This is the way I heard it.

Peter Hernandez was the complete package, a Latino heart throb with all the charisma of a newly crowned American idol and twice the talent.

So how come he was down to his last nickel? Why, after three years of partnerships and collaborations, was the complete package still a complete unknown?

The answer was a mystery, especially to his parents. Peter Sr. was a drummer from Brooklyn with a penchant for professional wrestling.

Bernadette was a Filipino hula dancer and they knew their child was born to perform.

In the delivery room, Peter Sr. lowered the lights and played oldies from a boom box as Bernadette pushed Peter Jr. into the world.

From that day on, Peter Hernandez was surrounded by music. By the time he was three, he was doing five shows a week with his mom and dad.

At four, he was the world's youngest Elvis impersonator. Audiences fell in love with the pompadour little ham who belted out heartbreak hotel and smiled with the king's trademarked curled lip.

After perfecting Elvis, Peter graduated to James Brown. After James Brown, it was on to Michael Jackson. His impressions run canny, but it was his unique style that never failed to bring the crowd to its feet.

By the time he was seventeen, Peter wanted three things to sing on a bigger stage, to see his name in lights and to make his parents proud.

So Peter Hernandez swung for the fences. He bought himself a one-way ticket from Hawaii to Hollywood and was immediately signed by Motown Records.

Like every other label in town, Motown was looking for the next Enrique Iglesias and Peter fit the bill perfectly.

He had the right look, the right voice, and with a name like Hernandez, the perfect pedigree for a Latino heartthrob in waiting.

There was just one problem. Peter didn't want to be the next Enrique Iglesias. He wanted to be Peter Hernandez, a little Elvis Presley, a little James Brown, a little Michael Jackson.

Funny thing about Hollywood producers talk about the importance of authenticity, but when it comes right down to it, most of them don't want something authentic.

They want something safe. And the safest thing to do with a kid called Hernandez was put him inside the Latino heartthrob box and make him sing in Spanish.

Well, Peter refused, and that's why he was down to his last nickel. But maybe there was one more thing he could try before packing it in.

Peter recalled the nickname his father had given him many years ago borrowed from his favorite wrestler. He chuckled at the recollection, then looked up to the night sky, and there he finally saw his name in lights, a brand new name that was truly out of this world.

Shakespeare said, a rose by any other name would smell as sweet, but Shakespeare never tried to make it in Hollywood. And it's interesting to wonder if we'd be quoting the bard today if his last name had been McGillicutty or Lipschitz.

Hard to say for sure, but we know this much is true. When the artist formerly known as Hernandez changed his name, he also changed the expectations of those around him.

Before long, the new kid with the unusual name signed with Atlantic Records. A year later his first album hit the charts, followed by ten Grammy nominations.

Over the next few years, that same kid went on to sell 130 million singles. Then the former Elvis impersonator, who yearned for a bigger stage, found himself on the 50-yard line of MetLife Stadium,

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