“I could tell that he was very proud… ‘This is my guy, my guitar player. I found him under a rock in Belfast!’”: Vivian Campbell on his complicated relationship with Ronnie James Dio– and what Dio told Ozzy Osbourne about his playing

Vivian Campbell and Ronnie James Dio onstage in 1985 as they tour Campbell's final studio album with Dio, Sacred Heart. Campbell is playing a well-worn Charvel S-style electric guitar.

Def Leppard guitarist Vivian Campbell has been looking back on his time with Ronnie James Dio and describes a complicated relationship with one of metal’s most charismatic frontmen.

There was the age gap, and all the life experience that goes with it. Dio had fronted Rainbow and Black Sabbath. He was the star. Campbell has always said it felt like he was playing in a band with his stepfather; until recently, he was unsure of his place in the Dio story. Plus, Dio could blow hot and cold.