Actor Johnny Depp has announced he will be releasing a collaborative album with Jeff Beck. The album will be a tribute to film star Hedy Lamarr
The 13-track album, called 18, will arrive on July 15 and features two original compositions alongside a number of classic rock covers. Hollywood actor Depp, whose defamation battle with ex-wife Amber Heard ended last week, has been appearing on stage with veteran rock guitarist Beck, 77, during his UK tour.
They pair first met back in 2016. They began recording the album in 2019 while Depp was also playing with Alice Cooper’s supergroup Hollywood Vampires.
Beck said: “When Johnny and I started playing together, it really ignited our youthful spirit and creativity. We would joke about how we felt 18 again, so that just became the album title too.”
Depp added: “It’s an extraordinary honour to play and write music with Jeff, one of the true greats and someone I am now privileged enough to call my brother.”
The album features two original songs written by Depp – This Is A Song For Miss Hedy Lamarr, about the early Hollywood starlet, and Sad Mother***in’ Parade. It also contains covers of the Velvet Underground’s Venus In Furs, Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On and the Everly Brothers’ Let It Be Me, as well as two Beach Boys tracks.
The announcement comes a week after the conclusion of Depp’s defamation lawsuit against Aquaman star Heard, 36, in the US. A jury found a 2018 article she wrote for the Washington Post about her experiences as a survivor of domestic abuse to be defamatory and awarded 10.35 million dollars (£8.2 million) in damages to Depp.
Heard won one count of her countersuit, successfully arguing that Depp’s press agent defamed her by claiming her allegations were “an abuse hoax” aimed at capitalising on the MeToo movement. The jury awarded her two million dollars (£1.5 million) in damages.
