An English musician, considered a founding father of the English rhythm and blues boom of the 1960s. Along with John Mayall and Alexis Korner, Bond was one of the great catalytic figures of 1960s rock in Britain. He was also technologically and musically an innovator, perhaps the first British musician to use the Hammond organ and Leslie speaker combination in an R&B context, the first to build an electronic keyboard and the first rock musician to use a Mellotron.

Bond first gained attention as a jazz saxophonist as a member of the Don Rendell Quintet.

Afterwards, he was briefly a member of Alexis Korner's Blues Incorporated before forming the Graham Bond Organisation (GBO). With a lineup of Bond on vocals and organ, Ginger Baker on drums, Jack Bruce on double bass and, briefly, John McLaughlin on guitar, they generally stayed close to their jazz and R&B roots. Other notable personnel included Jon Hiseman and Dick Heckstall-Smith. Bond was the primary songwriter and also produced the group's two studio albums, The Sound of '65 and There's a Bond Between Us, although Baker was the de facto leader.

Although highly influential within UK music circles, the GBO never experienced the popular chart success of their peers. One factor for this could have been Bond's rough, growling singing voice, which was an acquired taste. Amid internal band struggles and Bond's worsening problems with substance abuse, the GBO disbanded in 1967. In the years which followed the breakup of his band, Bond's mental and physical health deteriorated with periods of intense depression.

After the break-up of the last GBO line-up, Bond did some solo recording and session work and eventually turned up in Ginger Baker's Air Force. He went to the US to record and do session work, including playing saxophone on Dr. John's The Sun, Moon & Herbs (1971).

Upon returing to the UK, Bond married singer Dianne Stewart and later the couple teamed up with Pete Brown to record Two Heads are Better Than One in 1972.

Bond and his wife shared an interest in magic and together they subsequently formed and disbanded several groups, including Holy Magick which recorded We Put Our Magick On You (released in 1971).

After the near-simultaneous collapse of his band and his marriage, Bond formed Magus with British folk-singer Carolanne Pegg. However, mainly due to financial problems, the group disbanded around Christmas 1973 without recording.

The following year found Bond at his lowest ebb. His financial affairs were in chaos and the demise of Magus had badly hurt his pride. Throughout his career he had been hampered with severe bouts of drug addiction and in January 1973 had spent a month in hospital after a nervous breakdown.

He seemed back on course again until May 1974 when he died under the wheels of a train at Finsbury Park station, London (most sources list the death as a suicide). He was 37 years old. Friends agree that he was off drugs, although he was becoming increasingly obsessed with the occult (he believed he was Aleister Crowley's son).