Gary Kendall began composing in his early teens under the spell of his love for Stravinsky's music. He studied composition at the University of Texas at Austin where he worked with Hunter Johnson and Karl Korte. His composition quickly shifted to studies of electronic music with Tom Wells. During his undergraduate senior year he wrote his first software package for sound synthesis. While he studied music theory for his doctorate, he continued to compose music and write software.

In 1976, he joined the faculty of Northwestern and established the Northwestern University Computer Music Studio. He both composed with an emphasis on spatiality and did research in spatial hearing. His compositional career was interrupted by an extended period of involvement in research and business development. He returned to composition in the 1990s producing both choral music and sound installations with an emphasis on spatiality.

In 1985, Gary Kendall collaborated with Mickey Hart, percussionist of the Grateful Dead, and the staff of the Computer Music Studio in creating the first use of three-dimensional sound in television: opening music of the "Twilight Zone" television series. The original version of the music was performed by the Grateful Dead. He went on to digitally process sound effects to create spatial illusions in the first nine episodes of the "Twilight Zone" television series.