Petula Clark on revisiting classics, paying tribute to John Lennon

Petula Clark is used to running with the big boys. The singer/actress has worked with everyone from Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra to Barbra Streisand. 

She's also accustomed to recording in big studios, but for her latest project she kept things pretty low-key. The 81-year-old singer spent time in a small studio with veteran producer John Owen Williams laying down tracks for her latest album, "Lost in You," released in 2013 on The End Records. 

"It was such an easy atmosphere," Clark said during a recent visit to CBS News. "We recorded in London in this tiny studio...It was a very intimate thing. You can go into Abby Road or wherever and you got all the tra-la-la around you, but basically if you have the right songs and the right technicians and you’re in the mood to sing that's just about all you need."

Featuring a mix of covers, new songs and a new rendition of Clark's classic "Downtown," the album really brings the British songstress into a new era; she even experiments with AutoTune on the track, "Cut Copy Me."

For Clark, the mood was just right to explore a few original autobiographical tunes and take on versions of Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy" and Elvis Presley's "Love Me Tender." She also does John Lennon's "Imagine," as a tribute to the late singer.

"I absolutely loved this man and I met him -- and he was very sweet to me. And this is my little tribute to him," said the Grammy-winning singer. "Basically I’m singing it for him."

Clark has taken her latest batch of songs on the road, recently wrapping a tour of the U.K. In 2014, she's visiting Australia, France and England. A U.S. tour is possible, too, if the timing works out. 

"I would love to come back here," she said. 

For more on the album, the British invasion and the story behind Clark sitting in on the recording of "Give Peace a Chance," check out the video above.