Bruno Mars has scored a stunning six nominations for the upcoming 54th Annual Grammy Awards. The annual extravaganza will be held on Sunday, February 12th, 2012 at Staples Center in Los Angeles.
The six nominations place Mars among the year’s most nominated artists, a testament to his diverse talents as performer, songwriter, and producer. His 24 x platinum worldwide debut album, DOO-WOPS & HOOLIGANS was nominated as ‘Album of the Year’ and ‘Best Pop Vocal Album’, while the #1 smash hit, ‘Grenade’ was named in both the ‘Record of the Year’ and ‘Song of the Year’ categories, as well as for ‘Best Pop Solo Performance’. What’s more, The Smeezingtons – that is the production team of Mars, Philip Lawrence, and Ari Levine – are among the ‘Producer of the Year, Non-Classical’ nominees; celebrating, among other recordings, DOO-WOPS & HOOLIGANS along with Mars’ featured role on Bad Meets Evil’s ‘Lighters (Feat. Bruno Mars)’ and Lil Wayne’s ‘Mirror (Feat. Bruno Mars)’. This marks the second consecutive year that the trio has been nominated in this category.
Meanwhile, Mars is riding high with ‘It Will Rain’, the first single from the recently released THE TWILIGHT SAGA: BREAKING DAWN PART 1 – ORIGINAL MOTION PICTURE SOUNDTRACK. ‘It Will Rain’ is currently sitting at #4 on the New Zealand Singles Chart and #5 on the NZ Airplay chart. The “It Will Rain” companion video is also proving a sensation, earning over 15 million views and counting. Watch it here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-w3WfgpcGg.
The success of ‘It Will Rain’ marks the 11th top 10 single for Mars, following solo blockbusters like the multi-platinum #1 hits, ‘Just The Way You Are’ and ‘Grenade’; the top 5 radio hits ‘Marry You’ and ‘Count On Me’ (all featured on 2010’s DOO-WOPS & HOOLIGANS), as well as songs written and co-produced by Mars – including Cee Lo Green’s history-making ‘F$%k You’, Travie McCoy’s ‘Billionaire (Feat. Bruno Mars)’ and ‘Nothin’ On You (Feat. Bruno Mars)’ by B.o.B.
In other news, Mars, who earlier this year took home a ‘Best Male Pop Vocal Performance’ Grammy Award for ‘Just The Way You Are’ was among the big winners at the recent American Music Awards, winning the ‘Pop or Rock Music/Favorite Male Artist’ prize. The victory comes soon after Mars’ triumph at MTV’s 2011 European Music Awards, where he received two awards, for ‘Best New Artist’ and ‘Best Push Act’.