Bond or BOND, formerly often typeset as bond in deference to the owners of the 007 trademark, is an Australian/British string quartet that specializes in classical crossover and synth-pop music. The quartet has sold over 4 million records.
Bond was formed following initial conversations between music producer Mike Batt and promoter Mel Bush, after Batt suggested to Bush that the two of them should put together a quartet consisting of “four beautiful, talented musicians”. Sometime later, Bush pushed ahead with the idea, recruiting producer Gareth Cousins to help choose the lineup and define the band’s sound.
This resulted in an initial four recordings the band made, leading to Bond being signed by Decca. Three of those original recordings, “Duel”, “The 1812” and “Dalalai”, were the backbone of the first album, Born, with producer Magnus Fiennes providing additional tracks and Mike Batt adding a remix of “Victory”, which became the first single.
The quartet currently consists of Tania Davis (july 4, 1975, first violin, formerly viola, from Sydney, Australia), Eos Counsell (second violin, from Cardiff, Wales), Elspeth Hanson (viola, from Upper Basildon, England) and Gay-Yee Westerhoff (cello, from Hull, England). Hanson replaced original band member Haylie Ecker (formerly first violin and from Perth, Australia), who left in 2008 to have a child.
Their début album Born was removed from the UK classical chart, apparently owing to its “sounding too much like pop music”. Born later rose to #1 on 21 charts around the world. Shine, their second album, went gold in six countries. Remixed featured remixes from their first two albums as well as three new pieces. Their third studio album Classified’ went double platinum in Australia, reaching the number one spot on both the classical and pop charts. Explosive: The Best of Bond is a “Best of” that, again, included three unreleased pieces.