Talented heavy metal guitarist
Vivian Campbell burst onto the Irish rock scene along with Raymond Haller, Trevor Flaming, and
David Bates in a Belfast-based outfit called
Sweet Savage. The opportunity to join
Ronnie James Dio's band came soon after. Nevertheless, he left
Dio in March 1986 after the
Sacred Heart U.S. tour, assembling a new project called
Trinity along with drummer
Pat Waller and bassist
David Watson. In 1987,
Campbell stepped into
David Coverdale's
Whitesnake, and introduced
Shadow King in 1990 with a live performance at London's Astoria Theatre. A self-titled album was released in 1991. A year later his guitar skills were requested by
Def Leppard to replace
Steve Clark, who died from an overdose of alcohol and drugs, and he remained with the band for the following two decades.
–
Drago Bonacich, Rovi