Vivian Campbell

Vivian Patrick Campbell (born 25 August 1962) is a Northern Irish guitarist.

He came to prominence in the early 1980s as a member of Dio and has been a member of Def Leppard since 1992 (replacing Steve Clark after his death).

Campbell has also worked with Thin Lizzy, Whitesnake, Sweet Savage, Trinity, Riverdogs and Shadow King.

Campbell began playing guitar at the age of 12 with a Telecaster Thinline and Carlsbro Stingray amp.

When he was 15, Campbell joined Teaser, which went on to become Sweet Savage, a NWOBHM band.

In 1981 they released an EP consisting of four BBC Radio sessions and their first single, "Take No Prisoners".

The band's song "Killing Time" was later covered by Metallica as a B-side for their "The Unforgiven" single, and was included on Metallica's Garage Inc. covers album.

Campbell left Sweet Savage in early 1983 to join Dio after guitarist Jake E. Lee was offered Randy Rhoads's spot as Ozzy Osbourne's lead guitarist in December 1982.

When Campbell joined Dio, Ronnie James Dio, Vinny Appice, and former Rainbow bassist Jimmy Bain had most of the songs to the album Holy Diver already written.

The album was a success and included Dio's biggest hit, "Rainbow in the Dark".

A concert video, called In Concert, from this tour was released.

The band also played at The 4th Monsters of Rock festival at Castle Donington, England in August 1983 and Monsters of Rock, Nuremberg, Germany in 1984.

Dio returned to the studio to write and record the follow-up to Holy Diver, The Last in Line, which charted at No. 23 in the US.

"The Last in Line", "We Rock" and "Mystery" all became radio hits.

A concert video from this tour called A Special From The Spectrum was released.

The follow-up Sacred Heart was also a success, and managed to peak at No. 29 in the U.S. It featured the hits "Rock N Roll Children" and "Hungry For Heaven", the second of which was also included on the soundtrack to the film Vision Quest.

Also around this time the band recorded the song "Hide in the Rainbow" for the Iron Eagle soundtrack, the last song Campbell would record with Dio.

A live EP Intermission was also released.

Craig Goldy played on the disc's only studio song "Time to Burn" and over-dubbed the rhythm parts on the live tracks.

Campbell and the band parted company in 1986 and he joined Whitesnake.

He was replaced by Goldy.

Campbell's post-Dio relationship, including how Campbell considered his Dio years relative to his identity as a musician, has at times seemed positive, at times negative.

In 1987, Campbell joined English hard rock group Whitesnake, who had recently recorded their album Whitesnake that would go on to achieve multi-platinum status.

Lead vocalist David Coverdale, who had fired all other members of the band during the recording process, was putting together a new line-up with the help of Geffen Records' A&R executive John Kalodner.

Along with Campbell, they recruited guitarist Adrian Vandenberg, bassist Rudy Sarzo and drummer Tommy Aldridge.

The first time the bandmembers all met each other was at the music video shoot for "Still of the Night".

This new line-up would appear in all promotional materials for the aforementioned album despite not playing on any of the songs.

Campbell, however, did re-record the guitar solo for the single release of "Give Me All Your Love".

During the supporting tour for the band's self-titled album, Campbell's wife was barred from traveling with the group, due to strife between her and Coverdale's wife Tawny Kitaen; this caused friction between Campbell and Coverdale.

After the tour ended, the latter informed the rest of the band that the next Whitesnake album would be written by him and Adrian Vandenberg alone.

Vandenberg, for his part, didn't want Campbell in the band.

Instead he sought to be Whitesnake's sole guitarist.

Campbell later remarked: "I knew deep inside that this wasn't a band I would last in for too long."

Eventually Campbell was informed by Whitesnake's tour manager that he'd been fired.

He officially exited Whitesnake in December 1988, with David Coverdale citing musical differences.

Campbell's relationship with Coverdale remained strained for many years after his departure, due to the way Coverdale handled his firing.

For example, in 2003 Campbell said "[Playing in Dio] never mattered to me – and still doesn't… He's an incredible talent, but he's an awful businessman and way more importantly, one of the vilest people in the industry."

Campbell later stated that he regretted making the statement., and Ronnie James Dio stated in an article in Hit Parader that he wished Campbell "the best."

It wasn't until 2008 when Def Leppard and Whitesnake toured together, that Campbell and Coverdale were able to sort out their past differences.

Further, in 2012 Campbell reunited with original Dio members bassist Jimmy Bain and drummer Vinnie Appice, along with vocalist Andrew Freeman, to form the band Last in Line, and Campbell subsequently made statements that suggest he had come to view his time in Dio more positively than he previously had indicated.