Bruno Mars Trivia Quiz

Answer: Honolulu, Hawaii

Mars is of Puerto Rican and Filipino descent, but was born in Waikiki in Honolulu on October 8, 1985. He moved to LA shortly after graduating from high school at the age of 17 with the intention of perusing a music career.

Answer: The Love Notes

Mars came from a musical family and he and his five siblings were encouraged by their parents to pursue music from a young age. Mars' father Peter Hernandez (nicknamed "Dr Doo-Wop") was particularly supportive and even allowed his four year old son on stage while his group (The Love Notes) were performing at the Sheraton Hotel in Japan.

Answer: Little Elvis

After his initial performance at the Sheraton Hotel with his father's band, Mars continued to perform in public and was even filmed for a local television show called "Hawaiian Moving Company". "Little Elvis" seems doubly apt, with Mars' stage presence as well as his diminutive stature (of course he was a child, but even now he stands at 5' 4"). Additionally, Bruno would often impersonate Elvis on stage.

As he grew older, he also perfected his Michael Jackson impersonation.

Answer: Saxophone

Much like with his singing, Bruno Mars began playing musical instruments from an early age. He says he was never taught, but he just learned to play by being surrounded by instruments. In 2012, Mars told the Independent newspaper "I'm not the best guitar player or the best bass player or drummer or anything". Perhaps this is modesty, and it should be noted that he does not list "piano" here, as he is particularly accomplished on this instrument and can be seen playing it in several of his music videos.

Answer: Travie McCoy

This was Travie McCoy's first debut solo single. He had been part of the Gym Class Heroes rap group as early as 1997, and he sung on their first major single "Cupid's Chokehold".

Both "Nothin' on You" and "Billionaire" were chart successes for Bruno Mars, with "Nothin' on You" reaching number one in the US and the UK.

Answer: "Forget You" by Cee Lo Green

Mars also wrote "Wavin' Flag" by K'naan, as well as "Nothin' on You" (by B.o.B), "Lighters" (by Eminem), and "Billionaire" (by Travie McCoy), each of which he featured in vocally. Mars has also written songs for Mike Posner, Sean Kingston, and Justin Bieber.

"Forget You" was displaced in the UK charts by Bruno Mars' own song "Just the Way You Are".

Answer: Just the Way You Are

"Just the Way You Are" is similar in style to Bruno Mars' vocals in "Nothin' on You" by B.o.B. It was the first single released from Mars' first album, "Doo-Wops & Hooligans", the title of which was inspired by his father's music (his father being nicknamed "Dr. Doo-Wop").

The song was produced by The Smeezingtons, Mars' own production company, and earned him a Grammy for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance.

Answer: The Lazy Song

"The Lazy Song" was released in 2011 and also came from Mars' debut album, "Doo-Wops & Hooligans". Mars is known for writing mainly love songs, so "The Lazy Song", with lyrics such as "Today I don't feel like doin' anything" and "I'll be loungin' on the couch just chillin' in my snuggie" gave us something a bit different.

The "Lazy Song" is a single-shot music video and sees Bruno Mars dance around, play the guitar, release confetti, and pull down his trousers. What a joker.

Answer: Unorthodox Jukebox

Sticking with the ape theme, the front cover of "Unorthodox Jukebox" shows a gorilla looking perplexed at a jukebox. This album was a quick success, reaching number one in the US album charts, as well as scoring number ones on the Billboard Hot 100 for with the first two singles released - "Locked Out of Heaven" and "When I Was Your Man".

Answer: He was "chubby" like Bruno Sammartino

Bruno Mars has the same real name as his musician father, who was also one of the people to call him "Bruno" as a child due to his chubbiness and apparent similarity in appearance to the wrestler Bruno Sammartino. As mentioned in the question, Bruno thought "Mars" gave a bit of pizzazz, also stating (in an apparent departure from modesty) that he chose it because girls often said he was "out of this world".