards, and ASCAP Pop Music Awards, making it one of the most successful top Bruno Mars songs.

The song took Mars several months to write, inspired as it was by songs such as Eric Clapton's “Wonderful Tonight” and Joe Cocker's “You Are So Beautiful.” He encouraged fans to take the words at face value. “There's nothing mind-blowing about it. I'm just telling a woman she looks beautiful the way she IS — and, let's be honest, what woman doesn't wanna hear those lyrics?” Mars told Pete Lewis of Blues & Soul magazine in 2010. 

The song was released on July 20, 2010, on his debut album, Doo-Wops & Hooligans. His first single became a phenomenon, hitting the top of the Billboard Hot 100 on Oct. 2, 2010, unseating Katy Perry from the top spot. It went on to spend 48 weeks on the Hot 100 list.  By 2013, “Just the Way You Are” had become the most downloaded song in the U.K. The song also went to No. 1 in Canada and Australia. It was a precursor for a record-setting career as a globally recognized solo artist.

The next phenomenon would prove to be “Uptown Funk,” a collaboration between Mars and performer Mark Ronson that took seven months to perfect. The song was released on Nov. 10, 2014, on the Ronson album Uptown Special.

The song melds several styles, including funk-pop, soul, and boogie to echo the diverse sounds of Prince, Morris Day and the Time, and The Gap Band. In 2016, it won GRAMMYs for Record of the Year and Best Pop Duo/Group Performance. It was on the Billboard Hot 100 for 14 consecutive weeks and earned 11 Platinum designations from the Recording Industry Association of America. The video has over 5.4 billion views on YouTube.

Notably, Ronson and Mars took a perfectionist's approach to their sound, which also sought to evoke Zapp, Earth Wind & Fire, and Cameo. The pair recorded in studios in five different U.S. cities, stretching from New York to Los Angeles, to capture different vibes and accommodate other musical collaborations. The song's success cemented Mars's status as a pop icon and further demonstrated his incredible musical versatility.

Yet Mars was far from done evolving as an artist. By late 2015 he was exploring retro funk again while simultaneously capturing the sound of ‘90s R&B with “24K Magic.” The song was released on Oct. 7, 2016, and again put Mars on the GRAMMY Award stage, winning Record of the Year. Mars was quoted as saying that he wanted the song to make you experience “the flyest party.”

Recorded at Glenwood Place Studios in Burbank, California, “24K Magic” went Platinum five times and peaked at No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100. His collaborators ranged from Byron “Mr. Talkbox” Chambers, who provided the signature talkbox, to Christopher Brody Brown on bass and keyboards. Producers included Shampoo Press & Curl and The Stereotypes.

The success of “24K Magic” put Mars at the pinnacle of the music business, branding him as one of the top performers of the last few decades and propelling him to even greater commercial success. It also established him as a musical innovator. 

In the world of pop music, so often characterized by copycats, Bruno Mars stands out. His ability to blend various genres — funk, pop, R&B, soul, and even rock — into a fresh new sound that also honors the past is unmatched. He's become a recognition machine, winning 16 GRAMMYs and 11 American Music Awards. He even holds a Guinness World Record for being the first male artist to achieve three 10-million-selling singles for "Grenade," "Just the Way You Are," and "Uptown Funk." Mars's ability to span genres and generations has given him a diverse audience and a discography that looks poised to stand the test of time.