Vivian Campbell: The 1984 Dio Interview (Audio)
Vivian Campbell: The 1984 Dio Interview (Audio)
A Wide-Ranging Interview with a Rising Star of Heavy Metal
My 1984 interview with Vivian Campbell took place midway through Ronnie James Dio’s The Last in Line tour. Vivian, who hails from Belfast, Ireland, had been recruited for the band about 18 months earlier. His first contributions were the solos for the title track, “Rainbow in the Dark,” and other stand-out songs on Dio’s breakthrough Holy Diver album. His playing on the The Last in Line LP proved equally spectacular.
When compensation Dio had promised him failed to materialize, Vivian left Dio in 1986. He went on to play in Whitesnake and with Lou Gramm. In 1992 he joined Def Leppard, a position he holds to this day. (At the time of this podcast’s posting, Def Leppard was doing an American tour that included gigs at several big-league ballparks.) Vivian has also displayed his extraordinary talents with Thin Lizzy, Riverdogs, and other groups.
Vivian covers a lot of ground in this wide-ranging interview. I used quotes from it for a feature article in the February 1985 issue of Guitar Player magazine.
Thanks to Nik Hunt for engineering and producing this podcast.
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