Producer Paul Oakenfold finds Madonna is ''easy'' to collaborate with and ''works tirelessly in the studio".

The DJ produced Madonna's 2009 single 'Celebration', and said she was grounded in her work.

In an interview with altsounds.com, Oakenfold said: "Madonna was without doubt one of the best artists I have ever worked with. She had so many fantastic ideas and really took her music seriously.

"You can tell that with Madonna, everything is about the music. She's a global name but still works tirelessly in the studio, puts on her best possible live gigs and puts 100 per cent into everything she does. "She's really grounded too and easy to work with."

Her manager, Guy Oseary tweeted in June about Madonna starting work on her twelfth studio album and said: "She has a good idea of which producers she will be working with... lots of questions about what kind of music it will be - stay tuned."

Madonna herself put out a message in December saying she couldn't wait to start work on her follow-up to 2008's 'Hard Candy', and appealing for collaborators.

She wrote: "Its official! I need to move. I need to sweat. I need to make new music! Music I can dance to. I'm on the lookout for the maddest, sickest, most badass people to collaborate with. I'm just saying."

Watch Madonna's live performance of 'Hard Candy' here: