Vivian Campbell Regrets Dio Mudslinging
The former Dio guitarist wishes he hadn't said some of the things he did
Campbell, who is now the guitarist with Def Leppard, was fired from Dio in 1986 but in the four years that he was in the band he helped write some of the band's best work.
However, the relationship between Ronnie James Dio and Campbell was, to put it mildly, strained. In 2007 Ronnie told fans that he hoped Campbell "f***ing dies" while Campbell once described Ronnie as "one of the vilest people in the industry”.
However, Campbell tells KRXO (via Classic Rock Magazine): "It’s well documented that Ronnie and I had a very contentious personal relationship. It only worked on a musical level and not on a personal level.
"I was fired from the band, and for many, many years he and his ex-wife tried to portray it that I left the band, that I turned my back on them – and that actually wasn’t true.
"It was a bit of a mud-slinging match between Ronnie and I, and I regret a lot of the things I said about him. I’m sure if Ronnie was still alive, he would regret a lot of the things he said about me.
"But the fact is it was very difficult for me to even listen to those songs for decades. Enough time has passed where I’m able to go back and reflect upon that and actually take ownership of it again, and embrace it for what it was.”
Campbell recently reunited with the original members of Dio along with new frontman Andy Freeman to form the band Last In Line. The band will be touring classic Dio material in the next year or so.