Vivian Campbell (1,921 views)

[Henny Macc]

Vivian Patrick Campbell (August 25, 1962 - )
Years active: 1979-present
Country of origin: Northern Ireland
Recorded vocal range: A2-C♯5 (A2-D♭5) - 2⅓ octaves

Band history:

• 1979-1983 - Sweet Savage (guitar)
• 1982-1986 - Dio (guitar)
• 1987-1988 - Whitesnake (guitar)
• 1989-1992 - Riverdogs (guitar)
• 1989-2005 - Vivian Campbell (lead vocals, guitar)
• 1990-1991 - Shadow King (guitar, backing vocals)
• 1992-present - Def Leppard (lead guitar, backing vocals)
• 1998 - Clock (guitar, vocals)
• 2003-present - Riverdogs (guitar)
• 2010-2011 - Thin Lizzy (lead guitar, backing vocals)
• 2010-present - Sir Sodoff and the Trainwrecks (lead vocals, guitar)
• 2012-present - Last in Line (guitar)

Recorded high notes:
C♯5/D♭5: "Excitable" live Las Vegas 2013, "Little Wing" live at The Guitar Institute of Technology 1989, "Superstition" live at The Guitar Institute of Technology 1989
C5: "Move On Up", "Superstition" live at The Guitar Institute of Technology 1989, "Take What You Want"
B4: "Armageddon It" live Las Vegas 2013, "Bringin' on the Heartbreak" live Las Vegas 2013, "I Ain't Superstitious", "Love and Affection" live Las Vegas 2013, "Merry Christmas Everybody" live Largo 2009, "No Matter", "Rock of Ages" live Sheffield 1993
B♭4/A♯4: "Angels (Can't Help You Now)", "Armageddon It" live Las Vegas 2013, "Calling Card", "Excitable" live Las Vegas 2013, "Hysteria" live Las Vegas 2013, "Jailbreak" live at The Roxy 2012, "Jesus Just Left Chicago" live at the Baked Potato, "Let's Get Rocked" live Sheffield 1993, "Little Wing" live at The Guitar Institute of Technology 1989, "Love Bites" live Las Vegas 2013, "Move On Up", "Only the Good Die Young", "Rocket" live Las Vegas 2013, "When Love Comes to Town" live Harper's 2010
A4: "Action", "Another Hit and Run" live Sheffield 1993, "Cowboy Song" live at The Baked Potato 2015, "Dearg Doom" live Harper's 2011, "Emerald" live at Harper's 2010, "I Ain't Superstitious", "I'm Ready", "Jailbreak" live at The Guitar Institute of Technology 1989, "Let's Get Rocked" live Sheffield 1993, "Make Love Like a Man" live Sheffield 1993, "Messin' with the Kid", "Pour Some Sugar on Me" live at The Baked Potato 2013, "Superstition" live at The Guitar Institute of Technology 1989, "Rocket" live Sheffield 1993, "The Hunter", "32-20 Blues", "To Be Alive" demo, "Undefeated"
G♯4/A♭4: "Armageddon It" live Las Vegas 2013, "Don't Believe a Word" acoustic Rockline Radio 2006, "Excitable" live Las Vegas 2013, "Gods of War" live Las Vegas 2013, "High 'n' Dry" (Saturday Night)" live Las Vegas 2013, "Hysteria" live at The Mint 2010, "Kick" live at the Whisky a Go-Go 2022, "Let's Get Rocked" live Sheffield 1993, "Little Wing" live at The Guitar Institute of Technology 1989, "Liquid Dust", "Mirror Mirror (Look into My Eyes" live Las Vegas 2013, "No Matter", "Pour Some Sugar on Me" live at The Mint, "Rock Brigade" live Las Vegas 2013, "Run Riot" live Las Vegas 2013, "Stagefright" live Las Vegas 2013, "Superstition" live at The Guitar Institute of Technology 1989, "Tough Luck", "Undefeated", "Underdog", "What's Wrong with You", "Women" live Las Vegas 2013, "Work It Out"
G4: "Calling Card", "Cheap Sunglasses" live at The Baked Potato 2010, "Come On in My Kitchen", "Dearg Doom" live Harper's 2011, "I Hear You Knockin'" live at Pat's 2010, "Lifeless", "Merry Christmas Everybody" live Largo 2009, "Move On Up", "To Be Alive" demo, "Tough Luck", "When Love Comes to Town" live Harper's 2010, "Whiskey in the Jar" live at the Baked Potato 2012

Recorded low notes:
E3: "Bad Reputation" live at The Baked Potato, "Better Be Home Soon" live at The Baked Potato 2015, "Fine Mess", "Good or Bad Times", "I Hear You Knockin'" live at Pat's 2010, "Jailbreak" live at The Roxy 2012, "Lifeless", "No Matter", "Oh Well" live at Harper's 2010, "Pour Some Sugar on Me" live at the Baked Potato 2013, "To Be Alive" demo, "Underdog", "Wishing Well" live at Pat's 2010, "Work It Out" demo
E♭3/D♯3: "Pour Some Sugar on Me" live at The Mint
D3: "Cheap Sunglasses" live at The Baked Potato 2010, "Come On in My Kitchen", "Good or Bad Times", "I'm Ready", "Lifeless", "Move on Up", "Oh Well" live at Harper's 2010, "Sittin' on the Dock of the Bay" live at The Baked Potato 2015, "Tough Luck"
C♯3/D♭3: "Cowboy Song" live at The Baked Potato 2015, "Good or Bad Times", "Hysteria" live at The Mint 2010, "No Matter", "Underdog", "We Belong", "Work It Out" demo
C3: "Better Be Home Soon" live at The Baked Potato 2015, "I'm Bad, I'm Nationwide" live at Harper's 2010, "La Grange" live at The Baked Potato 2015, "Pour Some Sugar on Me" live at The Mint
B2: "Lifeless", "No Matter", "Tough Luck", "Work It Out" demo
B♭2/A♯2: "Hysteria" live at The Mint 2010, "I'm Bad, I'm Nationwide" live at Harper's 2010, "Jesus Just Left Chicago" live at The Baked Potato
A2: "La Grange" live at The Baked Potato 2015, "Tough Luck"

.......................................................
*Blue marks soft falsetto notes.
*Italics mark non-melodic notes.
*Underlines marks notes in backing vocals or otherwise muffled/obscured in the song mix.

After first gaining recognition as the guitarist for bands like Dio and Sweet Savage in the early '80s, Vivian Campbell's role as a vocalist stepped up in 1992 when he joined Def Leppard, replacing the late Steve Clark as guitarist. For this band, his backing vocals became a new addition to the band's signature vocal harmony-laden sound, with Campbell also occasionally taking lead vocals on certain demo versions of songs, such as "Work It Out", "To Be Alive" and "Move On Up". He has served as a full-time member of Def Leppard ever since, but has also occasionally branched out and pursued various side projects as a guitarist/vocalist during his off-time. The first of these was Clock, a one-off band that released an album in 1998 called Through Time, on which Campbell shared lead vocal duties with P.J. Smith of No Sweat. In 2005, Campbell released his first (and only to date) solo album, Two Sides of If, a collection mostly of blues covers that he sang lead vocals on all of. In addition to that, since 2010 Campbell has handled guitar and lead vocal duties in his own cover band, Sir Sodoff and the Trainwrecks, who perform at clubs playing songs by Thin Lizzy, ZZ Top, Fleetwood Mac, and occasionally Def Leppard.

Though Campbell clearly still identifies as more of a guitarist than a vocalist, I think he has quite a bit of vocal potential that I'd be happy to see him continue to develop. His voice has a fairly pleasant, light and slightly nasal tone to it, but he seems to be able to sing through the fourth octave quite casually, and even hit occasional fifth octave notes with decent power at times. One recording that showcases his vocal abilities well is a 1989 solo band concert at the Guitar Institute of Technology, in which Campbell performs a set of classic rock covers and does lead vocals on the first four songs. Though he calls in vocalist David King to sing the Led Zeppelin songs and a few other more vocally challenging ones, he does an impressive job with his own vocal renditions of "Superstition" and "Little Wing", on which he belts up to some powerful and surprisingly easy C♯5s. So far I haven't quite seen him match any vocal performances of that level with Sir Sodoff and the Trainwrecks, but I'll keep an ear out!

SPOILER: Click to show

{Best displays of vocal range}
"Jesus Just Left Chicago" live at The Baked Potato (B♭2-B♭4)
"No Matter" (B2-G♯4-B4)
"Hysteria" live at The Mint 2010 (A♯2-G♯4)

Note that like the Phil Collen thread, there are a number of potentially range-expanding vocal harmonies in Def Leppard songs that I can't quite distinguish as Campbell or other members' voices, so I'll take all the help I can get in trying to sort any of that out.