Johnny Depp makes emotional return to the stage ahead of 60th birthday – after pal Jeff Beck’s death

Johnny Depp celebrated a bittersweet birthday this week, as he made an emotional return to the stage ahead of this 60th birthday. 

On Thursday, the Hollywood icon dedicate David Bowie’s song, Heroes, to his late friend, Jeff Beck, who died after tragically contracting bacterial meningitis. earlier year, at 78.

‘I should dedicate this song to one of all of our heroes, Mr. Jeff Beck.’ he told fans as he continues to mourn the sudden loss of his pal, who he collaborated with on the album, 18, released last summer.

Earlier this year, it was reported that the actor was ‘totally devastated’ over his bandmate’s death as they ‘were extremely close’ and had a ‘really tight friendship.’

‘The sickness came on really quickly and it all deteriorated rapidly in the last couple weeks,’ a source told People, at the time. 

The Pirates Of The Caribbean actor milestone birthday comes after a major comeback during the Cannes Film Festival in France that took place in late May.

At the festival the father-of-two – he shares Lily-Rose Depp and Jack with ex Vanessa Paradis – was greeted with open arms by his fans.

Depp and his castmates received a seven-minute standing ovation during the screening of the French-language film Jeanne du Barry.

The former 21 Jump Street heartthrob became teary-eyed during the praise.

This comes after years of battling his ex-wife Amber Heard over savage abuse claims. He was also involved in a very public defamation trial with the actress, which he won.

In May, it was claimed that Depp doesn’t ‘feel much further need for Hollywood’.

The star is back on screen as King of France Louis XV in new film Jeanne Du Barry, and he has addressed past comments in 2021 when he claimed he felt ‘boycotted’ by the industry.

Speaking in a press conference at Cannes Film Festival, he said: ‘Did I feel boycotted by Hollywood? Well, you’d have to not have a pulse to feel at that point like this was all just a weird joke.

‘Of course, when you’re asked to resign from a film you’re doing because of something that’s merely a bunch of vowels and consonants floating in the air… Do I feel boycotted now? No, not at all.

‘But I don’t feel boycotted, because I don’t think about Hollywood. I don’t feel much further need for Hollywood — I don’t know about you.’

Depp – who admitted it had been tough for him to move on as a public figure due to the legal battle – also suggested he was disillusioned with Hollywood as a whole.

He explained: ‘It’s a very strange, funny time when everyone would love to be themselves, but they can’t because they must fall in line with the person in front of them. If you want to follow that line, be my guest. I’ll be on the other side.’

Johnny, who successfully sued Amber for defamation in a lawsuit relating to an op-ed she had written about being a victim of domestic abuse, received a seven-minute standing ovation as he arrived at a screening of the new movie.

He has shrugged off the idea that his new role – which sees him speak entirely in French – is a ‘comeback’.

He added: ‘I keep wondering about the word ‘comeback,’ because I didn’t go anywhere. I live about 45 minutes away from here, in fact.

‘Maybe people stopped calling out of whatever their fear was at the time, but I didn’t go nowhere. I’ve been sitting around.

‘Comeback’ is almost like I’m going to come out and do a tap dance — dance my best and hope you approve. That’s the notion. It’s a bizarre mystery.’ 

This spring has also been painful in another way. 

In late May, Depp rescheduled a series of concerts after suffering an ankle fracture.

The star has taken to social media to reveal news of his injury and to confirm rescheduled dates for the Hollywood Vampires’ tour of the US.

Johnny – who stars in the band alongside Alice Cooper and Joe Perry – wrote on Instagram: ‘My dear friends, I am sorry to say that I have fractured my ankle, which is a drag!!! It began as a hairline break but somewhere between Cannes and the Royal Albert Hall it got worse rather than better. Several medical professionals have strongly suggested I avoid any and all activity for the moment and so am sadly unable to travel at this time.

‘To that end, the guys and I are very sorry to miss you in New Hampshire, Boston and New York but fear not, I promise we will bring an amazing show to all of you in Europe and bring our absolute best to the East Coast later this summer and make it up to those who have paid for those shows!!!

‘Again, sincerest apologies. All my love and respect … J.D. x (sic)’

Johnny subsequently confirmed the rescheduled tour dates for the end of July.

There was an announcement on the Hollywood Vampires’ Instagram account.

The band said in a statement: ‘We are sad to share that the Hollywood Vampires will be rescheduling our three US tour dates this coming week. Johnny has sustained a painful injury to his ankle following his recent appearances and has been advised by his doctor not to travel. He is devastated by this turn of events, but looks forward to resting up so all four Vampires can bring their absolute best to the tour in Europe.’

On Thursday, he was reunited with his Hollywood Vampires bandmates in Bucharest, Romania.

He was serenaded by fans in honor of his birthday.

And the icon paid tribute to friend Jeff Beck following his sudden death at age 78. Beck died on January 11 after contracting bacterial meningitis.

This comes after Disney have not ruled out a potential Pirates of the Caribbean return for Depp. 

The actor was axed as Captain Jack Sparrow by the company in 2018 in a bid to bring a ‘new energy’ to the franchise but Disney Studios Motion Picture president Sean Bailey hasn’t shut down the prospect of the actor coming back for a sixth movie.

In an interview with The New York Times newspaper, Bailey said: ‘We think we have a really good, exciting story that honours the films that have come before but also has something new to say.’

Quizzed on whether Depp would be part of the movie, Bailey answered by saying that the studio was ‘noncommittal at this point’.

Jerry Bruckheimer produced all the movies in the franchise and revealed last year that he would ‘love’ to see Depp return to the series after winning his defamation lawsuit against his ex-wife Amber Heard – although he insisted that Disney would have the final say on the decision.

The 79-year-old movie producer told The Hollywood Reporter: ‘You’d have to ask them. I can’t answer that question. I really don’t know.

‘I would love to have him in the movie. He’s a friend, a terrific actor, and it’s unfortunate that personal lives creep into everything we do.’

Bruckheimer – who has produced blockbusters including ‘Beverly Hills Cop’ and ‘Top Gun’ – also confirmed that the character of Captain Jack Sparrow would never be killed off.

He said: ‘You can’t. We tried to kill him. It didn’t work.’

Johnny had mentioned during last year’s trial that he was saddened not to get the chance to say farewell to Jack Sparrow after almost 20 years of playing the pirate.

The Edward Scissorhands star said: ‘My feeling was that these characters should be able to have their proper goodbye, as it were.

‘A franchise can only last for so long, and there’s a way to end a franchise like that, and I thought that the characters deserved to have their way out, to end the franchise on a very good note. I planned on continuing until it was time to stop.’

But sources have told DailyMail.com that he really is not interested at this point in returning to the role. 

Born in Kentucky and brought up all over the U.S., Depp is one of four children of John Christopher Depp Sr, an itinerant civil engineer, and Betty Sue, who passed away in 2016.

The actor made his acting debut, at 21, in the hit 1984 slasher film, A Nightmare on Elm Street.

Following the film’s success, he went on to score leading roles in Cry Baby, Edward Scissorhands, Blow, The Tourist, Alice in Wonderland and more.

Despite becoming a bona fide movie star, the father-of-two revealed last summer that he only took up acting to pay his rent as he pursued his initial dream of becoming a musician. 

Four years after receiving a guitar as a 12th birthday present from his mom, Betty Sue Palmer, the performer said he dropped out of high school to become a rocker. 

During a 2011 interview with DailyMail.com, he recalled talking his mother into buying him ‘a Decca electric guitar for $25.’

‘I stole a chord book from a store — I slipped it down my trousers — and then I locked myself in my room, played the guitar and didn’t come out for years. I don’t recall puberty or anything else. Just playing the guitar,’ he admitted. 

He eventually joined a band, called called The Kids in 1980, which was later renamed Six Gun Method. 

By 20, he packed his bags and moved to Los Angeles with the group, following years of playing in clubs in Florida as a young teen. 

‘I needed to pay rent and somebody told me, ‘Why don’t you go meet an agent, my agent is with Nick Cage.’ So she sent me in an audition for something and I got it,’ he recalled during a radio interview on Jonesy’s Jukebox. 

That year, he wed his first wife, Lori Anne Allison, a well-known makeup artist in Hollywood.

The duo’s short-lived marriage only lasted two years, but they have remained amicable. 

In April, she made a rare remark about her former spouse, in regards to his legal battle against Heard, which she said made her break ‘down several times.’  

‘It just broke my heart that somebody could do that to him,’ she said on an episode of Popcorned Planet, after noting that he ‘is very private, which is why’ she doesn’t typically do interviews. 

His fame grew quickly when, in 1987, he was cast as a baby-faced police officer posing as a teenager to investigate crimes in high schools and colleges in the TV crime series 21 Jump Street.

The series was a smash hit and, at 24, Johnny found himself a teen idol. But this was not a happy state of affairs for him.

‘If the choice is to be gawked at constantly or to sit in a dark room, I’d choose the dark room,’ he once said. ‘I felt as if I had been turned into a novelty, and it was mortifying.’

‘When I was in a social situation, I was nervous and uncomfortable. The only way I could get through it was to drink my guts out! I wasted a lot of years.’

He got the wild days out of his system by 1998 when he accepted an invitation to go to France to make a film with Roman Polanski, The Ninth Gate, in 1998,  

While shooting the neo-noir horror thriller in France, he met his longtime partner, Vanessa Paradis, who he dated from 1998 to 2012. 

She is the mother of his two children, Lily-Rose Depp, 24, and Jack Depp, 21. 

A year before their split, he recalled to DailyMail.com that they met at the Hotel Costes. 

‘She was wearing a dress with an exposed back and I saw that back and that neck, and then she turned around and I saw those eyes, and — boom!’ he remembered. ‘My life as a single man was done.’

‘You have this feeling — I can’t really explain what it was, but I had it when I met her. I saw her across a room and thought: “What’s happening to me?” 

It was Vanessa who insisted he clean up his act, cutting down on the drinking and smoking, taking up exercise and healthy eating. 

Earlier this year, the star revealed that he is happiest residing on his 850-acre estate, complete with a 19th-century mansion, in Somerset. 

‘I just love places with character. British people are cool and will greet you as if you are a neighbor — without going over the top. I like going to places, seeing things and meeting people — but I’m not the great extrovert that people think,’ he told Somerset Life magazine in March. 

He added: ‘In truth, I’m quite a shy person. That’s one of the great things about Britain, and especially Somerset. I can just be me — and that’s nice.

‘I can go into shops without being surrounded by people wanting selfies. I don’t mind that up to a point, but sometimes it gets a little too crowded.’