Bruno Mars Gears Up for the Grammys
The Grammy Award presentations are coming up this Sunday - and much of the buzz is surrounding one of this year's biggest stars, Bruno Mars.
He rose to superstardom with his hit songs, "Grenade" and "Just The Way You Are," and now he's gearing up for his highly-anticipated Grammy performance.
"Early Show" Special Correspondent Tyler McGill went to Los Angeles to sit down with Mars, who's been nominated for seven Grammys -- including Song of the Year -- second only to Eminem.
Mars' voice ruled the airwaves last year -- in 2010, he emerged as pop music's brightest star.
His debut single, "Just The Way You Are," has generated more than 90 million clicks on YouTube, and his collaborations with other Grammy nominees resulted in some of the year's biggest hits.
When Mars takes the stage at Sunday's show, it will be the culmination of his journey from unknown songwriter to international superstar.
Last year at this time, Mars joked, he was scalping tickets for the 2009 Grammys.
Mars admits he was stunned when he heard the news about all this nominations this time around.
"The Grammys released the press pack. And it said, 'Eminem with 10, Bruno Mars with seven.' And we were kind of trying to count, like, 'No, how -- how did this happen?"' he says.
At 25, Mars is just becoming a household name, but he's no stranger to the music business.
At age 4, the Hawaii native began performing on stage with his father in a Vegas-style music review.
Was the four-year-old Elvis nervous on stage or was he a natural from the get-go?
"Gangster. That what it was. A four-year-old gangster Elvis," Mars kidded. " ... I just loved doing it. And I probably didn't know back then what I was doing.
"You know, I just remember (thinking) like, 'The audience loves me!"' he laughed. "So I would just walk up on stage with my spedangled suit. And get down."
He went from imitating the King of Rock to the King of Pop.
"There was an impersonation show that came down to Hawaii and they were holding auditions," he says. "So I went down there with a hat and a glove and sang Billie Jean and did my little moonwalk and got the gig. So in high school, after school I would go do two shows a night, at 3:00, at 10:00 at night and then go back to school the next day."
After high school, Mars moved to Los Angeles to try to make his dreams of being becoming a star a reality.
"I was just … I really wanted to take a stab at, you know, writing my own music. And try. So I bought a ticket. A one-way ticket. And I stayed with my sister. Bless her heart. Let me stay with her for a year while we got things rolling," he says.
But stardom didn't happen overnight -- it was seven years before the release of Mars' first album, "Doo-wops and Hooligans," but it was worth the wait. The record has some of the year's catchiest songs and has made Mars a favorite with the ladies.
With four older sisters, Mars gained a lot of insight about what women are like and what they want.
"Every time I write a song, I think about my experiences. With 'Just The Way You Are,' my experience with watching a girl do so much just to get ready. Just to feel beautiful and feel sexy. And when truthfully, you liked what she was wearing when she was just in her sweats. And you thought that she was beautiful like that," he says.