Oliver was a budding guitarist while working in a factory in the mid-1970s, but gave up after losing the tip of his index finger in an accident with a door, and sold his prized 1962/63
Fender Stratocaster (he would attempt to track down the guitar 40 years later). He was, however, encouraged by future bandmate
Paul Quinn to learn to play again. The other members were future Saxon bassist
Steve Dawson, Steve Firth on vocals and drummers David Bradley, John Hart, Cowley and John Walker. The band merged in November 1975 with another local band (Coast) to become first Son of a Bitch and from 1978 Saxon, with whom Oliver played from the start and until 1995, as guitarist during a period in which the band had five top 20 albums in the UK. After being fired from Saxon in 1996, he initially reformed his old band Son of a Bitch with former Saxon bassist
Steve Dawson and drummer
Pete Gill. Son of a Bitch released the album
Victim You with Thunderhead singer Ted Bullet. Bullet and Gill left the band after the release of the album. They were replaced by the vocalist John Ward, and another former member of Saxon, Nigel Durham on drums. In 1999, Oliver and Dawson trademarked the name 'Saxon', claiming they had exclusive rights to it, and attempted to stop Saxon singer
Biff Byford from using the name. The trademark claim was overturned after it was ruled to be in bad faith, setting a legal precedent for ownership of a band name. Five of the tracks were written and performed by the rock indie band Bullrush, with whom Graham Oliver's son Paul played drums, along Steve Tudberry and Scott Howitt. Also appearing on the album were Pete Gill, Steve Dawson,
Kev Moore, Paul Johnson, Phil Hendriks, Richard Spencer and Chris Archer. Oliver suffered a
stroke in January 2010, leaving him without feeling in one arm for several weeks. In 2011, Oliver joined pupils at Mexborough School in their production of the
Ben Elton musical
We Will Rock You. In 2012 guitar manufacturer "Vintage" collaborated with Graham to produce two signature guitars based on his famous Gibson SG and Flying-V guitars. The 'SG' model Vintage VS6GO and the 'V' model Vintage V60GO. Oliver and Steve Dawson wrote the book
Saxon Drugs and Rock and Roll - The Real Spinal Tap, published by Tomahawk Press in 2012, with a foreword by
Harry Shearer (who drew inspiration for
Spinal Tap from his time on tour with the band in 1982). As of 2017, Oliver was still playing in Oliver/Dawson Saxon. Following Steve Dawson's decision to retire from performing in October 2021, Graham Oliver, Gav Coulson and Bri Shaughnessy recruited new bandmembers and chose to continue working together under the new name of 'Graham Oliver's Army'. Oliver is also an authority on Yorkshire ceramics. ==Discography==