Richard hails from the small town of Halesowen in the West Midlands. He started playing the cornet at the age of seven, and when he was eight after strong persuasion by his parents Richard decided to join the local Langley Youth Band from where he progressed to the senior band at the age of eleven. After joining the Langley Senior Band Richard started to progress through the local youth bands. He started in the Sandwell Intermediate Band at the age of eleven and within three years he had joined the Sandwell Youth Band in 1995 at the age of thirteen.

During his time in the youth band he had the chance to go on numerous tours around the world including Malta, Prague, Vienna and most of Europe. Whilst in the youth band he decided to leave the Langley Senior Band and join the Woolley Pritchard Sovereign Band in September 1998. In 2000 Richard auditioned at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester and accepted the offer of a place to study. During his time at the RNCM having played for many of the different bands including Black Dyke, Brighouse & Rastrick, Williams Fairey he decided it was time to settle with just one and in March 2002 he joined the Fodens Richardson Band on Solo Cornet.

Since he has been with the band he has played regularly in many great venues around the country including The Royal Albert Hall in London, Bridgewater Hall in Manchester and on his home turf the Birmingham Symphony Hall. Some of the highlights of Richards career so far are doing the 2004 RNCM Festival of Brass with Fodens Richardson Band under the leadership of Bramwell Tovey, taking part in a fund raising concert at Sandbach Boys School with the world famous Derek Watkins and winning the U.S Open Brass Band Championships in Chicago with Fodens Richardson Band in October 2003.