Bruno Mars, pop's most dangerous quintuple threat, is accustomed to juggling.
On a recent day, he was spending his first day in a recording studio in nine months, trying to find a cure for a sinus infection -- and promoting his first-ever appearance at a fashion show, Macy's Glamorama, Friday in Minneapolis.
He says he's not doing it for the fashion but rather because it's a benefit for the Children's Cancer Research Fund.
"I've never been in this situation before. I've been broke my whole life, basically," Mars, 26, said from his Los Angeles studio. "The fact that I can use my music to bring people together and help a good cause, that's really why I'm doing it."
A singer, songwriter, producer, multi-instrumentalist and performer, Mars is suddenly enjoying the kind of golden touch with multiple artists that hasn't been seen in pop since Prince in the mid-1980s -- singing the hooks on Travie McCoy's "Billionaire" and B.o.B.'s "Nothin' on You" (which he co-wrote), producing and co-writing "Fuck You" for Cee-Lo Green and scoring with his own "Just the Way You Are," "The Lazy Song" and "Grenade."
At Glamorama, Mars will sing a few of the songs that have made him famous. The unpredictable part is his outfit. Will he be stylin' in a suit, two-tone shoes and pompadour, as he did at the Grammys, or will he favor the denim, T-shirt and fedora he wore at his sold-out St. Paul concert in May?
"When you say Glamorama, I'm thinking leotard, cowboy boots and possibly a shower cap," he said with a chuckle. "It's fashion. You've got to take chances, right? So why not?"
Mars describes his sense of fashion the same way he defines his music -- "very unorthodox," he said. He drew a parallel to the title of his hit debut album, "Doo-Wops & Hooligans." "'Doo-Wops' is the more gentleman and 'Hooligans' is more in-the-street-everyday," he said.
