Richard Davies (born 22 July 1944) is an English musician, singer and songwriter best known as founder, vocalist and keyboardist of the rock band Supertramp.

Davies was its only constant member,[2] and composed some of the band's best-known songs, including "Rudy", "Bloody Well Right", "Crime of the Century", "Ain't Nobody But Me", "From Now On", "Gone Hollywood", "Goodbye Stranger", "Just Another Nervous Wreck", "My Kind of Lady", "Cannonball" and "I'm Beggin' You".

"[5] A friend of the family made Rick a makeshift drum kit out of a biscuit tin, and at the age of 12 he joined the British Railways Staff Association Brass and Silver Jubilee Band as a snare drummer.

[6] In 1962, while studying in the art department at Swindon College, he formed his own band, called Rick's Blues, and was now playing a Hohner electric piano instead of drums.

"[6] When his father became ill, Davies disbanded Rick's Blues, left college, and took a job as a welder at Square D,[6] a firm making industrial control products and systems, which had a factory on the Cheney Manor Trading Estate in Swindon.

[5] While the band was in Munich, Davies met Dutch millionaire Stanley August Miesegaes, who offered to fund him if he started a new group.

[7] Davies decided to form a new band, and returned home from Switzerland to place an ad in the music magazine Melody Maker in August 1969.

After five years with Davies and Hodgson as the mainstays of a continuously changing group, Supertramp settled into a stable lineup and recorded Crime of the Century, which finally brought them critical and commercial success when it was released in 1974.

Davies' relationship with him had deteriorated[citation needed] and the group's last hit before his departure, "My Kind of Lady", featured little involvement from Hodgson as either a writer or performer.

The song was a showcase for Davies's vocal range, with him singing in everything from a booming bass to a piercing falsetto to his natural raspy baritone.

With Davies firmly at the helm, Supertramp returned to a more non-commercial, progressive rock-oriented sound with the album Brother Where You Bound and had another hit with "Cannonball".

[2] In late August 2018, Rick Davies gave a rare interview in which he expressed that, for the most part, he has overcome his health problems and enjoys playing music again, something he could not do around 2016, when he was under medical treatment.