Vivian Campbell announced in 2013 that he’s been diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma.

Def Leppard guitarist reveals cancer has returned following transplant

Vivian Campbell announced in 2013 that he’s been diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma.

By Raechal Shewfelt

Raechal Shewfelt

Raechal Shewfelt is a writer at **. She has been working at EW since 2024. Her work has previously appeared on Yahoo and in American *Journalism Review* and *The Shreveport Times*.

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August 20, 2026 10:35 p.m. ET

Vivian Campbell in 2017. Credit:

Carrie Davenport/Redferns via Getty

- Def Leppard rocker Vivian Campbell says his cancer has returned.

- The guitarist said in 2013 that he had been diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma, but it had gone into remission.

- Campbell said he will eventually need another transplant.

Def Leppard guitarist Vivian Campbell says his cancer has returned.

The rocker, who joined the *Hysteria* group in 1992, revealed in 2013 that he’d been diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma. He later said it was in remission, but he noted a change in a new interview.

“There’s only been one time that I felt it was gonna kill me,” he told radio station YSKL in El Salvador, per Page Six. “In the winter of 2023, I got really scared about what was happening and the pace at which it was happening. And I realized at that point that I had to do a donor transplant. It was my only hope to survive.”

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Campbell went through with the transplant.

“Unfortunately, it didn’t stick,” the rocker explained. “So the cancer has returned, and I’m continuing treatments to manage it.”

In a few years, Campbell said he will undergo another transplant in the hopes it will work long-term.

But he seemed optimistic.

“The fact that I could still continue to work, that gives me something to live for — something that you enjoy, that you’re passionate about, that you can wake up in the morning and look forward to.”

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Campbell advocated for people to take care of themselves.

“Life is for the living, and I encourage everyone to look after their own health,” he said. “And if you are unfortunate enough to get a cancer diagnosis to, you know, overcome the fear.”

Campbell became a member of the band after the death of lead guitarist Steve Clark, who died in 1991 from a combination of drugs and alcohol. He was 31.

The band’s current lineup also includes Joe Elliott, Rick Allen, Rick Savage, and Phil Collen.

The official website for the rockers behind hits such as “Pour Some Sugar on Me,” “Love Bites,” and “When Love & Hate Collide” lists 10 dates in Florida, Mexico, Costa Rica, and elsewhere between Oct. 15 and Nov. 8.

Def Leppard in 2019.

Astrid Stawiarz/Getty

They last released an album,* Diamond Star Halos*, in 2022. A new one, which will include the song “Rejoice” that they released in February, will arrive early next year, Eliott told French radio station Oui FM last month.

“We did a Vegas residency in February, and we wanted to play a new song, so it made sense to actually put it out,” Elliott said, per Ultimate Classic Rock.

“The album won’t be out until early ’27, cause we’re still recording it. We were actually recording parts of it in Vegas on days off – we would go down into the basement of the casino and set it up as a studio,” Elliott said. “So we’re still actively recording now, and mixing.”

He teased that fans would be surprised by what they heard: “I will tell you this much: we’ve written the fastest song we’ve ever done. And we’ve also written the most ridiculously over-the-top, pretentious, massive, big, kind of bombastic song that we’ve ever written too; and lots of stuff in between.”

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