Akon Says He Can Retire, Thanks To Lady Gaga

'She was definitely a blessing. She came at the right moment,' singer/producer says of signing the superstar to a record deal.

Akon is releasing a new album this year, but the singer seems more excited about his Kon Live imprint artist Lady Gaga's success than his own.

"She's pretty much retired me," Akon told The Associated Press. "She was definitely a blessing. She came at the right moment. I'm glad I believed in her, boy. That goes to show you, if you believe in something strong enough, it will pay off."

Lady Gaga was initially signed to Def Jam Records, where she was dropped several months later. Then Akon signed her as a free agent as he was finalizing his Kon Live deal with Interscope Records and label head Jimmy Iovine. Fast-forward a few years and Lady Gaga has become an internationally known pop star, winning two awards at the 2010 Grammys: Best Dance Recording for "Poker Face" and Best Electronic/Dance Album for The Fame.

The singer recently swept the Brit Awards in London, where she performed a tribute to recently deceased designer Alexander McQueen and walked away with three awards.

"She just blossomed into a super megastar," said Akon.

As for his own upcoming album, Akon says that in addition to Lady Gaga, he's also working with Dutch dance DJ/producer Chuckie, DJ David Guetta, who recently collaborated with Akon on "Sexy Bitch," and hip-hop heavyweight Dr. Dre.

"You've got some straight hard-core hip-hop guys actually moving into the dance realm," Akon said. "And that's shocking. When you've got someone like Dr. Dre about to do a dance record ... that's crazy."

Akon didn't divulge much about the Dr. Dre collaboration, except to say the record "actually sounds great. He played it for me. I was shocked. So I was like, 'Wow, that's dope. When the world hears this, they might go crazy.' ... When you've got the two worlds mixed together, clashing, it's going to be a monster."

Lady Gaga Reveals More Looks From 'Telephone' Video

Singer teases her 'monsters' with new stills from clip, which premieres Thursday.

Lady Gaga is keeping her fans salivating for the Thursday premiere of her "Telephone" music video by releasing a couple more stills from the Jonas Akerlund-directed clip, which happens to feature her pals Beyoncé, who sings on the track, and Semi Precious Weapons.

In the photos on her official Web site, Gaga is seen talking on a pay phone with soda can rollers in her hair, much makeup and a heavily studded

Beyoncéleather jacket. In an additional still, Gaga is in a sparkly strapless dress, with cigarette sunglasses on, covered in heavy chains. Both stills seem to fit in with reports that in the video, Gaga is in jail and Beyoncé helps break her free.

A previous photo, which appeared on a fansite, shows Beyoncé staring at a telephone, perhaps with Gaga on the other end looking for some assistance. The nearly 10-minute clip will reportedly have nods to the films of Quentin Tarantino, including use of the car that Uma Thurman drove in "Kill Bill." The ladies paid homage to Tarantino's "Reservoir Dogs" in Beyoncé's video for "Video Phone."

Gaga has said that "Telephone," which premieres Thursday night on E!, picks up where "Paparazzi" left off. The slow leak of photos and tiny pieces of information has helped Gaga build anticipation for the video.

In the past decade, however, Haim made moves for a career comeback. He starred alongside Feldman on their A&E reality show, "The Two Coreys," for two seasons. He was also made a cameo in the "Lost Boys" sequel, "Lost Boys: The Tribe," where he reprised his role as Sam Emerson.

According to IMDB, Haim had completed work on two films "American Sunset" and "New Terminal Hotel" and had several others in the works at the time of his death, including "Rated 3D," "A Detour in Life," "The Science of Cool," "Decisions" and "The Throwaways," the latter of which he was also planning on directing. He was reportedly filming "The Dead Sea," about mercenaries hunting for a missing naval vessel. At press time, there was no word on the status of those films.