Gerald Bennett was born in 1942 in New Jersey (USA). He graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College in 1964. From 1967–1976 he taught at the Basel Conservatory and additionally served as director from 1969–1976. From 1976–1981 he served as head of the department at the Institut de Recherche et Coordination Acoustique/Musique (IRCAM) in Paris. Since 1981 he has been professor of music theory and composition at the Hochschule für Musik in Zurich. He co-founded the International Confederation of Electroacoustic Music (ICEM) in 1983 and served as its secretary from 1986–1992. In 1985 he co-founded, with Bruno Spoerri, the Swiss Center for Computer Music. In 1993 he joined the International Academy of Electroacoustic Music of Bourges, France.
Bennett lives outside Basel.