(CNN) — It’s a pairing of old style and new swagger when it comes to Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga.
The legendary singer can’t stop raving about his fellow artist, and he confirmed in an interview with CNN that he’s ready to take the next step with this young star.
“I must tell you that I’m about to make an album with Lady Gaga, and she is an excellent, intelligent person,” Bennett said.
While the details for the upcoming album are still being worked out, according to some reports it’s going to be a swing album.
But this isn’t their first time singing together – the icon recorded a duet of “The Lady is a Tramp” with Gaga, 26, in 2011 for his Grammy-winning album, “Duets II.”
Bennett, who rose to fame in the early ’60s, said Gaga can be as big as the biggest stars of his lifetime. “[A]s far as popularity – she’ll be as big as Elvis Presley.”
But he also sees her as more than just a performer. The 86-year-old can recall, exactly 48 years ago this weekend, when he marched alongside Martin Luther King Jr. and thousands of others from Selma to Montgomery Alabama. And when Bennett looks at celebrity leaders in the fight for civil rights today, he thinks Lady Gaga is the leader of the pack.
“She knows how to eliminate prejudice,” he said. “She’s a very, very intelligent person…I think she’s going to do so much.”
