Before having formed his own band, Richard was originally a bassist who had played with several prominent artists, including Boy George, David Bowie, and Mick Jagger. In 1984, he appeared in Jazzin' for Blue Jean, a David Bowie video, as the bass player.
In the late 1980s, Richard joined with his brother Fred to form Right Said Fred. The Fairbrass brothers performed as a duo for a brief period touring in New York, afterwards guitarist Rob Manzoli joined them in 1990.
During the band's heyday Madonna publicly expressed in front of sixty million viewers of America’s Arsenio Hall Show her desire to go bed with Richard.
In 1994 he was joint winner of Rear of the Year with Mandy Smith. Following this, Fairbrass co-hosted, with Rhona Cameron, a TV series aimed to LGBT audience called Gaytime TV (1995–1999) on BBC Two. He also co-presented a game show The Desert Forges with Gabrielle Richens on Channel 5 in 2001.
In April 2007 Fairbrass was reported to be planning to run for Mayor of London in the 2008 election.[8] Shortly after, during a gay rights rally in Red Square, Moscow, on 27 May 2007 commemorating the 14th anniversary of the decriminalisation of homosexuality in Russia, Richard and Fred Fairbrass were assaulted by members of a counter-demonstration staged by ultra-nationalists. Richard Fairbrass sustained a cut under his eye. Speaking about the incident upon his return to the UK, Richard Fairbrass commented, "When it was over I actually felt more sorry for the guy that whacked me than I did for me... How threatened can he be, how insecure is he to be threatened by a bisexual pop singer who's most famous for singing "I'm Too Sexy"?".[9] In November of that year, he announced that he and his brother, Fred Fairbrass, would be taking part in the next series of I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!; however, they did not make it onto the show.
In an episode of Celebrity Fantasy Homes, hosted by Gaby Roslin, Richard and his brother Fred were looking to spend 2.5 million pounds on a property in Sussex with 3 separate living accommodations for them and their mother.[
In 2013, Right Said Fred re-recorded I'm Too Sexy as "I'm Too Smurfy" for World Smurfs Day. Richard appears on the promo, which features fresh clips from the 3D movie. Global Smurfs Day will benefit charity MediCinema, who build cinemas in hospitals.
