Hugh Syme is a Canadian Juno Award-winning graphic artist and member of the Premier Artists Collection (PAC) who is best known for his artwork and cover concepts for rock and metal bands. He is also a musician and has appeared on some Rush albums as a keyboard player. Syme is notably responsible for all of Rush's album cover art since 1975's Caress of Steel as well as creating Rush's famous Starman logo. In 1983 he told Jeffrey Morgan that he never imagined the band would use it as their main logo. Syme also plays piano on the album Thrilling Women, which Morgan recorded with Dean Motter.
His client base includes major record companies like Geffen Records, EMI Records, Mercury Records, RCA Records, Capitol Records, Sony Music, Atlantic Records, Warner Bros. Records and A&M Records.
Iron Maiden fans remember him best as the designer of The X Factor cover, which shows the band's mascot Eddie dissected. It is remembered for its gritty realism. Whereas all previous Maiden albums were oil paintings, the X Factor Eddie was a puppet with some digital touch-ups to enhance its look. In some countries the cover was considered so gruesome that a less gory alternative was offered (the alternative cover is actually the back of the original CD booklet).
Def Leppard's Retro Active album cover, which he co-designed with Nels Israelson, shows a lady sitting at a dressing table, looking in a mirror. From another perspective, it takes the form of a skull (a type of vanitas art), the woman's head forming the left eye socket, and her reflected head in the mirror forming the right eye socket. The mirror itself forms the shape of the skull and the accessories on the dressing table form the nose, nostrils and teeth. It was inspired by Charles Allan Gilbert's most famous work, All Is Vanity (1892).
Other bands Syme has done artwork for include: Megadeth, Saga, Styx, Altered State, Fates Warning, Whitesnake, Queensrÿche, Aerosmith, and Dream Theater.
Personal
Hugh Syme has studios in Toronto, Ontario, Canada and in Indiana, USA. Syme is co-host of the Music Buzzz Podcast along with Dane Clark and Andy Wilson.
Album cover art
Chronological list of Hugh Syme's album cover art (including studio, live, compilation and extended play LPs).
Discography
Syme has contributed as a musician with Ian Thomas Band, Rush and Tiles.
with Ian Thomas Band
Delights - piano, Fender Rhodes, Mellotron and background vocals
Calabash - keyboards, background vocals and creative companionship and album cover artwork Still Here - keyboards and background vocals (co-arrangement on "I Really Love You" and "Tinkerbell") Glider - keyboards and all songs arranged with Ian Thomas The Runner - keyboards and background vocals
with Rush
2112 - ARP synthesizer intro to "2112: Overture" and Mellotron and ARP Odyssey on "Tears" Permanent Waves - piano on "Different Strings" Moving Pictures - synthesizers on "Witch Hunt"
with Tiles
Window Dressing - keyboards on "Slippers in the Snow" Fly Paper - keyboards on "Crowded Emptiness" and solo piano on "Passing Notes"
with Alice in Chains
2112 - 40th Anniversary Deluxe Reissue - Mellotron, string arrangement, woodwinds, and boy's choir on Geddy Lee's re-released song "Tears"
with Jim McCarty
Walking in the Wild Land - Piano, nylon and steel string acoustic guitar, synths, string arrangements, boy's choir, Mellotron on "Changing Times", "Dancing Leaves" and "So Many Questions". James Stanley McCarty (born 25 July 1943) is an English musician, best known as the drummer for the Yardbirds and Renaissance.
Awards
Juno Awards: 5 wins and 18 nominations.