Died On This Date (May 8, 1974) Graham Bond / Early British Blues Great
themusicsover Graham Bond
October 28, 1937 – May 8, 1974
Graham Bond was one of the driving forces behind England’s R&B movement of the ’60s. In 1963, Bond formed the Graham Bond Organisation, a band that included Ginger Baker, Jack Bruce and later, John McLaughlin. GBO put out two albums before Baker and Bruce left to join Eric Clapton in Cream. In spite of the fact that GBO would inspire a legion of future British rock legends, they never achieved much beyond a cult status in the UK. And the fact that their two albums were never released in the US didn’t help either. After the demise of GBO in 1967, Bond’s mental and physical condition began a downward spiral, likely due to his substance abuse and the impact it had on his mental state. He suffered from depression, intense mood swings and erratic behavior, all symptoms of what we would call bipolar disorder today. By the early ’70s, Bond had been doing session work and formed a band with his then wife, singer Dianne Stewart with whom he shared a growing interest in magic and the occult. Their band and marriage soon ended as did another promising band called Magnus which no doubt lead to his one-month stay in a hospital after suffering a nervous breakdown. And then on May 8, 1974 in what many believe to be a suicide, Bond was found dead under the wheels of a train in a London train station. He was 36.
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