Johnny Depp, Jeff Beck team up for album of cover songs

Hollywood star Johnny Depp, who last week won a near-total victory in a defamation suit against his ex-wife Amber Heard, and English guitarist Jeff Beck will release an album of mainly covers next month, after taking to the stage together.

Called "18", the 13-track album will be released on 15 July. The "Pirates of the Caribbean" actor performed alongside Beck at several UK venues in the past two weeks.

"It's almost like you've been through a record store and gone jumping from one genre to another," Beck told Reuters on Friday, saying they first began working on the album at Depp's home in France.

"There's a couple of Motown, there's a couple of Beach Boy covers on ... It sounds pretty good for a home recording."

Depp and Beck have recorded music since 2019 for the album, which also features two original songs by Depp, who has his own band the Hollywood Vampires. One song is about actress and inventor Hedy Lamarr.

"We slowly built songs that we just like. We didn't really make any design," Beck said.

"He has ... a very distinctive (voice) and he gets he gets music and hopefully I've enabled him to open up to some songs that he wouldn't otherwise been interested in."

Last week, Depp, 58, won more than $10 million in damages after a jury in Virginia ruled Heard defamed him when she claimed she was a survivor of sexual violence.

The "Aquaman" actress, who was awarded $2 million after the jury also determined she was defamed, will appeal the ruling, her attorney has said. 

Beck said: "I hope I have helped him a little bit having some kind of understanding and closeness and joking, and just keeping the fun thing going."
Beck was speaking on the sidelines of a blue plaque event honouring late guitarist Jimi Hendrix at the London Hard Rock Hotel. The building was formerly the Cumberland Hotel, where Hendrix often resided before his 1970 death.
"It was one of the biggest vacuums left in rock 'n' roll," Beck said.