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Bruno Mars Was Warned Against Performing Prince’s Hit Songs At Grammys

By Stacey Cole
Published on: 04:32 PST, Feb 23, 2017

Bruno Mars made a rousing return to the Grammys stage for his Prince tribute, according to the Star Tribune. The “24K Magic” singer gave an unforgettable performance of “That’s What I Like” from his album and Prince’s hit song “Let’s Go Crazy.”

When Grammy organizers promised an “unforgettable tribute” to Prince at 59th annual Grammy Awards, they actually meant it. Otherwise, they wouldn’t get Bruno Mars to perform it.

Bruno Mars, who has taken home five Grammy awards since rising to stardom in 2011, took to the stage this month to offer a rendition of Prince’s “Let’s Go Crazy,” and it really was an “unforgettable tribute” to the seven-time Grammy winning musician who died on April 21, 2016.

Clad in Prince’s signature purple suit with ruffles at the neck, Bruno Mars made the star-studded audience go crazy for the tribute. To make the tribute even closer to perfection, Mars rocked “beauty boy” makeup and used a crisp white guitar. That’s exactly how people remember Prince.

Standing at the center of the stage with Prince’s symbol glowing right behind him, Bruno Mars treated the audience and millions of people watching the awards ceremony at home to a rousing guitar solo, which was mastered to perfection. The “24K Magic” singer didn’t miss a beat and was later joined by his band to complete the iconic tribute.

But delivering a rousing tribute to Prince wasn’t the only reason Bruno Mars took the Grammys stage that night, according to Variety. Mars, who triumphantly won at this year’s awards ceremony for his work on Adele’s 25, treated the audience to a no-less-unforgettable performance of his own hit song “That’s What I Like.”

It’s been four years since Bruno Mars last took the Grammys stage, but those four years of waiting were worth it. Perhaps the most fascinating moment came toward the end of his performance when Mars went into the audience and sang, “If you want it, girl, come and get it, all this is here for you.”

Bruno Mars sang the line as the cameras were pointed at the starstruck Jennifer Lopez, Rihanna, and Faith Hill. Interestingly, Mars’ longtime girlfriend, Jessica Caban, was chosen to represent Lopez’s line J-Lo as runner-up in 2002.

It was Bruno Mars’ first performance at the Grammys since 2013 and marks the fifth time the singer has taken to the Grammys stage. The “Lazy Song” singer also headlined the Super Bowl in 2014 and two years later gave an incendiary performance of his hit song “Uptown Funk” featuring Mark Ronson and then “Fix You” with Coldplay and Beyonce.

It took Bruno Mars several months of preparations to master his performance for the Grammys 2017 tribute to Prince. In fact, the “24K Magic” singer couldn’t decide which song to perform at the music event that night.

Speaking exclusively to the Star Tribune, Grammy Awards executive producer Ken Ehrlich said Bruno Mars “agonized” over the choice of Prince’s song for “two weeks.” Ehrlich insists that he had warned Mars not to perform “When Doves Cry,” “1999,” “I Would Die 4 U,” and “Kiss,” as they shouldn’t be “done by anyone but Prince.”

And then Bruno Mars finally chose “Let’s Go Crazy” from Prince’s 1984 film Purple Rain. Grammy Awards organizers didn’t have Mars and his band as the only performer for the tribute, though, as it started with the Time, the band that worked with the late musician in the 80s.

Before the purple suit-clad Bruno Mars took the Grammy stage on Sunday, the Time treated the audience to an abbreviated medley of two of their hits from Purple Rain.

[Featured Image by Christopher Polk/Getty Images]

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