Richard Peter Maddox was born in Apia, Western Samoa, and grew up in Sydney, N.S.W. He completed a Bachelor of Commerce degree at the University of New South Wales in 1962. Following a number of years working as a company accountant and controller, he decided to leave the world of commerce, taking a Bachelor of Music from the University of London by external study in 1973.

In 1977 he completed his M.A. in Music at the University of Sydney, and embarked for Los Angeles to study for the Ph.D. in Music at the University of California, Los Angeles. In 1982 he returned to Australia to take up a lectureship at the University of New England in Armidale, N.S.W., and subsequently completed his Ph.D. in 1987. In 1991 he retired from the University of New England to pursue his musical interests as performer and composer.