Chuck Loyola
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Always something of a drifter, little is known about Chuck Loyola’s early life. It is believed that he was born in the late forties in Lincolnshire and that he studied art somewhere in East Anglia, possibly in Norwich. What is known is that after coming to London in the early seventies, he became a member of the Graphics Brothers, a loose confederation of freelance artist/illustrators who were part of the music scene in and around Camden Town, picking up work from the many small design studios, record labels, management companies and ad agencies in the area. He is rumoured to have collaborated with both Bob Bowkett and Johnny Bull at CCS, although this cannot be confirmed as credited work seems to have eluded him during this period.
His history becomes a little clearer when, in 1977, he began to work with Hothouse (John Bonis, Johnny Bull, Alan Holtham, Sue Reeve and Paul Rodger), a creative group based in the West End which grew out of the ashes of National Publicity, which itself had bought CCS in the mid seventies. Chuck’s association with Hothouse is clear; among other illustrations, he was credited with the famous cover painting on Dire Straits’ first album. Indeed, it has been suggested that Chuck’s painting on the Hothouse-designed sleeve did much to help launch the band.
Loyola also collaborated with Hothouse on a number of other albums for, amongst others, Allan Schmidt at Phonogram and Nigel Grange’s Ensign label, notably working with Johnny Bull on the iconic ‘Tonic For The Troops’ album and producing an outstanding painting for the cover of Roy Sundholm’s 1979 album ‘The Chinese Method’.
Essentially a very private individual, it is believed that he become disenchanted with the music and creative scene in the early eighties and decamped back to East Anglia to make his own art, although his precise whereabouts are not known.
