“I remember reading it and thinking, ‘Why did he say I left the band?’ I never left the band. I was fired”: Vivian Campbell sets the record straight on his infamous departure from Ronnie James Dio’s band

Vivian Campbell has opened up on his time in Ronnie James Dio’s band, setting the record straight over his infamous departure in the 1980s.

After Dio had left Black Sabbath and formed his own band with the help of Vinny Appice, the legendary metal vocalist eventually recruited Vivian Campbell as a replacement for Jake E. Lee.

As such, when Campbell joined, work on Dio’s 1983 debut album was well underway, but only a few years and a couple of records later, the band were already on the hunt for their third electric guitar player.

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At the time, and in the following years, the messaging coming out of the camp made clear that Campbell had left out of his own free will. However, as Campbell himself says in a new interview, that wasn’t entirely accurate.

Speaking to dopeYEAH, Campbell looks back on his Dio departure, and stresses that he didn’t voluntarily leave, despite what the band’s camp was saying: he was fired.

“I was fired from the band, and Ronnie, for whatever reason, went on in the press in the years after that, and made that a strong point, like, ‘Viv left the band,’ is what he always said,” Campbell recalls.

“And I remember reading this stuff – and this is before the internet and social media – and you needed to have a publicist to have a public forum, and I couldn't afford a publicist. But, I remember reading this and thinking, ‘Why did he say that I left the band?’

“I never left the band. I was fired. I never wanted to leave that band. I really gave 100% to that band. The whole thing was very, very painful to me, so I just shut it [out]. I wanted nothing to do with it.”

As for why he was fired from the band, Campbell claims that creative tensions, and disagreements over the running of the band, were the key points that created a schism between the pair.

Vivian Campbell: From Dio Fallout to Def Leppard Legend - YouTube

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Early on, when money was tight for the project, Campbell says an understanding was established between Dio and his band members, whereby upon the release of the band’s third record they’d figure out a more equitable financial arrangement.

“[Dio] was going to present it as a band, and by the third album, we'd make it a more equitable situation,” Campbell continues, “And that's what got me fired: because the third album came along, and I was like, ‘Hey, Ronnie, you remember [our agreement]?’

“We literally were working for like, 100 bucks a week. We were getting paid less than the road crew [on the] first tour, second tour, third tour. But it wasn't about money. It was about the principal.

“I'm thinking, ‘We got to talk about what Ronnie promised us years ago,’ [and Dio said], ‘I don't want to talk about it. Let's finish the record first.’ So we finished the record. I broached the subject again. ‘Hey, Ronnie, can we [talk about it]?’ ‘I don't want to talk about it now.’

“I'm saying, ‘Ronnie, we got to talk about this. You promised. We've sacrificed a lot. We've contributed more and more. It's not like we were just hired to play these parts. We contributed to that.’

“The next thing I knew, I was fired, and then in the press Ronnie was introducing Craig Goldy as a new guitar player, saying, ‘Yeah, well, they've quit.’ And I'm reading this thinking, ‘I didn't quit. You fired me.’”

In recent news, Campbell – who'd later play with Whitesnake and Def Leppard – named his new guitar hero.