Richard Fortus was born on November 17, 1966, in St. Louis, Missouri. Before his work with Guns N' Roses, he built a musical partnership with The Psychedelic Furs singer Richard Butler through Pale Divine and Love Spit Love. That connection eventually brought him back to the Furs as a producer on Made of Rain.
Fortus started violin at four and learned drums as a child, adding cello in high school. In a 2012 interview with Glide Magazine, he recalled playing in youth symphonies and finding the guitar intimidating despite growing up around instruments. Watching other musicians eventually drew him toward it, and the finger strength he had developed as a violinist helped him adapt quickly. Guitar became his best-known instrument, but the strings he learned first continued to appear in his recordings.
He formed The Eyes in 1984. The St. Louis band became Pale Divine and released Straight to Goodbye in 1991, then toured with The Psychedelic Furs. Fortus and Butler took their connection into Love Spit Love, whose self-titled debut arrived in 1994. Fortus played guitar, mandolin and cello on the album, carrying that broader instrumental background into his collaboration with Butler.
The partnership also expanded his work behind the recording desk. Fortus shared songwriting and production credits on Love Spit Love’s second album, Trysome Eatone, released in 1997. When The Psychedelic Furs reunited in 2000, he joined them on guitar. His playing appeared on their 2001 live album Beautiful Chaos: Greatest Hits Live, extending a relationship that had begun with an opening slot.
With Guns N' Roses, Fortus faced the challenge of finding space in arrangements built for three guitarists. His playing appeared on the band’s 2008 album Chinese Democracy, including rhythm guitar on “Better.” Recalling the sessions in a 2025 Guitar World interview, he explained that much of the music had already been written, so adding his parts meant considering what the other players were doing. “You have to keep out of each other’s way,” he said. The arrangements needed room for individual contributions without everyone filling the same space.
That attention to rhythm also ran through his session work. Fortus explained to Guitar World in 2023 that recording jobs more often called for accompaniment than solos, making his connection with the drummer essential. He concentrated on lining up beats two and four, while changes in his picking attack helped him move between cleaner and more overdriven sounds. His hands could change the character of a part without requiring a different amplifier channel.
The relationship with the Furs developed again when Fortus co-produced their 2020 album Made of Rain. Bassist Tim Butler told The Pitch that working with someone who understood the band made the sessions relaxed. Fortus could recognize what suited them and challenge ideas that became excessive, drawing on years of familiarity. He also recommended Tim Palmer to mix the record.
After years of discussing another album, the Furs recorded in two 12-day sessions, one late in 2019 and another in January 2020. Made of Rain became their first studio album since 1991’s World Outside. Fortus encouraged the musicians to explore different sounds and contributed instruments himself. Alongside his production work, he played guitar and viola on the album, bringing his string-playing background into another recording with the band that had helped open his career beyond St. Louis.
