VIVIAN CAMPBELL Comments On Time With DIO

In response to Jimmy Bain's statement to the Russian Black Sabbath Fan Club the ex-Dio guitar player, Vivian Campbell has sent us the following email:
'After working together on Dio's third album Sacred Heart I left to join Whitesnake in 1987 because nobody seemed to appreciate my contribution to Dio's success as a solo artist and I really hated that. Our subsequent relationship was strained, to say the least. True, I was numb to the whole Dio's passing thing. I hadn’t talked to Ronnie in 25 years, so it wasn’t as if we were close. My mother died nine or 10 days before him, so I was preoccupied with that. And my father died nine months before that. It was a really tough year on a personal level, and I had enough to think about. The news about Ronnie James Dio just bounced off me. It was a difficult relationship on a personal level anyway especially after he had publicly insulted me by saying that I should 'fucking die'. Everybody saw that disgusting episode on YouTube. I was really proud of the music we made together but it was tough being in a band together. But he died way too young.”

Campbell also revealed he prefers playing guitar in Thin Lizzy to his role in Def Leppard:

"It's very exciting – it's reconnected me to the electric guitar. I’ve been in Def Leppard for 20 years and if I'm honest it’s not a terribly challenging job for me as a guitar player. Phil Collen plays most of the widdly parts and I do what I do. But this job has reignited my love for guitar playing."

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Tags:  Dio, Vivian Campbell   

Jason Fisher    February 20, 2012