“My hands started shaking as soon as I began recording. We weren’t talking about it or rehearsing – we were actually doing it”: Vivian Campbell on joining Dio just before recording their classic debut album

When Vivian Campbell joined Dio in early 1983, he found himself thrown in the deep end. The band had just parted ways with future Ozzy Osbourne guitarist Jake E. Lee, and had already written most of their debut studio album, Holy Diver.

“One reason I was hired for this band was because I have empathy with song,” Campbell told Guitar World back in 1985.

“I’m not out there to be the fastest guitarist in the world,” he said. “There’s also too much competition among players. They approach the instrument like an athlete approaches a race… I’m not in competition with Eddie Van Halen or Gary Moore or Yngwie Malmsteen. They’re my contemporaries, not my competitors.”

It was perhaps Campbell’s self-confidence that helped him push through the initial doubts of joining Dio.

“I was playing in my first band, Sweet Savage, and we were touring through Ireland with Wild Horses, a band which featured Brian Robertson on guitar and Jimmy Bain on bass. Jimmy told me he really liked my playing a lot.

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“And then, when we ran into each other again, he told his friend Ronnie James Dio called him from L.A. to tell him that he and Vinny had just left Black Sabbath and that Ronnie was looking for a guitarist and bassist.”

Bain went as far as to recommend him for the guitar spot. Campbell gave him an audition tape, and a month later, he scored the gig. While he maintained his cool, he soon came face to face with the reality of recording the band’s debut record. Safe to say, the new responsibility took its toll.

“My hands started shaking as soon as I began recording,” he admitted. “I mean, we weren’t talking about it or rehearsing – we were actually doing it. It was the first time I was ever in a professional situation of this sort, and the pressure was getting to me.”

Released on May 25, 1983, Holy Diver became a heavy metal staple and cemented Campbell as a fast-rising guitar hero. While he parted ways with the band in 1986 – or, as he later revealed, was fired – and subsequently joined Whitesnake, those years proved to be formative.

“Ronnie gave me great advice about building a guitar solo with memorable lines – and not overplaying,” he told Guitar World in 2024, despite his complicated relationship with the frontman.

“I appreciated that guidance; if left to my own devices, it would have been a case of how many fucking notes I could fit in.”