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He’s a Singer, songwriter, performer and producer. His swagger, style and stage presence along with his incredible voice and well written lyrics are all the reasons why I love Bruno as an artist and is why he is such an influence for me. I aspire to not only have the talent and versatility he has but the entertainment he provides to audiences.

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I look up to Ed for countless reasons, his voice, his genuinity but above all Ed’s songwriting and process speaks to me in such a significant way. His use of well crafted lyrics, soulful melodies and captivating hooks, creates an emotionally rich song and experience for me that I aspire to live up to. “I can make myself happy by writing a song about my lowest points.” Sheeran told ABC New’s Chris Connelly (Valiente, 2018).

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Sheeran was inspired to become a performer when he was 11 years old after watching Irish musician Damien Rice perform live. Ed began writing his own songs soon after. (Cole, 2023). Damien was Ed’s main reason for getting into music and more importantly his inspiration to write songs, and had a massive influence on his song writing style. (Soutar, 2023)

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How Micheal Jackson influenced Bruno Mars

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Bruno admired the attention to detail Micheal Jackson put into everything about his work, the look, the dancing, music videos and the way he sung, “Everything he did was Michael Jackson, and he just kind of stamped that on the world,” Bruno Mars on Micheal Jackson (Fulton, 2012). I can see this reflected in Bruno’s current work.

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Mars: “The biggest thing is the command they both (Elvis Presely and Micheal Jackson) have on stage... how they can control the crowd and the band.” (George Varga, 2013) Bruno took this element of stage presence and showmanship and used it as an influence in his own work. The earliest we see this is at the age of 4 when he first started performing on stage, he impersonated Elvis. (Gilang, 2022)

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Eric Clapton was the reason Ed Sheeran started learning guitar, “Eric Clapton made me want to play guitar. I saw him perform ‘Layla’ at the Queen’s Jubilee on TV when I was about the same age — 11 — and said, “I want to do that.”” Ed Sheeran  (Rolling Stone & Rolling Stone, 2015) Ed mentioned in an interview, “he’s my hero” and “he’s why I started playing guitar” (First We Feast, 2021)

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Ed had a stutter as a child aged 9, but learning eminem's album front to back actually cured his stutter, driving Ed to start writing his own music and start singing/rapping everyday. Later he was fortunate enough to have multiple songs with eminem as well as getting to perform with him on multiple occasions (Soutar, 2023).

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Bruno Mars takes great inspiration from Bob Marley in his songwriting according to this comment he made in an interview, “Bob is one of the greatest songwriters ever. I don’t know if people understand how powerful his songs are and the simplicity and genius behind them.” (George Varga, 2013) And personally I can hear this influence in his songwriting especially in the song “Just the way you are.”