Def Leppard’s Vivian Campbell picks Thin Lizzy’s Phil Lynott as his “Rock God”

Def Leppard’s Vivian Campbell is sharing his admiration for the late Thin Lizzy frontman Phil Lynott.

While appearing on BBC’s The Rock Show with Johnnie Walker, Campbell was asked to pick his “Rock God,” and made the case for Lynott.

“Phil was an absolute rock star. When Phil walked into the room, everyone noticed and he held everyone’s attention,” he explained. “It was such an inspiration to me and to my musician friends.”

Vivian added, “Growing up in Ireland, in Belfast in the ’70s, it wasn’t a fun place. But to witness this band Thin Lizzy get this international success, to be on shows like ‘Top Of The Pops,’ but yet they were the cool rock band when everyone else was doing disco music.”

Vivian says he met Lynott “so many times,” especially around Dublin, where Lynott would get onstage with Campbell’s teen band, Sweet Savage, to play Thin Lizzy tunes.

Campbell notes, “It really kind of helped us to look up to this man and to this band and to say, you know, it’s possible to move beyond what it is that we see around us in our daily lives and to dream big.”