Johnny Depp, your four-years running People's Choice Favorite Male Movie Star [1], showed off that chest that makes the ladies swoon on the cover of Rolling Stone [2]. In the magazine, the topic at hand is his musical career rather than acting, since he made such a splash showing off his pipes in Sweeney Todd [3]. Plus, he's been playing the guitar since he was a kid. Here are highlights: [4]

[4]

How did listening to music become making music?
When I was twelve, I talked my mom into picking up a Decca electric guitar for me for twenty-five dollars. It had a little blue plush amp. And then, this is horrible, the first thing I did was steal a Mel Bay chord book. I went to this store, stuffed it down my pants and walked out. It had pictures — that's why I needed it so badly, because it was immediate gratification. If I could match those photographs, then I was golden. I conquered it in days. I locked the bedroom door, didn't leave, and taught myself how to play chords. I started learning songs by ear.

To read more from Johnny about his first band and finding his passion, just .

What was your first band?
When I was about thirteen, I got together with some other kids in the neighborhood. This one guy had a bass, we knew a guy who had a PA system, we made our own lights. It was really ramshackle and great. We'd play at people's backyard parties. Everything from the Beatles to Led Zeppelin to Cheap Trick to Devo — and "Johnny B. Goode" was the closer.

You've got that wistful look in your eyes.
You're thirteen years old and you're playing rock & roll. Loud. Poorly. But somebody's letting you do it in their back yard. And it was absolute perfection. It was freedom. Right off the bat, there was no question: I had found my future.

Once a performer, always a performer. And it sounds like the world just can't get enough of Mr. Depp. Time to get the old band back together [5]?