Vivian Campbell Doesn’t Consider Time in Whitesnake as Part of Career

Following his time spent with the Dio band, guitarist Vivian Campbell hooked up with David Coverdale and Whitesnake for a two-year stint. Joining in 1987, Campbell replaced John Sykes, the guitarist responsible for writing Whitesnake's self-titled record that would go on to be certified platinum eight times by the RIAA. Despite spending two years in the band, the axeman doesn't even consider his time with the band as part of his career.

The subject came up in an interview with Chronicle Live as Def Leppard — who Campbell has been with since 1992 — are touring the United Kingdom with co-headliners Whitesnake and Black Star Riders (formerly known as Thin Lizzy). When asked if he regrets not making an album with Whitesnake, the six-stringer stated, "Not really. I don’t really think of Whitesnake as being part of my career because I never got to write any new songs with them. I was with them just under two years for one very, very long tour. We went in to start making a new record but things didn’t work out for one reason or another."

Expanding on the one reason or another, Campbell continued, "David basically said he just wanted to write with Adrian Vandenberg as they had a good partnership going and that was fair enough, it was his band and his prerogative. At the same time Adrian didn’t want me in the band. It was nothing personal he didn’t want any other guitar player there, he wanted to be a solo guitar player in Whitesnake."

Discussing more about the conflicting aspects, he went on, "It was a very uncomfortable situation along with the fact that my ex-wife and Tawny Kitaen, David’s wife at the time, just didn’t get on at all so that added to the drama. David and I just decided to part ways. I also don’t think we [were] that great a band compared to some of the great bands I’ve been in."

Earlier in the interview, Campbell discussed his brief tenure with Thin Lizzy. The guitarist spent some time with the legendary Irish act in 2010 and 2011 and said, "I would consider that, even though it was only four or five months, as one of the highlights of my career." It should be noted that Campbell did not contribute to any writing with the band during this time.

Def Leppard will be hitting North America in January of 2016 with Styx and Tesla. To see tour dates, visit our 2016 Guide to Rock and Metal Tours.

Vivian Campbell has also been busy with the Last in Line, which has been playing material the guitarist wrote from his time spent in Dio. The lineup is rounded out by other former Dio members, including Vinny Appice, Claude Schnell and Jimmy Bain along with singer Andrew Freeman. The band will be releasing their debut album, Heavy Crown, full of original material next year.

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