| David Campbell | |
|---|---|
| Background information | |
| Birth name | David Joseph Campbell |
| Born | 6 August 1973 |
| Origin | Adelaide, Australia |
| Genres | Swing Musical Theatre Pop Rock |
| Occupations | Singer Actor Artistic Director |
| Labels | Sony |
| Associated acts | Jimmy Barnes Mahalia Barnes |
| Website | Official Site |
David Joseph Campbell (born 6 August 1973 in South Australia) is an Australian singer and stage performer. He has performed and recorded many different genres of music from rock to classics. He is the son of singer Jimmy Barnes.[1]
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Campbell won his first major roles in the early to mid 1990s at venues including the Sydney Opera House and the Sydney Theatre Company. In 1997, he travelled to New York to perform in cabaret, initially for a short run in a small cabaret room. However, after receiving glowing reviews from the New York press (Time Out New York claimed he was "creating the biggest buzz since Streisand"[2]), he moved to the prestigious Rainbow & Stars room - becoming the youngest performer ever to headline at that venue.[3]
David's New York success led to more high-profile roles in the USA, Australia and elsewhere, including in musicals such as Les Misérables,[4] South Pacific, and Guys and Dolls - and in Cameron Mackintosh's Royal Command Performance Hey, Mr. Producer! in London. In 2000 he provided the singing voice for the character Joseph in DreamWorks' animated film Joseph: King of Dreams.
In 2001, Campbell took the major starring role in the Australian musical Shout!, the story of 'The Wild One' - rocker Johnny O'Keefe.[4] This production became a cultural phenomenon in Australia, and made Campbell a household name. Since becoming a successful recording artist, he has continued to make occasional stage appearances in Australia, in musicals such as Carousel,[5] Sunset Boulevard,[6] and Company.[7]
Campbell released two albums in 1997, "Taking the Wheel" and "Yesterday Is Now".
During 2003, David released two mainstream singles, "Hope" and "When She's Gone". A full-length album "A Better Place" was planned but never materialized. He released another single, "End of the World" in 2005.
In 2006, Campbell released The Swing Sessions, an album produced by Chong Lim,[4] covering 13 classic swing tracks such as "Mack the Knife", "Call Me Irresponsible", "Mr Bojangles", and "Can't Take My Eyes Off You". Both this album, and The Swing Sessions 2 (released in November 2007), achieved platinum sales and charted in the Top 10 of the Australian ARIA Albums Chart.[8]
In 2008, David released Good Lovin',[8] an album of songs from the 1960s which he described as 'blue-eyed soul'.[4] This became his third platinum album, and again charted in the Australian Top 10. A live DVD of the accompanying Good Lovin' Live tour hit number one on the Australian DVD chart.[9]
Campbell's next album, On Broadway, was recorded at East West Studios in Los Angeles in January 2010, and produced by leading musical director Rob Fisher and veteran arranger Bill Elliott. On Broadway was released in Australia on 2 April 2010, with a tie-in television documentary David Campbell On Broadway airing on arts channel STVDIO the following day.[10]
David's most recent release is an album of early 1980s music called Let's Go, which was released in Australia on 18 November 2011.[11]
Campbell was a contestant on the third season of Dancing With The Stars, where he was partnered with World Salsa Champion, Luda Kroitor. He has also featured on two series of the celebrity singing competition It Takes Two as a professional performer. He won the second series in 2007, with celebrity partner Jolene Anderson, an actress on Australian drama All Saints. The pair received several scores of 10 and received perfect 10s from all four judges on one occasion.
He has also been a Red Faces judge on Hey Hey It's Saturday, and has co-hosted the The Morning Show with Kylie Gillies on a number of occasions when Larry Emdur is away.
Campbell was appointed Artistic Director of the Adelaide Cabaret Festival (the world's largest cabaret festival) in 2008,[4] and his programming began with the June 2009 festival.[12] This festival broke attendance and box office records, becoming the most successful Cabaret festival to date - records which were in turn broken by the 2010 and 2011 festivals.[13] The 2011 Cabaret Festival was his last as Artistic Director; Kate Ceberano then took over the position.[14]
David's father is Australian singer Jimmy Barnes, but he was raised by his maternal grandmother, to whom he has attributed his love of swing music.[15] Campbell has performed with his father on numerous occasions, including on an episode of Dancing With The Stars[4] and at Carols by Candlelight.[16] They have also recorded duets for both Barnes's and Campbell's studio albums[17][18]
Campbell married British producer Lisa Hewitt at St Philip's Anglican Church in Sydney on Saturday 29 November 2008.[1] The couple run their own company, Luckiest Productions,[19] through which they produce all of Campbell's national tours, as well as other music, cabaret and television projects. David and his wife Lisa welcomed their first child Leo Richard James Campbell on 3 June 2010.
| Album title | Album details | Peak chart positions | Certifications (thresholds) |
|---|---|---|---|
| AUS [20] |
|||
| Yesterday Is Now |
|
— | — |
| Taking the Wheel |
|
— | — |
| A Better Place |
|
— | — |
| The Swing Sessions |
|
7 | AUS: Platinum |
| The Swing Sessions 2 |
|
8 | AUS: Platinum |
| Good Lovin' |
|
10 | AUS: Platinum |
| On Broadway |
|
7 | AUS: Gold |
| Let's Go |
|
23 |