He is best known for his work with the rock band Foreigner and his associations with the Small Faces, Roxy Music, Peter Frampton, Spooky Tooth, David Gilmour, Bad Company and The Jones Gang.

Rick Wills played in the early days of rock music in Cambridge, from c. 1961 in the Vikings, then in a succession of local bands: the Sundowners, Soul Committee,[1] Bullitt (with David Gilmour on guitar and John 'Willie' Wilson on drums) and Cochise before joining Frampton's Camel.

He left the Small Faces and appeared on David Gilmour's eponymous album in 1978, with Willie Wilson on drums.

He appeared at The Steve Marriott Memorial Concert on 24 April 2001, as part of a backing band with Bobby Tench, Zak Starkey and Rabbit Bundrick.

On 12 January 2015, in Sarasota, Florida, Wills and original drummer Dennis Elliott joined Foreigner on stage to play "Headknocker".