David Campbell (Australian musician)

Theatre career

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 positive reviews), he moved to the prestigious Rainbow & Stars room - becoming the youngest performer ever to headline at that venue.

Campbell's New York success led to more high-profile roles in the USA, Australia and elsewhere, including in musicals such as Les Misérables, 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 Legend of The Wild One, the story of rocker Johnny O'Keefe. 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, Sunset Boulevard, and Company.

In 2016, Campbell starred in Dream Lover - The Bobby Darin Musical. A cast recording was released in September 2016 by Sony Music Australia, featuring Campbell. It debuted at number 9 on the ARIA Charts.

Recording career

Campbell released his debut album in 1996, Yesterday is Now. In 1997, his second album was released, Taking the Wheel. In 2003, David released two mainstream singles, "Hope" and "When She's Gone". A full-length album A Better Place was planned but never materialised. In 2005, another single, "End of the World" was released.

In 2006, Campbell released The Swing Sessions, an album produced by Chong Lim with arrangements by John McAll 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.

In 2008, David released Good Lovin', an album of songs from the 1960s which he described as 'blue-eyed soul'. 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.

Campbell's next album, On Broadway, was recorded at East West Studios in Los Angeles in January 2010, and produced by 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.

On 18 November 2011, an album of early 1980s music called Let's Go was released in Australia.

In June 2014, David released David Campbell Sings John Bucchino, recorded in Australia in May 2014 featuring John Bucchino playing piano.

In the Australian and New Zealand version of Disney's 2016 animated film Zootopia, Campbell voices a Koala news anchor. The species of this character changes depending on where the movie is shown, and is voiced by a famous TV personality known to local audiences.

In September 2016, Campbell returned to the musical theatre stage to play the lead role in the world premiere production of Dream Lover: The Bobby Darin Musical in Sydney. A cast recording was released and debuted at number 9.

Television

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. 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 had co-hosted The Morning Show with Kylie Gillies on a number of occasions when Larry Emdur was away. It was his work filling in on The Morning Show that led to him being appointed co-host of Mornings.

Campbell is currently co-host of Today Extra with Sonia Kruger on the Nine Network. He is also a fill-in presenter for Karl Stefanovic on Today.

Campbell co-hosted Vision Australia's Carols by Candlelight in 2013 with Today host Lisa Wilkinson and co-hosted again in 2014 and 2015.

Radio career

Campbell started on smoothfm in May 2012. He is currently the host of weekend Afternoons (1pm - 4pm) on smoothfm 91.5 in Melbourne and smoothfm 95.3 in Sydney.

Adelaide Cabaret Festival

Campbell was appointed Artistic Director of the Adelaide Cabaret Festival (the world's largest cabaret festival) in 2008, and his programming began with the June 2009 festival. 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. The 2011 Cabaret Festival was his last as Artistic Director; Kate Ceberano then took over the position.

Personal life

Campbell's father is Australian singer Jimmy Barnes. Campbell was raised by his maternal grandmother, Joan. Until he was ten years old, he believed that she was his mother and his actual mother was his sister. He attributes his love of swing music to the influence of his grandmother. Campbell has performed with his father on numerous occasions, including on an episode of Dancing with the Stars and at Carols by Candlelight. Father and son have recorded duets for each other's studio albums.

Campbell married British producer Lisa Hewitt at St Philip's Anglican Church in Sydney on Saturday 29 November 2008. The couple run their own company, Luckiest Productions, 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. They welcomed twins, William David Campbell and Elizabeth Ann Campbell on 12 January 2015.

Campbell discovered that his ancestry to be 49% from Ireland, 48% from Great Britain, 2% from Iberian Peninsula (consisting of Spain and Portugal) and 1% from North-West Russia [3]. His great grandmother was Jewish [4].

Awards

Discography