is remarkably down-to-earth.

Mars' journey to fame has been marked with highs and lows.

While his laid-back demeanor doesn't hint at his troubles, Mars has had more than his

fair share of hardships.

Think you know everything there is to know about this icon?

Think again.

He lost his mother

Bruno Mars comes from a tight-knit family.

He and his mother Bernadette San Pedro Bayot were especially close — and her death in

2013 from a brain aneurysm devastated him.

In 2017, Mars opened up to Latina magazine about his loss.

He said,

"The woman who taught you to love, showed you what a woman is supposed to be, when that

goes away, a little more than half your heart goes away with it."

He added that he would trade music to have her back.

He grew up poor

At one time, his family was so poor that they crowded into a small home with no bathroom.

Despite this, Mars said his childhood was "the best" in an interview with 60 Minutes.

He said,

"We had it all, you know.

We had each other."

Mars added that there were days when his family didn't have electricity but they stayed positive

and figured it out.

He says that he takes on that same mentality when it comes to music.

He wrote his first song at the age of four

Mars wrote his very first song when he was just four years old and dedicated it to his

mother.

In an interview with Inquirer Lifestyle before her death, she explained that Mars sang before

he talked.

She also said how she bought him a piano at two years old, and he picked it up in no time.

She explained,

"...he went on the piano and just started playing tunes, not just banging on it, but

he'd play actual tunes!"

He was (tiny) Elvis!

Not only did the pint-sized Bruno write his first song when he was just 4 years old, he

was also the youngest Elvis impersonator at the time, which he started doing at just 2

years old as part of his parents' band!

He was such a great tiny Elvis that he performed at the 1990 Aloha Bowl and played "Little

Elvis" in 1992's Honeymoon in Vegas.

And people loved him.

He was featured in the 1990 documentary Viva Elvis, and appeared on multiple television

segments, like with Pauly Shore on MTV and, according to Rolling Stone, he appeared on

The Arsenio Hall Show by the time he was just 6.

So why Elvis?

He said,

"I like his singing and his dancing and his lips."

The kid was born to be a star!

A musical family

If Mars' stage presence and smooth singing voice seem effortless, there's a good reason

for it.

Music is in his blood, and the singer/songwriter grew up performing.

His dad was a Latin percussionist and his mom was a hula dancer.

That charm brought together Mars' parents who collaborated for years in a cover band

called The Love Notes.

That's the very band that Mars joined as an Elvis impersonator by the time he was two

and through which he became something of a local celebrity.

Today, Mars keeps the family tradition alive.

His older brother, Eric Hernandez, plays the drums in Mars' band.

And let's not forget about Mars' sisters — Tiara, Tahiti, and Presley Hernandez — and Jaime

Kailani Bayot,

They're part of a group called The Lylas and landed a reality show in 2013.

Fighting racial stereotyping

The son of a Puerto Rican Jewish father and a Filipino mother, Mars has had to work hard

to fight off stereotypes.

Born Peter Hernandez, Mars told GQ that in the early years of his career people would

say things like,

"Your last name's Hernandez, maybe you should do this Latin music, this Spanish music….

Enrique's so hot right now."

While Mars didn't want to be forced into a genre of music on the basis of his race, he

explained to Latina Magazine that there's absolutely no truth to the rumor that he adopted

his stage name to hide his Puerto Rican heritage.

The reason behind his name change?

Mars says, because it, quote, "sounds bigger than life."

He gets frustrated when people try to put him and his music in a box.

He says, "My music is for anybody who wants to listen to it."

Named after a famous wrestler

Even as a young Elvis impersonator, Mars wasn't going by his birth name of Peter Gene Hernandez.

So where did the name Bruno come from?

Mars explains in an interview with Rap-Up,

"Bruno is after Bruno Sammartino, who was this big fat wrestler.

I guess I was this chunky little baby, so my dad used to call me that as a nickname."

He was once arrested for cocaine possession

While Mars has largely managed to avoid scandal, he was arrested for cocaine possession in

2010.

As part of his plea deal, he was required to serve 200 hours of community service.

Mars later told GQ that the arrest was a reality check for him.

He believes it was a lesson that everything he's worked for his whole life could be taken

away in a second.

Maybe it's that very lesson that has so far otherwise kept Mars out of the news for anything

other than his successes.

He's incredibly generous

During the torturous Typhoon Yolanda, Mars decided to do what he could to give back to

his mother's native Philippines.

The Philippine Star reported that while Mars was in Manila for his Moonshine Jungle Tour,

he presented the ABS-CBN Lingkod Kapamilya Foundation with a donation of $100,000.

And in the wake of the Flint water crisis, Mars was also quick to lend a helping hand

to Michigan, donating $1 million to help recovery efforts.

In a statement released by Mars via Rolling Stone he said,

"Ongoing challenges remain years later for Flint residents, and it's important that we

don't forget our brothers and sisters affected by this disaster.

As people, especially as Americans, we need to stand together to make sure something like

this never happens in any community ever again."

He wants his music to speak for itself

Bruno Mars is still a young man, so we can expect to see even more hits from him in the

future.

The singer rarely does interviews, preferring to let his music speak for itself.

He told Zane Lowe of radio station Beats 1 that he wants to be known for his work.

According to Complex, he told Lowe,

"I hope that my music does the talking.

I just want to do music.

I don't want to be known for any…scandals or controversy.

I want to be the guy that brings joy to your life through his music.

That's it.

And I want to go home.

Throw on some Netflix and live a life."

Who could argue with that?

Thanks for watching!

Click The List icon to subscribe to our YouTube channel.

Plus check out all this cool stuff we know you'll love, too!