John Fossitt has been Bruno Mars’s keyboardist and live-show arranger for 13 years. He is also a solo artist and songwriter — presently contributing to Mars’s next album — and a creative director mentoring several up-and-coming artists internationally.
Fossitt has toured and performed in more than 50 countries with Mars, elevated above the stage with a setup of six different keyboards. He also has backed Mars on all award shows and TV appearances since 2012, including the Super Bowl and, mostly recently, the 2025 Grammy Awards. He also appears in most of Mars’s music videos.
Fossitt, a 2001 graduate of Gates-Chili High School, has been a professional musician for more than 20 years. He is mostly self-taught although he did major in music and music theory at Bethune-Cookman University in Daytona Beach, Florida. After school he moved to L.A. and began gigging out and backing artists like Amerie, Faith Evans, Jodeci, Travie McCoy, and Jason Derulo.
He met Bruno Mars in 2011 backstage at the Teen Choice Awards, when he backing Derulo. Mars told Fossitt he was impressed watching him play and noted he would like to work together. They exchanged phone numbers and soon after, Mars called Fossitt and said, “Hey man, I need you.”
In a local news interview related to a Jazz Fest performance, Fossitt said, “I have always had a forward vision and whatever I end up doing I take it to the highest level. But I always remember where I came from.”
When in Rochester visiting family he plays services with First Genesis Baptist Church and has twice headlined shows at the Rochester International Jazz Festival — as The Fossitt Project and with The Hooligans, which is Bruno Mars’s band.
Fossitt credits his success to hard work (aka hustle) and making himself available when offers presented themselves: “I was networking and meeting people, playing whatever got thrown my way, playing churches, covering for people, playing l00, 150 gigs. And every time I play, I give it my all.”
John Fossitt will perform live at the April 13 concert and ceremony.