
Mars has an easily marketed wholesome feel that predates much of pop itself-he evokes, both physically and tonally, Jackie Wilson, the sixties pop star who inspired Michael Jackson perhaps more than any other single performer. 1 singles, “Just the Way You Are” and “Grenade,” which is still at No. Both were enormous hits this year, and set the stage for Mars to push his début album, “Doo-Wops & Hooligans,” which has already spawned two No. Mars and his associates were also involved in two songs on which he sings and subsequently steals from the artist of record-“Nothin’ on You,” by the rapper B.o.B., and “Billionaire,” by the sort-of rapper Travie McCoy. He and his songwriting team, the Smeezingtons, helped Cee-Lo Green create his inescapable bit of Motown mimicry and comic profanity “Fuck You!,” which swept the Internet in the fall.


In his permanent approachability, Bruno Mars evokes the sixties pop star Jackie Wilson.
