More information than you probably want :
After being the "Crown Prince of Cabaret" in the U.S. for several years in the 90s (playing everything from little 88's several times to the Algonquin and the "Rainbow Room") and doing some workshops for various Broadway shows (such as Titanic), David Campbell finally got his Green Card and starred in Sondheim's "Saturday Night" in NYC.
But around that time, he began to move away from cabaret and showtunes and decided to become a more contemporary/rock singer (with his new record label Sony - after his two previous middle of the road CDs).
He did several rock gigs in NYC (one concert at Second Stage where he was also starring in "Saturday Night" didn't show him off particularly well but another shortly thereafter at Joe's Pub was quite successful, other than the fact that it ended with an arrest - but we won't go into THAT).
He changed management - dropping his longtime mentor and manager Les Soloman (announcing the break onstage in a Mamaroneck concert with a heartfelt rendition of "From This Day On" from Brigadoon).
He turned down the lead on Broadway in "Thoroughly Modern Millie" (and did so quite tearfully) to return to Australia to work on his rock career (following in the footsteps of his father - the fantastic Australian rock idol, Jimmy Barnes...who is a terrific guy!!!!)
His return to Australia saw great success as the lead in the Johnny O'Keefe biographical musical "Shout" (O'Keefe was sorta the Presley of Australia - just sorta - but a big superstar Down Under in the 50s). "Shout" was a big success touring throughout Australia for several years (the CD starring Campbell is available).
David then returned for one club gig in NYC at the Carlyle doing a lot of new material and a bunch of Bobby Darin songs (go figure!) - it was an o.k. return although it did not quite reach the heights of his previous New York cabaret successes...and he has not been back to perform since.
There was some degree of criticism in some quarters of the business during his cabaret career about the over-zealousness of the hype surrounding him...and some of the people who were pushing him. One of his early champions, Rex Reed surprisingly wrote an unfavorable review of him at the peak of his cabaret career (Rainbow Room)...and the review was devastating.
Then David returned to Australia to work on his career there several years ago (in Australian legit, he had been in Les Miz, Love Valour Compassion, Heaven Only Knows, etc.)
In Australia, the runs in "Carousel" and in cabarets were in addition to becoming a radio DJ and releasing several fairly successful rock singles in the past two or three years. But he never got the full Sony CD released - at least not as yet... (it is now about three years late).
There was a physical problem which required leg surgery but that has been taken care of several years ago.
He was supposed to return to the U.S. for the first time in several years to play this past September at the Algonquin in NYC but the gig was cancelled.
He continues to work in Australia with hit (or semi-hit) singles, club gigs, and radio dj'ing.
He is a phenomenal talent that sometimes takes interesting detours so his image keeps changing.
He probably would have done exceptionally well on Broadway...but his cabaret career alone was not enough to sustain him...and he really did want to become a rock singer - so Broadway was not the direction he took even when the chance was there.
Updated On: 11/7/05 at 07:21 AM
