Musical Path 

Johnny Depp

His brother's records and his uncle's choir has fascinated Johnny from a young age. After receiving his first guitar from his mother at the age of 12, he taught himself to play by practicing for hours using a Mel Bay chord book. He explains what led him to music in an interview at the Classic Rock Awards 2016:

"I was about 12 years old in the backseat and we were driving down the sort of main boulevard in this little town we lived, and there was a little local concert going on in the parking lot of the grocery store. We got stuck at a stop light and there was a band playing. I remember the name of the band, actually, they were called Rocklin Channel. I ended up playing with a couple of the guys in later years, you know.''

[...]
''I heard them doing (Aerosmith's) Dream On you know, and thought, fucking hell, that sounds really good, and how fucking cool to just pick up a guitar and just blast, you know? So I talked my mom into buying a shitty little Decca guitar for 25 bucks, and some little blue Plush amp that sounded like - it was just trash, it was fantastic. Stole a Mel Bay chord book out of a department store - the blue Mel Bay chord book with the black and white pictures y'know? So I figured out where to put my fingers, figured out chords and started to listen to records, lifting up the needle and pulling it back to the top of the solo, over and over...''.

At the age of 13 he created his own band ''Flame'' with his friends, later called ''The Kids''.

In 1979 he dropped out of high school to start his own business with his band.

''I had a guitar class at school. I dropped out but the guitar class was the only class I would've passed. I don't know why, but I just knew that school wouldn't afford me anything. I knew that I wasn't going to work for an insurance firm.''

"'The Kids'' managed to open up for legends such as Iggy Pop and Talking Head.

In 1993, Johnny founded the Viper Room, located on the Sunset Strip in West Hollywood, together with musician Chuck E. Weiss and their business partner Anthony Fox. He wanted to create a place where famous people didn't feel like they were on a display and wanted to be surrounded by musicians and their music.

Johnny gave up his property in 2004.

He had several collaborations with well-known bands and musicians; including doing the slide guitar sections on the Oasis song ''Fade In-Out'' because Noel was allegedly too drunk.

He also starred in and directed the music video for Tom Petty's ''Into The Great Wide Open'' and directed the video for Babybird's ''Unloveable''.

Not to forget is his involvement in Paul McCartney's music video ''My Valentine'', signing the lyrics to the song with Natalie Portman. The two (Johnny and Paul) also made another video in 2014, called ''Early Days''. And because they are pretty good friends, Paul did him the favor of taking on a small supporting role in "Pirates Of The Caribbean - Dead Men Tell No Tales".

Paul is not the only musician who appears in the pirate adventure…an equally small supporting role in the third and fourth film was played by none other than The Rolling Stone member Keith Richards. He was the main inspiration of Captain Jack Sparrow and they also have a close friendship that has lasted for many years.

One of his best friends from the music industry is shock rocker Marilyn Manson. Johnny played guitar in his cover of "You're So Vain" and acted as a guitarist at some of his private concerts. He also appears in the music videos "SAY10" and "KILL4ME". They both even have the same tattoo on their back and wrist.

His very close and deep friendship with guitar god Jeff Beck shouldn't go unmentioned. In 2020 they released a cover vision of the John Lennon song "Isolation". In 2022 they released the collaborative album "18" and went on tour shortly after.

Johnny starred in the musical film "Cry Baby", "Sweeney Todd" and "Into The Woods". Sweeney Todd earned him a Golden Globe for the best actor.