Bernard was born in India, the son of a British army officer, but was moved to England as a small child for his health. He was educated at Wellington College, where the future actor Christopher Lee was a classmate. Fortuitously, because Lee was to star in scores of horror films for Hammer Studios, for which James Bernard wrote the scores. Bernard's first major break as a composer was at the age of 17 when he met Benjamin Britten and Peter Pears, for whom Bernard later wrote a song cycle.