By Ricardo Navarro
Michael Jackson was a very influential person of the 80s-90s. Even throughout the 70s.
He started his musical career with his brothers in a band called the Jackson 5. Some of the most popular songs were “I Want You Back,” and “ABC.” These songs were what put Michael Jackson into the spotlight.
Michael ended up splitting up from the group in 1984 so that he could pursue his own singing career. He was amazing with his voice and his dance moves.
He had many musical hits while he was off on his own, some consisting of “Billie Jean,” Beat It” and “Smooth Criminal.”
These songs impacted many people in many ways because of the innovation that the songs had and the production quality that would be put in the music videos.
He became so popular that he started performing at giant stadiums and even at the Super Bowl with thousands of people watching. He also had a lot of very iconic dance moves with the moonwalk being the most memorable.
Although his music career was going well Michael Jackson ended up passing away on June 25, 2009, at the age of 50. He was buried in Forest Lawn, CA where his body rests in peace.
After Michael Jackson’s passing, there was bound to be another talented singer who would be able to take his spot. Soon enough there was and his name was Peter Hernandez, more commonly known as Bruno Mars. Bruno Mars was a boy from Honolulu, Hawaii.
He started off his career by impersonating Elvis Presley and singing at the early age of 2 years old. This made him a pretty memorable singer who was only really known in his hometown.
He kept on practicing instruments and singing but once he graduated high school in 2003 he made the move to Los Angeles to get more invested and have more connections for his music career.
Bruno Mars's first album was “Doo-Wops and Hooligans” which was released in October 2010.
Bruno Mars started gaining major success with his first hit “Just the Way You Are by B.o.B” which was in the album “Doo-wops and Hooligans” and the single “Billionaire” with “Just the Way You Are” sold over 12 million copies and “Billionaire” sold over 2 million copies.
With the rise of Bruno’s popularity, he started selling out stadiums just like Michael Jackson would and even performing at the Superbowl halftime show in 2014 and 2016. This popularity made him an iconic singer that millions of people know.
The reason I believe that Bruno Mars is the heir to Michael Jackson is because of the way that they both put so much effort and emotion into their songs and how iconic they are.
An example of this could be the “Smooth Criminal” by Michael Jackson where the production quality and the coordination were on point. For Bruno Mars, it could be “When I Was Your Man” which expressed a lot of emotions through his voice by hitting some really high notes.
They are both inspirations for millions of people all over the world and Bruno continues to carry on Michael Jackson's legacy.