Vivian Campbell Bio - Biography

Name Vivian Campbell
Height
Naionality Irish
Date of Birth 25-August-1962
Place of Birth Belfast, County Antrim, Northern Ireland
Famous for Singing
Vivian Patrick Campbell is a Northern Irish rock guitarist who is a member of Def Leppard and was a member of Thin Lizzy from May 2010 to November 2011. Prior to joining Def Leppard in April 1992, he had been a member of Whitesnake, Sweet Savage, Trinity, Riverdogs, and Shadow King. He first rose to prominence in 1982 as the original guitarist of the band Dio.

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 including, "Don't Talk to Strangers (song)", "Holy Diver" and "Rainbow in the Dark". With the global search for a guitarist now concluded, this finalized the band's first line up. 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 Monsters of Rock festival in 1983.

Dio returned to the studio to write and record the follow-up to Holy Diver. This album was called The Last in Line and charted at #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 Sacred Heart was also a success, and managed to peak at #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.

However, Campbell had a feud with Dio. In 2003, Campbell said " 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 this statement.

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