by Antonio Mejías-Rentas
Bruno Mars
The second most nominated artist for the 2011 Grammy Awards is a 25- year-old singer, songwriter and producer who honed his talents performing as a child with his Puerto Rican-Filipino musical family. Bruno Mars had seven nod, mostly for his collaborations with other singers, when Grammy nominations were announced Dec. 1. He was bested only by rapper Eminem, who has 10 Grammy nominations this year. Three of his nominations are for Nothing on You, a hit by rapper B.o.B, in which Mars is featured as a guest vocalist and which competes for Record of the Year. The two singers share a nomination for Best Rap/ Sung Collaboration and Mars earned his third nod in the Best Rap Song category as one of its songwriters.
Mars competes against himself with a second nomination in the Record of the Year category, as one of the producers of another raphit, F… You by Cee Lo Green. He has a second nomination as one of the songwriters of F… You, in the Song of the Year category.
As a member of the producing team The Smeezingtons, Mars shares a Producer of the Year nomination with partners Philip Lawrence and Ari Levine. His only nomination for solo work is in the Best Male Pop Performance category for Just the Way You Are, the first single from his debut album.
Released in October, the album Doo-Wops & Hooligans (Elektra) did not qualify for most Grammy categories this year and may still earn Mars a Best New Artist nod for the 2012 awards.
Mars was born Peter Gene Hernndez in Honolulu, Hawaii. His father, a Puerto Rican percussionist from New York formed a musical act that featured his vocalist Filipina wife and several other family members and performed doo-wop and Motown hits in Waikiki hotels. Nicknamed Bruno after a chubby wrestler, Mars first performed as a 4-year-old Elvis impersonator. Praising his showmanship, a recent New York Times article described him as “one of the most versatile and accessible singers in pop, with a light, soul-influenced voice that’s an easy fit in a range of styles…” and called Mars “the most important male singer working in hip-hop.”
Mars is one of a handful of Latino recording artists nominated in non-Latin music Grammy categories this year: Los Lobos compete in the Best Rock Instrumental Performance category for Do The Murray, and Danilo Pérez has a nod in the Best Jazz Instrumental Album category, for Providencia.
The biggest news in the Latin music categories was who did not get nominated. There were no nominations in the Mexican Regional category because fewer than 10 qualifying submissions were received, according to the Recording Academy. The hardtodefine category has been awarded only in 2009 and 2010, and is one of seven existing in the awards’ Latin field. A complete list of nominees is available at www.grammy.com. Hispanic Link.
