gone was his given name of peter hernandez, branding himself bruno mars instead.dropped him. with no hit songs of his own and dead broke, he started over, writing and producing songs for other artists, with friends ari levine and philip lawrence. they were starving musicians. inspired by the hustle just to pay for food, they came up with this song: ( ♪ "billionaire" ) it led to another record deal of his own. ( ♪ "just the way you are" ) ♪ ♪ his career as a songwriter and performer was finally on track. ( ♪ "just the way you are." ) about that time though, he was arrested for possession of 2.5 grams of cocaine. from the outside, you really seem to keep it together and to be very-- professional and, you know, very committed, but you nearly threw it all away. >> mars: i did something very stupid. i'm in las vegas, lara. i'm 24 years old. i'm, you know, drinking way more than i'm supposed to be drinking and it was so early in my career and i always say that i think it had to happen. that was the reality check i needed, and i'm-- i promised myself that that-- you know