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Bruno Mars had better brush up on his Hebrew.
The Grammy winner has been hand-picked by New York City-based Russian oligarch Len Blavatnik to perform songs at his daughter’s bat mitzvah. She’s a huge fan of the singer, who had better come ready with a long set list, because he’s getting paid per song, Confidenti@l can exclusively reveal.
“He is getting $ 250,000 per song and is planning to sing five songs,” a source tells Confidenti@l.
As part of the sweet deal, Mars and his entire crew, including his stylist and his band, get a private jet to New York for the special night, all on the 56-year-old Blavatnik’s dime.
“He insisted on his own band backing him,” says our source. “Also, he will retain rights to all recordings of the performance, even though I have to think every yarmulke-clad teen at the party will instantly be posting clips of Bruno Mars playing a bat mitzvah.”
Mars felt pressure to do the gig, we’re told, because he is signed to Atlantic Records, which is owned by Warner Music, which is owned by, you guessed it — Len Blavatnik.
Tim Bishop/Access Industries Holdings LLC via Bloomberg
Len Blavatnik, chairman and president of Access Industries Holdings LLC, is reportedly paying Mars $ 250,000 per song.
“The event will probably take place at the Plaza,” says our source. “Last Saturday, there was a sweet 16 party there where the lucky birthday girl enjoyed a three-song performance by Pharrell .”
Fans won’t have to shell out hundreds of thousands to catch the “Locked Out of Heaven” singer belt his crowd-pleasing tunes when Mars delivers the Super Bowl XLVIII halftime show in February at MetLife Stadium.
Blavatnik made his fortune from Access Industries, which he founded. He’s chairman of the company, which invests in natural resources, chemicals, media, telecommunications and real estate. Forbes says he’s worth a whopping $ 17.8 billion, and he was No. 2 on the Sunday Times of London’s Rich List for 2013.
Access Industries owns Warner Music America, has invested in designer Tory Burch and is backing an upcoming Martin Scorsese film, “Silence.”
Mars is certainly not the first celebrity to take advantage of a low-profile gig that will get him a nice payday. Usher has sung “Happy Birthday” for a cool $ 250,000, while New Jersey “Real Housewife” Teresa Giudice has raked in upwards of $ 20,000 to show her face at a fan’s private event.
Reps for Mars and Blavatnik didnt get back to us.
NO REST FOR THE WEARY
Justin Bieber can’t stay out of trouble — even when he’s asleep. A woman uploaded what looks like a candid morning-after video showing the pop star dozing on a sofabed in his Rio de Janeiro rental. “This took it to a whole other creepy level,” said a Bieber confidant, who told us the singer innocently fell asleep fully clothed after hosting a small party and didn’t know he was being taped.
The camerawoman is thought to be model and entertainer Tatiana Neves Barbosa , who’d been invited to the bash at Bieber’s crash pad. She’s a party girl who’s been photographed in bikinis and less conservative attire. Bieber had a rough week in Brazil. On Thursday, police charged the 19-year-old superbrat with spray-painting graffiti on a hotel wall. That came just after handlers escorted a man with Bieber’s trademark wrist tattoo out of a bordello with a blanket over his head. And who can forget when he got pelted in the head with a water bottle while performing in São Paulo?
The good news: Bieber is done with Brazil. He plays Argentina Friday night.
PHOTOS: BIEBER FEVER: JUSTIN BIEBER THROUGH THE YEARS
Rob Griffith/AP
Khloe Kardashian and husband Lamar Odom
KHLOE WANTS TO MOVE ON
Khloe Kardashian and Lamar Odom want to sell their Tarzana, Calif., house but are keeping it under wraps from the public, a source tells us. Despite his widely reported drug problem, Khloe dreams of reconciling but “can’t bear to be in a house filled with negative energy,” our source says. They’re asking $ 4 million for the manse, bought in 2009 for $ 3.5 million. “She’s not divorcing him just yet, but she wants to start over,” says our insider.
Bryan Bedder/Getty Images
Singer Dionne Warwick will be honored at the Soul Train Awards.
A TRAINLOAD OF HONORS
All aboard! The 2013 Soul Train Awards will honor Dionne Warwick with a Legend Award and Keith Sweat with a Lifetime Achievement honor Friday night in Las Vegas. Warren G, Doug E. Fresh and Big Daddy Kane are due to perform, and presenters will include Vanessa Williams, Vivica Fox and Vanilla Ice . Yes, that Vanilla Ice. BET airs the show Dec. 1.
IT’S A ‘THOR’ POINT FOR PORTMAN
Be afraid of Natalie Portman . Very, very afraid. Portman says she got nervous at first around her “Thor: The Dark World” co-star Anthony Hopkins , but to her chagrin, her presence doesn’t scare anyone. “I don’t think anyone’s ever been intimidated by me,” she told us at the flick’s Cinema Society and Dior Beauty screening at the Crosby Street Hotel. “I wish. Maybe one day I’ll be really scary and people will be really nervous around me. But so far, no.”
PHOTOS: NATALIE PORTMAN THROUGH THE YEARS
OLGA AND THE JAMES GANG
“Quantum of Solace” stunner Olga Kurylenko was almost double-no seven. “I didn’t even want to be a Bond girl, not that I minded, but I never thought I would do it,” the French actress told us at the eighth annual MOCA Awards to Distinguished Women in the Arts in L.A. “It is something that comes up, and you just kind of go with the wave.” Sharon Stone hosted the Samsung Galaxy-sponsored event, which included a fashion presentation by Just One Eye.
FERTILE TOPIC FOR A COMEDIAN
“Dad Is Fat” author Jim Gaffigan says New York City is a tough place to raise kids. “One time we were walking with all the kids, so we had a double stroller and the other kids were on scooters, and we walked by a lady and she went, ‘Ick,’” the father of five marveled at the Stand Up for Heroes benefit at Madison Square Garden. And he might not be finished yet. “I’m very fertile,” he said. “I haven’t talked to my wife in an hour, she might have another one.”
RAMPING UP THE STAR POWER
For one night, the biggest stars at the Guggenheim weren’t Cezanne, Monet or Picasso. Luminaries lined the museum’s signature spiral Wednesday for its International Gala pre-party, sponsored by Dior and Belvedere Vodka. Celebs on hand included Elizabeth Olsen, Cobie Smulders, Zosia Mamet, James Purefoy, Charlotte Sarkozy and Zachary Quinto with boy toy Miles McMillan .
IT DOESN’T POSE A PROBLEM
There was no one-upmanship on this carpet. Gisele Bundchen has no issues with fellow model Karlie Kloss after both appeared on magazine covers with Daft Punk. In fact, Bundchen, who posed with the dance-music duo for WSJ Magazine, praised Kloss, who did the same for Vogue. “She’s more beautiful than me,” Bundchen told Confidenti@l at WSJ’s Innovation Awards.
PHOTOS: GISELE BUNDCHEN STRIPS DOWN FOR VOGUE PARIS: SEXIEST MAGAZINE SHOOTS
A BIT GRAY AT THE CROWN
Apparently Prince William isn’t the only royal family member who suffers from bad hair days. Kate Middleton , Duchess of Cambridge and new mom to Prince George , let her gray roots show on her way to meet members of the Poppy Girls and volunteers from the Royal British Legion in London on Wednesday. Makes sense — parenting duties take precedence over salon touchups.
PRINCESS ISN’T CAUGHT OFF GUARD
Who watches the watchmen? We do. Confidenti@l spotted Princess Eugenie and her eagle-eyed royal protection officer during the bidding for famed artist Tracy Emin ’s work at Phillips auction house on Wednesday night. The bodyguard — who was flown in from London for the occasion — laughed when Confidenti@l asked why the seventh in line for the British throne needs protection in New York City. The sale benefited the Museum of Contemporary Art in North Miami.
