Although Loughnan has long been associated with jazz music, the first nine years of his career were spent as a non-instrumental vocalist with vocal harmony groups The Crescents, and The Delltones starting in 1958.

In the 60s, he learnt to play the saxophone, performing as an instrumentalist with Col Nolan and The Soul Syndicate, and as a founding member of the Daly-Wilson Big Band.

Concurrent with teaching, he was playing jazz, working as a studio musician, and acting as musical director for Marcia Hines, and John Farnham, for ABCTV specials.

Loughnan has played with many top international artists including Sammy Davis Jr., Freddie Hubbard, Shirley Bassey, Frank Sinatra, and Johnny Mathis.

He has played with a very long list of Australian musicians including Don Burrows, John Sangster, George Golla, Rhonda Burchmore, Errol Buddle, Bob Barnard and New Zealander Ricky May.

He has entertained both great and small, playing with the Sydney and Queensland Symphony Orchestras, and creating children's music in the studio for Australia's ABC Records.

He remains active in teaching and playing, often with friend Judy Bailey Colin John Loughnan was born on 26 October 1942, in Sydney, and became a professional musician, arranger, and teacher of saxophone.

The Crescents were heavily influenced by American vocal groups of the period, practising and working on their arrangements at Palace's parents' house, with Loughnan on the piano.

I remember coming home with all this money ... We were all good looking guys in those days (laughing) ... We all wore the same clothes – with the quarter moon crescent insignia".

[2] These large scale tours allowed The Crescents to perform on the same bill as many of the top popular music acts in Australia, as well as the visiting American stars.

They received good reviews including The Age, which stated that "of the ... supporting artists, The Crescents vocal group were the most popular" apart from Australian pop idol, O'Keefe.

[6] In October 1959, Leedon released their first single, "Everlovin'" backed with "You Broke My Heart", the latter being co-written by Loughnan and O'Keefe, but it failed to chart.

O'Keefe crashed his expensive imported red Plymouth near Kempsey in June 1960,[7] suffering severe head, and facial injuries, and spending a fortnight in hospital.

In November 1960, Loughnan, Alan Heffernan, Barry Stanton, and Ray Hoff were rounding a bend on a Victorian road, when a tyre blew out.

[9] He joined original members Warren Lucas (tenor), Ian (Peewee) Wilson (bass), and Brian Perkins (baritone).

[9] In the book, Pioneers of Australian Rock 'n' Roll, Graham Jackson quotes Loughnan saying:"When we first heard the song, it was really slow and full of all these funny chords but we thought it had possibilities and rearranged the tempo and harmonies".

[11] In this period, due to chart success, radio airplay, live performances, and many TV appearances, The Delltones were one of the most recognisable names in Australian music.

In his book Behind the Rock and Beyond, Leon Isackson describes the band's reaction: "everybody remembered [Loughnan] as the lead singer [of] the Delltones ... [and] here he was blowing us all away with the saxophone!

"[13] At that time, The Soulmates were led by guitarist, Jimmy Doyle along with Les Young on bass, Brian Myers on piano, Loughnan, and, shortly thereafter they were joined by drummer, Isackson.

[13] Over time, Young was replaced by Michael Lawler on bass, Doyle gave notice and Jon Hayton took over on guitar, and Myers was sacked with his place being taken by Dave Macrae.

The band was augmented by Doyle on guitar, Loughnan wrote the first tune, "Shades of McSoul", and sang the vocal on the last track, "By the Time I Get to Phoenix" written by Jimmy Webb.

[19] Early repertoire included Burton's "Rock 'n Roll Fight (Going On)" and "Morning Magic", "Lady Montego" (written by McGuire), and "Nostalgic Blues" by Brown.

Paul Gardiner of Rolling Stone observed that the early music of Ayers Rock "was still tied quite closely to existing American styles".

[20] Loughnan wrote two new tunes, "Crazy Boys" and "Big Red Rock", initially for the band's live sets, and eventually for their first album.

[24] This phenomenon was encouraged by Ayers Rock changing the arrangements and solos,[19] as well as the setlists, so that "It's not the same thing every night, unlike many bands" as Doyle said.

Negotiations were held in regard to recording the first album with EMI"but they put so much pressure and so much bullshit on us: they said that we had to use one of their producers and that he had to OK the musical content of the thing, that there was to be no one present except ourselves.

[16] Those instrumentals were "Crazy Boys" and the title track "Big Red Rock" written by Loughnan, and a cover of "Boogie Woogie Waltz" by Joe Zawinul of Weather Report.

Loughnan started experiencing strong back pain which increased to such an extent that he was forced to quit live performing for two months.

[31] Their A&M connections had secured support billing with international acts like Status Quo,[32] Bachman–Turner Overdrive, the J. Geils Band,[31] and Nils Lofgren,[33] as well as smaller venues on the east and west coasts of America.

[39] Many of Loughnan's students have established professional careers in music, including Dale Barlow, Sandy Evans, Richard Maegraith, Matt Keegan, and Mark Taylor.