On this morning’s episode of the VH1 Top 20 Video Countdown, host Jim Shearer told an interesting story about the origins of the stage name for chart-topping pop star and songwriter Bruno Mars (real name Peter Jean Hernandez). Shearer explained that Peter’s father started calling him Bruno because he was pudgy as a child and reminded him of professional wrestling legend Bruno Sammartino. The “Mars” portion of the stage name comes from the singer himself, who claims that women find him out of this world.
Mars himself has explained this in the past: “I was called Peter at school but at home I was never called that. I was Bruno. My dad was a fan of the wrestler Bruno Sammartino, who was heavyset. When I was a kid I was a little pudgy. I reminded him of a wrestler.”
