Richard William Wright was born on July 28, 1943 in Hatch End, London, the son of biochemist Robert Wright. He was educated at the Haberdashers Aske's School and by his teens had learned trombone, saxophone, guitar and piano, inspired by an early love of jazz. He wanted to follow in the footsteps of John Coltrane, Miles Davis and Eric Dolphy, but was persuaded by a careers master to study architecture at Regent Street Polytechnic.

There, he met future band members Roger Waters and Nick Mason and joined their fledgling band, becoming the 6th member of Sigma 6. Concurrent with attending the Polytechnic, Richard was taking private lessons in musical theory and composition at the Eric Gilder School of Music, and in fact left the Poly and architectural studies at the end of his first year. After some travelling, he enrolled in the Royal College of Music in time to rejoin Nick and Roger, whose band had just added Syd Barrett and Rado 'Bob' Klose to become The Tea Set.

The 5-piece played intermittently in early 1965 as both The Tea Set and The Pink Floyd (or The Pink Floyd Sound), with the departure of Rado 'Bob' Klose creating the first 4-man lineup at live shows from May onwards (although the band continued to alternate the use of the Tea Set/Pink Floyd designation right up until March 1966).

In the early days of Pink Floyd, Richard added his distinctive melodic style to that of Syd Barrett, and he wrote and sang several songs of his own, including Paintbox (the 'B' Side of Apples and Oranges), Remember A Day, and See Saw. As the sound and the goals of the band evolved, he became more focused on adding sound textures to extended instrumental compositions such as Interstellar Overdrive, A Saucerful Of Secrets, Careful With That Axe, Eugene, One Of These Days, and to creating musical themes for film scores – More, Zabriskie Point, and Obscured By Clouds.

He also made essential contributions to Pink Floyd's long, epic compositions such as Atom Heart Mother, Echoes, and Shine On You Crazy Diamond, though his most identifiable compositions are probably The Great Gig In The Sky and Us And Them from 1973's The Dark Side Of The Moon. His ever-tasteful contributions were an essential part of the unique Pink Floyd sound, whether on acoustic piano, Farfisa organ, synthesiser or Hammond, at which he was particularly skilled.

Using material that was extraneous to Pink Floyd's Animals album, Richard recorded his first solo project, Wet Dream, released in September 1978 and featuring Mel Collins on saxophone and Snowy White on guitar.

After Richard's relationship with Roger Waters became increasingly rocky, he left Pink Floyd at the of the sessions for the album The Wall. However, he was keen to complete the album's live shows, so was retained as a salaried session musician during the subsequent live concerts in 1980 and 1981.

In 1983, Pink Floyd released the only album on which Richard does not appear – The Final Cut.

During 1984, Richard formed a new musical duo with Dave Harris (from the band Fashion) called Zee. They signed a record deal with Atlantic Records and released one album, Identity.

Richard rejoined Pink Floyd following the departure of Roger Waters, contributing keyboards and vocals to the 1987 album A Momentary Lapse Of Reason. The Momentary Lapse world tour engendered the 1988 live album Delicate Sound Of Thunder, with Richard's distinctive voice and keyboards to the fore.

In 1994, he co-wrote five songs and sang lead vocals (on Wearing The Inside Out) for The Division Bell album. Marooned, Richard and David's instrumental from that album, won a Grammy Award in 1995 for Best Rock Instrumental performance, Pink Floyd's only Grammy to date.

As has Nick Mason, Richard performed on every Pink Floyd tour, including the tour following The Division Bell, which provided material for the double live album and video release P*U*L*S*E in 1995.

Inspired by his successful input into The Division Bell, Richard released his second solo album, Broken China, in 1996. The album marked a new phase in his musicianship, with extensive use of computer-based recording and production techniques. Richard sings throughout, with Momentary Lapse collaborator Anthony Moore providing most of the lyrics, and Sinead O'Connor guesting on vocals for two tracks. One of these, Breakthrough, was reprised by Richard in an appearance at David Gilmour's Festival Hall show of 2002, as released on the David Gilmour In Concert DVD.

Richard contributed keyboards and vocals to David Gilmour's most recent solo album, On An Island, and performed with David's touring band for shows in Europe and North America in 2006. Onstage, he performed on piano, electric piano, and synthesiser, rapturously received by audiences nightly. He also provided vocal backing and occasional lead vocals, most notably on Comfortably Numb, Wearing The Inside Out, and Arnold Layne, singing joint lead vocals with David on Astronomy Domine and the epic Echoes.

His last appearances in front of an audience were in 2007 – performing Arnold Layne with David Gilmour and Nick Mason at the Syd Barrett tribute concert in May, followed by a reunion of the On An Island touring band on 7th September; at London's Leicester Square Odeon cinema they played a surprise Island Jam after the premiere of the Remember That Night concert film.