Myth: Johnny is planning to start his own record label.
Remains to be seen! The German Bravo magazine claims that Johnny is in talks with Warner Music Group to start his own label.  Here is a scan of the article:

Scan by jdsaby; English translation by Claudia: All of a sudden Hollywood-Star Johnny Depp has some new plans...Now He Becomes a Record Label Owner Text: Julia Kautz Everything this man touches turns to gold! With blockbusters like “Pirates of the Caribbean”, “Sweeney Todd” or “Sleepy Hollow” Johnny Depp became one of the world’s most successful actors. But for the 45-year-old that’s not enough anymore – he longs for new challenges. “Johnny plans on founding his own record label”, a close friend of the mega-star reveals. “That has been his life’s dream since being a teenager. Now he finally wants to complete that dream.” Since several weeks Johnny has been in negotiations with Warner Music Group. “He is totally passionate regarding this project and doesn’t speak about anything else anymore. He desperately wants to discover and encourage young musicians!” Johnny himself rather wanted to be a rockstar instead of an actor. At age 13 he already founded his own garage band with some kids from the neighbourhood. “We made appearances at backyard-parties. We were never really good, but we were quite loud and absolutely cool”, he smilingly remembers. “To make noise on a stage gave me a wonderful sense of freedom. That was simply fantastic.” But then Johnny Depp also had to learn the hard way that it is tough to get by with music. Johnny himself didn’t succeed in writing music history as a rock guitarist. “He had to suffer many disappointments and finally come to terms with the fact, that he would never make it with music, “ adds Johnny’s friend. But the stronger it is his wish now to give a chance to young talents .” He can hardly wait to release the first CD on his very own label. “He also sees the music business as a job when he retires, when he doesn’t want to make films anymore.” Hopefully, though, Johnny will deliver many more cinema hits for us before then. At the moment Johnny Depp is filming the gangster-movie “Public Enemies”. The film is scheduled for release in German cinemas for summer 2009.

However, this has not yet been verified by a reliable source.  We'll keep our eyes and ears open for any official announcement along these lines, but until then, take this with a grain of salt!


Myth: Johnny can't read music.
True. According to Bruce Witkin, in the Sweeney Todd DVD extras, neither he nor Johnny reads music.  In a few cases while producing Johnny's voice for the film, Bruce got assistance from a friend to make out some of the intricacies of Stephen Sondheim's music.  Johnny has also said that he learned how to interpret chord tabs from a Mel Bay chord book.  

 
Myth: Johnny had to pass a voice test for Stephen Sondheim for Sweeney Todd.
False. According to Sondheim, Johnny was already attached to the movie when Sondheim was approached to help cast the other roles.  Sondheim says, "I figured he'd have a light baritone. You can hear it in his speaking voice. I love him as an actor, and always have. Put those things together, I didn't hesitate for one second...There are very few people who can act and sing at the same time. He's one." Sondheim listened to and approved Helena Bonham Carter, Sacha Baron Cohen and perhaps others in the cast.


Myth: Vanessa Paradis was Johnny's vocal trainer for Sweeney Todd.
False. This is a rumor that has been mentioned only in the worst tabloid sources such as Contact Music and WENN.  Johnny has revealed that he did not use a professional voice trainer; he prepared for the role by listening exhaustively to available soundtracks, and doing test recordings in a studio with friend and former bandmate, Bruce Witkin.  He did, however, play his recordings for Vanessa, who responded, "Is that you?," presumably giving her stamp of approval.  In addition, Johnny says that she offered advice in terms of holding the notes, and also gave him a lot of support.  But this doesn't constitute vocal training.  Ian Adam, a renowned voice teacher, was said to have been coaching both Johnny and Helena Bonham Carter shortly before his death in May of 2007; this would appear to contradict Johnny's statements, but perhaps Adam had been assisting in a way that Johnny did not consider to be formal training.  Alternatively, perhaps he had only been coaching Carter.  Carter does mention Adam briefly on the DVD extras, but does not mention Depp also working with him.


Myth: Johnny needed a whistling double for Sweeney Todd.
Apparently true.  According to the Telegraph-UK (article no longer available online), Johnny could not whistle well enough to carry the tune during the song Pretty Women.  A sound technician volunteered to record the part, to which Johnny later had to mime.  I have not yet seen proof of this myth, so it awaits verification from Johnny or Tim.


Myth: Johnny has refused to sing, or has asked not to sing, in films prior to Sweeney Todd.
False.  This is a claim I have seen on various Sweeney Todd forums.  I have not seen any evidence for this.  On the contrary, Johnny has been amenable to singing, albeit briefly or jokingly, in 21 Jump Street, Arizona Dream, What's Eating Gilbert Grape, Secret Window, and all three Pirates films.  For Cry-Baby, John Waters claims that Johnny was willing to sing and made some tapes singing the role, though they ultimately decided to go with James Intveld's voice (see below).  He also now says, "Maybe I made the wrong decision." In Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Tim Burton's goal was to stay as close to the book as possible, with the Oompa Loompas (sung by Danny Elfman), singing all the songs.  Nevertheless, in a 2003 Entertainment Weekly interview (referenced in 2008) in which Johnny was asked if he'd be singing in the film, his reply was, ''Sure, if that's what Tim wants.'' For Corpse Bride, Danny Elfman has said that there was originally a song written for Johnny's character, Victor, but that it was cut for time, not because Johnny refused.  Here is a Horror.com interview and a suicidegirls interview in which Elfman discusses the song being cut.
     As for Sweeney Todd, Johnny is typically humble and coy about his vocal abilities, yet unapologetic about taking the role.  From an interview last year on About.com (page 2): "I might be a horrible singer but that might work for the character. You never know."  Johnny has also said that he's not good looking and that he's not sexy, so perhaps he's not the best judge of his own attributes!  And as we now know, Johnny is certainly not a horrible singer; his singing in Sweeney Todd has been widely praised!


Myth: Johnny sings over the car radio in a scene from Cry-Baby (or at any other time in the movie).
False.  This is a rumor that has been mentioned in various fan forums, but I had never seen any proof that this actually occurred.  While John Waters claims that Johnny has a great singing voice, he has said that all of the vocals in the movie were dubbed by rockabilly singer James Intveld.  Here, in entertainment writer Todd Everett's blog, there is word from Intveld himself that all the singing was, indeed, Intveld's.  He clarifies, "Even a couple of scenes when Johnny was singing along with the radio -- John (Waters) had me come in and dub his voice there; John wanted it to be me, every time you heard Johnny sing."


Myth: Johnny was the singer in his various rock bands.
Yes and no.  Johnny only did occasional singing, at least in The Kids and in P. By his own account: "Virtually none. Just backup."  He was mainly considered to be an instrumentalist.  "Never, ever, did I ever want to sing.  Singers always got too much attention. I was always happier playing my guitar in the dark."  We do know that Johnny has done occasional vocals, because there is visual evidence: (click to enlarge)

     There are also rare and limited mentions of Johnny singing.  He is apparently quoted in the 1989 Randi Reisfeld "Johnny Depp" biography and a 1989 Superteen magazine, explaining his role in The Kids and speculating on a potential singing career:

 

Myth: Johnny had never sung a complete song prior to Sweeney Todd.
True... or False?  Johnny himself has claimed this in numerous interviews around the time that Sweeney Todd was released.  However, if Randi Reisfeld's biography accurately quotes Johnny and he did do "a couple of lead vocals," one would think that he'd have had to get a whole song in there at some point!  A 1987 blurb in 16 magazine mentions singing among Johnny's music-related pastimes:


In addition, this November, 1988 blurb from the teen magazine Bop mentions Johnny singing at an audition for the TV show Fame (the Fame audition has also been corroborated from other sources, though this is the only one I've seen that has mentioned singing).  


Myth: Johnny can't dance. 
Mostly true!  More so than his vocal abilities, Johnny has often disparaged his ability to dance.  But yet, for Cry-Baby, he was game to try, and with a little help from the choreography, he did a convincing job.  As casting director Pat Moran said in the Cry-Baby DVD extras: "Also you had somebody with two left feet like Johnny, who was very self-conscious of it, that you'd never know in the film...I mean, he does a great job."  At the time of the filming, Johnny himself said, "I never danced before.  I... I can't dance.  Even when I was a kid, we'd go to like, me and my friends would sneak into the dances and stuff, and I never danced... I could never do it."  And in the recent Cry-Baby DVD interviews, he said, "I just, you know I mean I just don't dance, you know, I don't get it.  It's not my thing, you know so... so, John of course was, 'Ah, don't worry, it'll be fine, don't worry.'" And, "It was just a nightmare, it was a nightmare.  Horribly, horribly frightened."  What this shows, though, is that Johnny is always willing to give everything his best shot, no matter what!  Johnny has also managed to dance with Juliette Binoche in Chocolat and with Helena Bonham Carter in Sweeney Todd, though for the latter, a spinning machine was sometimes used to help with the effect of Johnny and Helena dancing smoothly.


Myth: Johnny will play Tommy Lee (or Freddie Mercury or Michael Hutchence or Ozzy Osbourne or [insert rock star's name here]) in a film biopic.
False until proven otherwise.  Rumors like this keep surfacing, but so far have never had any solid evidence behind them.  Johnny himself refuted the Michael Hutchence rumor when asked about it.  There's no telling if Johnny may ever portray a rock star in a film someday; it could happen.  But unless there's an official announcement, there's no reason to believe these rumors.  


Myth: Johnny sings background vocals with Vanessa Paradis on a cover performance of the U2 song, One. 
False.  Vanessa performed the song in 1997 with Alain Lanty, but somehow, rumors persist that it’s Johnny doing the background vocals.  Johnny and Vanessa were not even together until 1998!  There is a video of Vanessa’s and Alain’s performance that can be found on this site: http://www.sweetparadis.com/  You must register there to watch the video.


Myth: Johnny was once set to sing a duet with Morrissey.
False.  On a Morrissey fan site in 2000, an anonymous poster hinted that Johnny Depp was going to be a mystery guest singing a duet with Morrissey.  The rumor was later debunked in Another thread claiming the rumor to be "110% untrue."  However, Johnny and Morrissey are (or at least once were) neighbors in LA.


Myth: Johnny has performed with Dinosaur Jr.
Probably False.   On the same Morrissey fan site as above, post #67 made the mysterious remark that "Johnny Depp actually did some backing vocals on the Dinosaur Jr E.P "Take a Run at the Sun". In turn, J.Mascis of Dinosaur Jr often plays "The Boy with the Thorn in his Side" at his shows."  Naturally, a few Depp fan sites have picked up on this rumor.  However, a look at the credits on the Dinosaur Jr EP in question does not reveal any guest performers, only members of the band.  Also, since The Boy With The Thorn In His Side is a Smiths song, and Morrissey is the former lead singer of The Smiths, it seems more logical that the mutual favors would have been between J Mascis and Morrissey, not J Mascis and Johnny.  That said, if anyone knows of Johnny's presence on this or any other Dinosaur Jr. EP, I'd love to know about it!


Myth: Johnny appears in the Concrete Blonde video, Joey. 
Probably False.  Several sites, including IMDb, claim that Johnny is featured in the 1990 Concrete Blonde video, Joey.  He does not appear in the known video, so unless there is an alternate video, the information is false.


Myth: Johnny performs with Oasis at a 1997 concert at NYC’s Hammerstein Ballroom.
False.  There is a bootleg recording from an FM broadcast of the October 8, 1997 show.  When introducing the song Fade In-Out, Noel Gallagher can be heard saying, “This one's called Fade In-Out, and I’d like to introduce Johnny Depp, playing guitar…”  Listen here!  But the recording doesn’t tell the whole story.  What Noel actually said was along the lines of “I’d like to introduce Johnny Depp, playing guitar, but I won’t, so f*ck off!”  The recording was most probably sanitized for the FM broadcast, but many listeners thought Johnny was really there.  Those who were present at the show or who have seen a bootleg video of the same performance confirm that it was all a joke on Noel’s part.
     Here is a scan of the back cover of the bootleg, Magic Apple Pie, that actually mistakenly indicates Johnny being on guitar:  Magic Apple Pie scan.


Myth: Johnny performs on the Rogue’s Gallery CD as Jack Shit.
False.  A recent record review of Rogue’s Gallery claims that Johnny is “recording as Jack Shit” Seattle Post-Intelligencer  and the rumor has also popped up on various Depp fansites.
     Jack Shit is a trio of musicians consisting of drummer Dave Thomas, bassist Davey Faragher and guitarist Val McCallum that has backed Elvis Costello for years, and they back several artists on the Rogue’s Gallery CD.  There’s no reason to think that Johnny has slipped in incognito.


Myth: Flame or other early bands that Johnny played in became The Kids, or The Kids became Rock City Angels.
False.  The Kids were an established band before Johnny joined them.  Similarly, the Rock City Angels were already together before Johnny joined the band on rhythm guitar. 


Myth: Johnny was married to the sister of the drummer from The Kids.
False.  Johnny was once married to Lori Anne Allison, whose sister Suzanne worked for the Kids.  Suzanne married Bruce Witkin, the band's bassist and lead singer.  Drummer Beano Hanti does not even have a sister!


Please   with any corrections or additions!