AUDITIONS WITH BRUNO MARS

REED DEMING SAILS THROUGH ‘X FACTOR’ AUDITIONS WITH BRUNO MARS’ ‘GRENADE’

The season premiere of ‘X Factor‘ is pretty deep into the first hour, and we’ve only seen one person get four consecutive yes’s to make it to the next round. So will 13-year-old Reed Deming be the next to get a “yes?”

Well, when we first met Reed, it was clear he resembled that of an already pretty famous guy. You may have heard of him, his name is Justin Bieber, and the contestants in the contestant holding room of the show picked up on the similarity instantly. They hollered out “Justin!” they sat down to talk about how he has the same hair as Bieber, the kid even dressed like Biebs, but, uh… don’t call him Justin Bieber, okay?

Any young teenager embarking on an audition of this stature deserves some credit. So when Reed started the first few lines of Bruno Mars‘ ‘It Will Rain,’ we were pleasantly surprised. But then his runs started heading towards the “terrible” territory, and Simon Cowell literally stopped the music.

“Do you have anything more stripped down?” asked the judge. When Reed mentioned he had a piano only version of Mars’ ‘Grenade,’ Cowell allowed the audition to continue. The cheshire grin that accompanied Cowell’s face was priceless, and all that was missing was a mustache for him to twirl.

Of course, L.A. Reid compared him to Bieber, Demi Lovato thought he was good, and Britney Spears found him so adorable she just had to say yes. And just like that, Reed received four yes’s and made it to the next round.

Bruno Mars To Release New Album In October?

Bruno Mars To Release New Album In October?

Although Bruno Mars may have been a bit on the quiet side recently, Mars fans fear not as the ‘Grenade’ singer has hinted that he’ll be returning to the world of music very, very soon. Exciting stuff!

Ever the 'mysterious' one, the singer has taken to Twitter to simply tweet the word ‘October’ in individual letters over several posts, sending his fans wondering exactly what it coming in October.

Bruno has been busy working away in the studio on his upcoming album, which is set to be the follow-up to his debut success ‘Doo Wops & Hooligans’ and he’d already warned fans earlier on in the year that he’d be disappearing for a while to work on his next musical conquest.

He’d also recently revealed that he was around ‘halfway done’ on the record and has continued to tease fans on the social networking site over the past few weeks.

Are you excited to see Bruno make his big comeback??

Meanwhile, Bruno’s love life has always been kept on the ‘down low’, however we managed to find out a bit of gossip about his private life recently, when it was revealed that the first’ love of his life’ was the one and only Rita Ora.

Putting the gay rumours to bed, it looks as though the 'Grenade' singer bagged himself a hotty when they were both unknowns. Rita revealed that the pair met after Bruno was hired to perform tracks for her Roc Nation debut.

Talking to The Sun, she said: "It was love at first sight, such a great experience. We met in 2009. I was 18 and starting out at Roc Nation. Bruno was unknown back then too."

She continued: "He was a struggling songwriter hired to write songs for me. I thought, 'Wow, that's just the world's greatest guy!"

Bruno Mars buys luxury LA home

Bruno Mars buys £2.1 million luxury LA home

One of the world’s leading pop stars has splashed out $3.3 million (£2.1 million) on a luxury property in a trendy Los Angeles suburb.  Bruno Mars, the R&B star who has enjoyed three chart-topping hits in the UK, has bought a stylish home in the Laurel Canyon area which has been home to stars including Frank Zappa and George Clooney.

Keep reading to learn more about the 26 year olds’ fantastic new luxury home.

The Lazy Song star buys £2.1m mansion

The singer of hits including Grenade and Just The Way You Are has bought the luxury £2 million home which features three bedrooms and 3.5 bathrooms and sits on a generous 4,064 square feet.

The Daily Mail reports that ‘the house is covered in chocolate coloured hardwood floors and long walls of floor-to-ceiling retractable glass panels, allowing for spectacular views of the San Fernando Valley.’

The dining area features a large sky light and floating, built-in buffet bat as well as a special refrigerator to keep wine at the perfect temperature. The service areas include a guest bedroom with private attached bathroom, a separate office, and a laundry facility.

A walled and double-gated motor court at the front easily parks three or four cars, while a three car garage and driveway offers off-street parking for up to six more.

The garden boasts deep, shaded overhangs, an outdoor bar and a dark-bottom swimming pool surrounded by decking.  The property also comes equipped with a modern security system with eight perimeter cameras.

Mars has reportedly paid $3,254,000 for the property which represents a staggering $2,019,000 profit for the existing owners in just 14 months.  The property was bought for just $1,235,000 in May 2011 although there has been a significant sum spent on taxes and renovation costs.

 

Bruno Mars' New Music Has 'Throwback Nina Simone' Feel, Says Producer

For a musician who spends weeklong writing blocks playing ping-pong and shooting hoops, Benny Blanco manages to stay busy. The producer-songwriter, whose credits include chart-toppers for Maroon 5 and Katy Perry, has filled his schedule since the start of the year, clocking studio time with fellow hitmakers like Paul Epworth (who co-wrote and -produced Adele's "Rolling in the Deep") Rico Love and longtime collaborator Dr. Luke. Among the artists he's worked with: Ke$ha, for whom he produced an untitled tune co-written by fun.'s Nate Ruess, and Bruno Mars, who's at work on the follow-up to his 2010 breakthough, Doo Wops & Hooligans. The latter session yielded a piano-laced track intended for Mars' new LP.
"I got a really cool song with him. Me and Paul [Epworth] just got together and Bruno wrote an amazing song on top of it. It kind of all came together," Blanco tells Rolling Stone. "It's like some throwback Nina Simone type shit, like 'Sinnerman.' It's Bruno. He can sing the A.B.C.'s and you'd be like, 'Holy fuck!' He knows how to vibe."
Blanco also hit the studio recently with Empire of the Sun, Wiz Khalifa and Marina and the Diamonds, stretching across genre lines with his spectrum of gigs. Known mostly for his work with pop stars, Blanco hopes to dig back into his hip-hop roots (his early credits include work with Spank Rock and Hell Rell) via collborations with with Rico Love. The pair most recently co-produced Trey Songz's "Heart Attack" with Love, and Blanco says his work with Khalifa upcoming O.N.I.F.C. album is a testament to his intentions to broaden his horizons.
"I'm trying to do different stuff than I've ever done, to challenge myself and dip into a lot of R&B and hip-hop. Maybe some shit I don't even know yet. I just really want to break any boundaries that I thought I might have," explains Blanco. "Paul [Epworth] is showing me great things that I never even thought of. We're doing records with live drum sets, we're playing live bass guitars and chopping them all up and doing just really cool, interesting stuff, trying to challenge ourselves and the listener."
He isn't ditching pop, though. Blanco hasn't caught wind of a new Katy Perry album – "I haven't heard of anything for a record, and I have not started anything yet," he says – but credits his previous work with the singer as building blocks for his current work ethic. He names "Teenage Dream" as one of the most difficult tracks of his career – the product of artistic differences.
"At first, Katy didn't even like those tracks. And then finally, we got 'Teenage Dream' to have great writers on it like Bonnie McKee and Max Martin. All the stars were aligned," he says. "We had to rewrite lyrics to that song seven times. Some of those records are like that. When you finally get it right, it's like, ah. It makes it all the better."

Bruno Mars' New Music

Bruno Mars' New Music Has 'Throwback Nina Simone' Feel, Says Producer

For a musician who spends weeklong writing blocks playing ping-pong and shooting hoops, Benny Blanco manages to stay busy. The producer-songwriter, whose credits include chart-toppers for Maroon 5 and Katy Perry, has filled his schedule since the start of the year, clocking studio time with fellow hitmakers like Paul Epworth (who co-wrote and -produced Adele's "Rolling in the Deep") Rico Love and longtime collaborator Dr. Luke. Among the artists he's worked with: Ke$ha, for whom he produced an untitled tune co-written by fun.'s Nate Ruess, and Bruno Mars, who's at work on the follow-up to his 2010 breakthough, Doo Wops & Hooligans. The latter session yielded a piano-laced track intended for Mars' new LP.
"I got a really cool song with him. Me and Paul [Epworth] just got together and Bruno wrote an amazing song on top of it. It kind of all came together," Blanco tells Rolling Stone. "It's like some throwback Nina Simone type shit, like 'Sinnerman.' It's Bruno. He can sing the A.B.C.'s and you'd be like, 'Holy fuck!' He knows how to vibe."
Blanco also hit the studio recently with Empire of the Sun, Wiz Khalifa and Marina and the Diamonds, stretching across genre lines with his spectrum of gigs. Known mostly for his work with pop stars, Blanco hopes to dig back into his hip-hop roots (his early credits include work with Spank Rock and Hell Rell) via collborations with with Rico Love. The pair most recently co-produced Trey Songz's "Heart Attack" with Love, and Blanco says his work with Khalifa upcoming O.N.I.F.C. album is a testament to his intentions to broaden his horizons.
"I'm trying to do different stuff than I've ever done, to challenge myself and dip into a lot of R&B and hip-hop. Maybe some shit I don't even know yet. I just really want to break any boundaries that I thought I might have," explains Blanco. "Paul [Epworth] is showing me great things that I never even thought of. We're doing records with live drum sets, we're playing live bass guitars and chopping them all up and doing just really cool, interesting stuff, trying to challenge ourselves and the listener."
He isn't ditching pop, though. Blanco hasn't caught wind of a new Katy Perry album – "I haven't heard of anything for a record, and I have not started anything yet," he says – but credits his previous work with the singer as building blocks for his current work ethic. He names "Teenage Dream" as one of the most difficult tracks of his career – the product of artistic differences.
"At first, Katy didn't even like those tracks. And then finally, we got 'Teenage Dream' to have great writers on it like Bonnie McKee and Max Martin. All the stars were aligned," he says. "We had to rewrite lyrics to that song seven times. Some of those records are like that. When you finally get it right, it's like, ah. It makes it all the better."

Bruno Mars Wants to Collaborate with One Direction

 

One Direction has been singing praise of Bruno Mars for months now, and it seems their witty British flattery has finally paid off. At the launch of Spotify's new Artist Apps last week, Mars reportedly stated his intention to team up with the "What Makes You Beautiful" singers: "I love those One Direction guys man, and one of these days we will make it happen. We can put something really good together. They are a really good group, and I am so happy that they have done so well so quickly. Yeah bring it on!"

Mars is currently at work on his sophomore album, a follow-up to the massively successful Doo-Wops and Hooligans. It hasn't been smooth sailing: Mars tweeted last week, "Wise men say that if you're not struggling to make your album its probably not gonna be a good album #ImF**kingStruggling."

Maybe it's time to call for boy band backup.

  •  On Friday, Lauryn Hill pleaded guilty to federal income tax evasion after it was discovered she hadn't paid any taxes on the $1.8 million she earned between 2005 and 2007. Though Hill's attorney Nathan Hockman claims the feds singled out Lauryn because she's a celebrity, Hill acknowledged her failure to pay taxes in a lengthy post on her personal Tumblr a few weeks ago. Essentially, Hill said she purposefully withdrew from society to safeguard her family from a "climate of hostility, false entitlement, manipulation, racial prejudice, sexism and ageism."
 Hill also insisted, "I did not deliberately abandon my fans, nor did I deliberately abandon any responsibilities, but I did however put my safety, health and freedom and the freedom, safety and health of my family first over all other material concerns! I also embraced my right to resist a system intentionally opposing my right to whole and integral survival."
Hill was also ordered to undergo mental health counseling as directed by pre-trial intervention services. She could face up to three years in prison and a $300,000 fine when she is sentenced in November.   •  Comedian Mike Epps and Mindless Behavior poked fun at Lauryn's legal woes when they presented the BET award for Best R&B artist on Sunday evening. One of the group members joked, "You sing bad... like Lauryn Hill's tax accountant bad," prompting winner Beyonce Knowles to modify her acceptance speech.
"I want to thank all the talented R&B women that came before me like Lauryn Hill and Mary J. Blige," Knowles asserted. TMZ reports she was way peeved at the diss.
  •  Justin Bieber is now a graduate of St. Michael Catholic Secondary School in Stratford, Ontario, although he didn't make it to the school's commencement ceremony over the weekend. He had more important things to do, like hit up a Calabasas, California Subway for a $5 footlong. This is how a multimillionaire celebrates Canada Day.

 

Bruno Mars Arrested For Drug Possession

Bruno Mars has been grabbing headlines recently for his acclaimed work writing hits for B.o.B, Cee-Lo Green and Travie McCoy, as well as for scoring his own chart smash with "Just the Way You Are." But the singer/songwriter wound up with the wrong kind of attention early Sunday morning in Las Vegas when he was arrested on suspicion of narcotics possession.
According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the 23-year-old singer (born Peter Gene Hernandez), who is preparing to drop his full-length solo debut, Doo-Wops & Hooligans, next month, was arrested at 2:40 a.m. on Sunday, after security at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino confronted him in a bathroom and allegedly found him to be in possession of narcotics.
At press time a spokesperson for the Las Vegas Police Department could not be reached for confirmation of the arrest or for information on what drugs Mars is said to have possessed at the time of his arrest.
Mars, who took the VMA stage last week with B.o.B and Hayley Williams, had performed a show on Saturday at the Hard Rock. He tweeted fans to come check out his performance, writing, "Come see me @ the Hard Rock 2nite!! VEGAS!" He did not, however, appear to provide any comment on the arrest. His next tweet wasn't until early Monday morning (September 20), when he wrote, "Texas is dope! I'm in Dallas rite now looking forward to meeting some folks @ radio stations. Tune in for a special live performance."
Mars' arrest came on the heels of another star dodging a legal bullet after a possession arrest in Vegas. Following her August 27 arrest outside a Las Vegas hotel in which police found 0.8 grams of cocaine in her purse, Paris Hilton will avoid jail time for felony cocaine possession with a plea agreement that will allow her to serve a year of probation but no time behind bars.