20 Facts About Vivian Campbell

Vivian Patrick Campbell was born on 25 August 1962 and is a Northern Irish musician.

Vivian Campbell came to prominence in the early 1980s as the guitarist of Dio.

Vivian Campbell has been the guitarist of Def Leppard since 1992.

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

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

When Vivian 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.

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

In 1987, Vivian Campbell joined English hard rock group Whitesnake, who had recently recorded their album Whitesnake.

Lead singer David Coverdale, who had fired all other members of the band during the recording process, was putting together a new line-up and along with Vivian Campbell, they recruited guitarist Adrian Vandenberg, bassist Rudy Sarzo and drummer Tommy Aldridge.

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

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

Now a free agent in the business, Vivian Campbell joined the group Riverdogs after being tapped to produce their first demo.

Vivian Campbell teamed up with Lou Gramm in 1991 to join Gramm's new band Shadow King.

Vivian Campbell replaced Steve Clark, who died on 8 January 1991.

Vivian Campbell made his debut with the band by playing a show in a Dublin club.

In 2005 Vivian Campbell released a solo album produced by Tor Hyams called Two Sides of If, which features cover versions of his favourite blues tunes and one original blues song.

Bain died before the album was released, and Vivian Campbell praised his creativity and his presence, adding that Bain deserved co-writing credits on more of the early Dio songs.

Vivian Campbell plays football regularly with Hollywood United FC, a team composed mostly of celebrities and former professional football players.

On 10 June 2013, Vivian Campbell announced that he has Hodgkin's lymphoma.

Vivian Campbell had stem-cell therapy in late 2014, and by October 2015 he announced that while the cancer is still there he was doing much better using immunotherapy, undergoing treatment every three weeks with pembrolizumab.