Cambell was born in a British military hospital in Ismaïlia, Egypt to parents Mary Elizabeth "Jackie" Shaw and Lieutenant Colonel Hugo Archibald Leslie Montgomery "Archie" Campbell (1910-1974) of the Royal Tank Regiment.
[4] They group would briefly reunite with Hillage to record an album under the project name of Arzachel; each member employed an arcane surname both for fun and to get around contractual problems.
[5] With mixed feelings about his academic studies, he reunited with his former Egg bandmates for their final album The Civil Surface (also in 1974), which consisted of unreleased material written in 1971–72, including what many[who?]
[3] During this period, Campbell maintained a connection with the Canterbury scene movement of which Egg had been a part, playing and recording as a support musician for Henry Cow, Hatfield & The North, Slapp Happy and others.
Following graduation (and after a very brief stint with Alan Gowen's jazz fusion band Gilgamesh[7]), Campbell linked up with Stewart again in 1975, this time as part of the original line-up of National Health.
Although Campbell initially enjoyed his work with the band (for which he composed several pieces including "Paracelsus", "Agrippa", "Zabaglione" and "Starlight on Seaweed"), within a year he became disheartened by its lack of success.
[5] He left the band in June 1976 after a UK tour, a radio session for the BBC and a "disastrous" performance at a one-off French festival (the latter being his final appearance with the group).
"[3] In 1977, he dropped his old school nickname of "Mont" in favour of "Dirk"[3] and formed the two-guitar, flute and violin quartet Mozaic, which mostly played "pleasant, undemanding" Campbell pieces at weddings and social events.
He has enjoyed a run of cinema collaborations with his 1970s creative partner David Anderson, including Dreamland Express, In the Time of Angels and Deutsche Post.
[8] Campbell released his first solo album, Music from a Round Tower in 1996 (a mixture of authentic traditional instrumentation with MIDI, sampling and sequencing, plus contributions from Dave Stewart).