Bruno Mars
Mars in 2011
Birth Name: Peter Gene Hernandez
Place of Birth: Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S.
Date of Birth: October 8, 1985
Ethnicity:
*paternal grandfather – Puerto Rican [including Spanish/Canary Islander, Catalan, and remote Italian]
*paternal grandmother – Ashkenazi Jewish
*mother – Filipino [Cebuano, Tagalog, Spanish Castilian]
Bruno Mars is an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer, dancer, actor, and choreographer. Considered a music icon, he is known for his retro showmanship, and performs in genres including pop, R&B, reggae, disco, funk, rock, and soul. His songs include “Just the Way You Are,” “Grenade,” “The Lazy Song,” “It Will Rain,” “Locked Out of Heaven,” “When I Was Your Man,” “Treasure,” “Gorilla,” “Young Girls,” “24K Magic,” “That’s What I Like,” the remix “Finesse,” “Wake Up in the Sky,” “Please Me,” “Skate,” “Smokin out the Window,” “Die with a Smile,” and, in a featured role, “Nothin’ on You,” “Billionaire,” “Lighters,” “Young, Wild & Free,” and “Uptown Funk.” He performs with his band the Hooligans, whose members are also his backup singers and disco dancers, and is also one half of R&B super-duo Silk Sonic, with Anderson .Paak; the two are known for their song “Leave the Door Open.” He also co-founded production team the Smeezingtons. His concert tours are some of the highest-grossing in history.
Bruno is the son of Bernadette del Pedro Bayot and Peter S. Hernandez, who were musically-inclined, his father performing rock and roll and his mother a singer and dancer. He was raised in Honolulu’s Waikiki neighborhood. Growing up, he was exposed to rock, reggae, hip hop, and R&B. He moved to Los Angeles, California, in 2003, for his music career.
His father is from Brooklyn, New York. Bruno’s paternal grandfather was Puerto Rican and Bruno’s paternal grandmother was Ashkenazi Jewish, of Hungarian Jewish and Ukrainian Jewish descent. Bruno’s mother was from Manila, Phillippines, and was of Filipino [including Cebuano and Tagalog], and some Spanish [Castilian], ancestry. Through his Puerto Rican line, he has at least 1/256th Italian ancestry.
He was nicknamed Bruno due to his resemblance to professional wrestler Bruno Sammartino.
Bruno is a second cousin, once removed, of Filipino actor Eddie Gutierrez, and the third cousin of Eddie’s children, actors Tonton Gutierrez, Richard Gutierrez, and Raymond Gutierrez, and model Ruffa Gutierrez. Bruno’s maternal great-great-grandparents, Mariano Herranz Heras and Mamerta Cañizares Secuya, were also Eddie’s maternal great-grandparents.
Bruno’s paternal grandfather was Peter Hernandez (the son of Almecio Hernández Aquino and Fabiana Sebastiana Vázquez Garcia). Bruno’s grandfather Peter was born in Río Piedras, Puerto Rico. Almecio was born in Trujillo Alto, Puerto Rico, the son of Manuel Hernández Muñoz and Mercedes Aquino Hernández. Fabiana was born in Río Piedras, Puerto Rico, the biological daughter of José Vázquez Romero and María del Rosario García Betancourt, and was adopted by Bernardo Peña Martinez and Rafaela Perosa Gerardez.
Bruno’s paternal grandmother was Mildred Dubov (the daughter of William Wolf Dubovis/Dubov and Bella Berger). William was a Jewish emigrant, from Kiev, and was the son of Sholom Yoseph DuBovis and Malka Weissman. Bella was born in New York City, to Hungarian Jewish parents, Joseph Berger and Louise Wohlberg.
Bruno’s maternal grandfather was Romeo Amando Maria “Eugene” Herranz Bayot (the son of Jesús María Bayot Fuentes and Consolación “Consuelo” Herranz Cañizares). Romeo was born in Manila, Philippines. Jesús was also born in Manila, the son of Gabriel Bayot and Josefa Fuentes. Consolación was born in Segovia, Spain. Consolación’s father, Mariano Herranz Heras, was Spanish, from Nava de la Asunción, Segovia. Consolación’s mother, Mamerta Cañizares Secuya, or Mamerta Secuya Cañizares in Filipino, was born in Talisay, Cebu, Phillippines, the daughter of Alejo Cañizares Canindot, or Alejo Canindot Cañizares in Filipino, also of Talisay; and of Sabina Secuya Larombe, or Sabina Larombe Secuya in Filipino, of Minglanilla, Cebu. The surname Secuya is also spelled as Sycuya, which is of possibly Chinese origin, but it is not clear if Sabina had Chinese ancestry.
Bruno’s maternal grandmother was named Soledad San Pedro. Soledad was born in Baguio City, Benguet, Philippines.
Bruno Mars at the Grammy Nominations Concert Live, Club Nokia, Los Angeles, CA, 2010. photo by s_bukley
Sources: Megan Smolenyak Smolenyak’s article about Bruno’s ancestry, at The Huffington Post – http://www.huffingtonpost.com
Genealogy of Bruno Mars – http://www.geni.com
Genealogy of Bruno Mars (focusing on his mother’s side) – http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com
Marriage information of Bruno’s maternal great-great-grandparents, Mariano Herranz Heras and Mamerta Cañizares Secuya – https://www.familysearch.org
Jewish eyes? Wtf? There’s such a thing???
he looks black
He does.
He looks gay.
LMAO
It is clearly if you look on the father side of Bruno he is not dark at all though it may carry through the darkness from his side of the genes…as you see the rest of the Bruno’s siblings’ are more light skinned than Bruno like his brother, Now on the mom side may have a little darker complexion that may carried some darkness through genes of her ancestry..afterall Philippines started out having these indigenous people lives in the mountain called “Igorots” which primarily looking like a tribe that has real darker complexions and hair are not straight and curly, which you would find Bruno’s skin tone color same! Now, I have a brother which is older than me by 7 years..we’re both born Filipino from same mom and dad (ancestry from spain, portugese and filipino mix) my brother has same complexion and actually looks like Bruno..same baby pictures of Bruno look alike even in his younger years (toddler) fam relatives used to call him (negro which he’s not even “black” at all) now which I am more of lighter skinned thinking that i’m Mestizo even at that in era of the movie called La Bamba people even calling me “Richie” in my early twenties, but we are from same parents (not adopted) but it is clearly my mom’s mom (grandmother) is/has the darker complexion no difference from my brother.
Again, talking about indigenous tribes in the Philippines these kids has big eyes curly hair (nappy lol) and has same features as Bruno which are than looking of a features (african/black babies/toddler’s). for example Australians aborigines tribe are real dark, so it depends what part of the world or countries that has such aborigine tribe does not mean they are black though the evolutionary genetic architecture of skin pigmentation in Northern Europeans, West Africans and East Asians. East Asians is in between West Africans and Northern Europeans thus say has some dark complexions. So therefore alot of criticisms/stereotyping of Asia being yellow or bec. u have darker complexion is what you are. Bruno Mars had drop his last name “Hernandez” which he is multi-ethnic background bec. of stereotypes and criticism of he should just play “latin/hispanic” music which he opposed to that bec. it’s not just he’s just ONE.. he’s everyone and came up with the last name “Mars” so he can be from another planet! ;)
I thought he was a mulatto or like Mexican and black.