Bond is an Australian/British string quartet that specialises in classical crossover music. Bond has been described as the best-selling string quartet of all time, selling 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". Some time later, Bush pushed ahead with the idea, recruiting producer Gareth Cousins to help choose the line up and define the band's sound. This resulted in an initial four recordings the band made, leading to Bond being signed by Decca Records. Three of those original recordings, "Duel", "1812 Overture" 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 (first violin, from Sydney, Australia), Eos Chater (second violin, from Cardiff, Wales, UK), Elspeth Hanson (viola, from Upper Basildon, England, UK) and Gay-Yee Westerhoff (cello, from Kingston upon Hull, England, UK). Hanson replaced original band member Haylie Ecker, when she left to have a child.

Genre & success

Their debut album "Born" (2000) was removed from the UK classical chart, apparently owing to its "sounding too much like pop music". "Born" later rose to the #1 position on 21 different charts around the world. ''Shine'' (2002), their second album, went gold in six countries. "Remixed" (2003), their third release, featured remixes from their first two hit albums as well as three new unreleased pieces. Their third studio album ''Classified'' was a popular and successful release: "Classified" (2004) went double platinum in Australia, reaching the number one spot on both the classical and pop charts. "Explosive: The Best of Bond" (2005), their latest release, is a "Best of" that includes three previously unreleased pieces. They also participated at the 50th annual Miss World pageant in 2000, held in London.

Appearances & recent work

The quartet spent much of 2003 touring, particularly throughout Asia, and participating in the Miss Universe 2003 held in Panama City, Panama. They also fitted in performing and filming a TV commercial for American department store chain Marshall Field's and made a commercial in Los Angeles for the Japanese karaoke manufacturer Daiichi Kosho. The group made their movie debut playing themselves in a scene in Rowan Atkinson's James Bond spoof ''Johnny English'' for which they also contributed the track "Kismet", composed by Gay-Yee, and played on the Main Theme. They also appeared as themselves in the film ''XXX: State of the Union'', performing "Victory".

In 2009 Peugeot commissioned Bond to record Vivaldi's "The Four Seasons" to advertise the Peugeot 308. The tracks are available for download from Peugeot's website free of charge.

In an interview of Tania Davis by the ''Birmingham Mail'', Davis revealed that they are currently working on their next studio album. She also noted that the next album will have Gypsy, Folk and Eastern European influences.

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