He has a new album, tour and TV show. Now, with fatherhood around the corner, David’s life enters another exciting stage, writes Amy Harris.
David Campbell didn’t know who his father was until he was 11 – when he was told “Jimmy”, a family friend he’d met sporadically, was not only his dad but Australian rock ’n’ roll legend Jimmy Barnes.
It was a mixed blessing for the youngster, who was raised by his mother Kim and grandmother Joan. For a start, the hell-raising Cold Chisel front man was always on tour and rarely around – and when he was, his previous drug and alcohol issues made him anything but the ideal parent.
That is why singer David, now 36 and with his own child due in three months, is determined to be the most hands-on dad he can be. And, ironically, he’ll look to Jimmy, 53, for guidance on how to manage it, so impressed is he with the way his now-sober father deals with his siblings.
“I hope to be a good dad,” says David who, along with his wife of 16 months, Lisa, 29, relishes the responsibility of becoming a parent.
“I’d like to think I’m going to be a good father because I never really had a father. I mean, I do, but I didn’t have one as a kid. I’ve watched him bring up my brothers and sisters so I know what [Jimmy] does as a father, and I will take bits of that and bits of what I do and probably make a lot of mistakes. And hopefully this child will grow up to be like us and hopefully better.”
Acknowledging his own unusual upbringing, David jokes that he and Lisa thoroughly planned to start their family.
“We got married so … it wasn’t an accident,” he says. “I was an accident … so I know what it is like. I’d like to be around for my kid. You know, knowing that I can be at home a bit and be a bit of a stay-at-home dad and watch my child grow.
Read the full story in this week’s Woman’s Day, on sale March 29, 2010.
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