Vivian Patrick Campbell (born 25 August 1962) is a Northern Irish musician. He came to prominence in the early 1980s as the guitarist of Dio. He has also been the guitarist of Def Leppard since 1992 (following 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.
