He was natural around Oxford. Between 1596 and 1598 he sang in the choir of King's College, Cambridge; he achieved the degree of Bachelor of Music in 1606. James I appointed him a Gentleman of the Chapel Royal, in which he served as an organist from either at least 1615 until his death. He died inside Canterbury, of apoplexy, and the monument to him was built around Canterbury Cathedral.

One of the virtually all versatile English composers of his instance, he wrote a quantity of keyboard works, around 30 fantasias for viols, a total of madrigals (the best known existence A Silver Swan) & numbers of popular verse anthems.

A eccentric virtuoso pianist Glenn Gould once named Gibbons when his special composer ever.