The duo met in May of 1975 while performing in the American production of the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, "Jesus Christ Superstar". Later that year, the duo, along with Chrissie Hammond, formed Air Supply as a five-man group. Hammond left the band and was replaced by Jeremy Paul in time for the group's first Australian hit single, "Love and Other Bruises". It was followed by a self-titled debut album that reached gold in Australia. Singles during this period included "Empty Pages" and "Do What You Do". The group were invited to open for Rod Stewart during his tour of Australia; he was so impressed by their performance that he invited them to be the opening act during his tour of the United States. During this tour, Jeremy Paul left the band. He later played with the original lineup of the Divinyls, led by Chrissie Amphlett.

Eager to prove that they could still succeed as a duo, the group released the album "Love and Other Bruises", which included re-recordings of many of their earlier hits. Although their music was met with some success, Graham Russell on the 1995 DVD recalls that he and Hitchcock were so poor that they were reduced to checking the backs of hotel sofas for change so that they could buy bread to make toast.

Hitchcock and Russell started out fresh again in 1978 and the band that was to record almost all of the hit records was formed. It featured Frank Esler-Smith (arranger and keyboardist), David Moyse and Rex Goh (guitars) as well as the rhythm section of David Green (bass) and Ralph Cooper (drums).

In 1979, the band released "Life Support", a concept album that included a picture disc on its first printing. Produced by Charles Fisher, it was recorded in the tiny Trafalgar Studios in Sydney, Australia where, as Graham recalls on the 2005 DVD, he had half an inch between the end of his guitar and the studio wall. It was on this album that a five-and-a-half minute version of "Lost in Love" was introduced to Australian audiences. Written by Russell in fifteen minutes, the song caught the attention of music mogul Clive Davis and his record label, Arista, remixed the song and released it as a single in the United States.

Their 1980 album, "Lost In Love", contained three U.S. Top Five singles, including the title track, plus "Every Woman In The World" and "All Out of Love" (sample). "All Out of Love" was to be the band's only Top 40 hit in the United Kingdom, where it hit #11. It was quickly followed by three more hit albums, "The One That You Love", "Now and Forever" and "Greatest Hits".

In 1983, they had a #2 hit in the U.S. with "Making Love Out of Nothing At All", written by Jim Steinman. Air Supply released their first live video, "Air Supply Live in Hawaii". During the mid-1980s, they had one semi-major Billboard hit with "Just as I Am" and couple of very minor hits. Russell and Hitchcock recorded a 1987 Christmas album before taking a break with studio recordings. During this time, Russell Hitchcock released his self-titled debut album.

On August 21, 1989, using their old producer and welcoming the return of drummer Ralph Cooper, the duo decided to enter the studio again to record "The Earth Is", which was released in 1991 by Giant Records under Warner Brothers. The recording contains their hit single "Without You", along with singles for "Stronger Than the Night" (with a music video announcing that Air Supply were back) and "Stop the Tears". Inside the album is a note about Russell Hitchcock's and Graham Russell's original Musical Director of their meeting place during the "Jesus Christ Superstar" (and long time Band Member/Orchestrator): "This Album is Dedicated To The Memory Of Frank Esler-Smith."

The official fan club released "The Earth Is World Tour" video, a rare collector's item that contains live footage from the band's tour throughout the world in support of the album.

The album was followed by "The Vanishing Race" in 1993, which was supported by the hit single "Goodbye" produced by David Foster (Barbra Streisand, the rock band, "Chicago", Josh Groban, Celine Dion) with lyrics written by a Former ex girlfriend of Elvis Presley(David Foster's current wife) Linda Thompson ?V which, although not popular in the United States, gained a large following outside the country, leading to another world tour. "It's Never Too Late" was another single released from the album. The album itself was dedicated to the plight of the American Indians, the "vanishing race" of the album's title.

Their third album of the decade, "News from Nowhere", was released in 1995. It contained the Asian hit singles "Someone", "Always", and a cover of "Unchained Melody", a song made famous by Bobby Hatfield of The Righteous Brothers.

It was during this period that they became popular in south-eastern Asian countries, culminating in the release of Now and Forever: Greatest Hits Live", a CD and DVD recording of a live concert in Taipei, Taiwan, also in 1995, which stayed at the top of the Chinese album charts for 16 weeks.

They continued to tour and record into the new millennium, releasing the more adult contemporary titled "The Book of Love" (1997), "Yours Truly" (2001), and "Across the Concrete Sky" (2003). In 2005 they once again released a live CD/DVD recording. It was 2005 they performed in Havana,Cuba, one of the first foreign bands invited to perform in the country. They were booked to perform two concerts, and played the first show on July 7th, the day before Hurricane Dennis hit the country. In high winds their first concert had an audience of 175,000. Due to the hurricane they could not play the second show. Fans staying at the same hotel as Air Supply on July 8th had to be content with Graham performing acoustically for them, as there was no electricity.

In 2006 they released an acoustic album, "The Singer and the Song", and are gearing up for the release of their first studio album in three years, "Zed". In support for the acoustic album they made their first trip to India in May 2006. December 2nd, 2006 saw the duo perfom to a capacity crowd in Kingston, Jamaica. This was their second visit to Jamaica, having performed at the Air Jamaica Jazz & Blues Festival in January 2006.