Durst was born in Jacksonville, Florida to a churchgoing mother, Anita, who married a policeman, William, when he was two years old. After graduating high school he moved to Jacksonville, Florida in his late teens. After high school, he joined the U.S. Navy to impress his girlfriend and his father, but after he found that basic training was too strenuous for him, he dropped out. From there, he unsuccessfully tried his hand at college, got married, and had a daughter, Adriana, at age 20. Upon returning to Jacksonville he pursued a career as a tattoo artist. Durst later confessed, "Being in the Navy was like being in prison. I made the biggest mistake of my life."
Durst joined Limp Bizkit in 1994, with Sam Rivers and John Otto. Wes Borland joined soon after, and DJ Lethal, formerly of the hip hop group House of Pain, joined the band in 1995.

Limp Bizkit's first hit, a cover of George Michael's late 1980s hit Faith, gained traction due to heavy airplay on MTV, especially during the first year of TRL. The band's other major hits include "Nookie", "Break Stuff", "Re-arranged", "Counterfeit", "N 2 Gether Now", "Take a Look Around", "Rollin'", "My Generation" and "My Way." Durst has directed most of Limp Bizkit's music videos, as well as videos for Korn ("Falling Away from Me"), Deadsy ("The Key to Gramercy Park"), Cold ("No One"), Puddle of Mudd ("Blurry"), and Staind ("It's Been Awhile," "Just Go," and "Home"), among others.

Durst was ranked 71 in the Hit Parader's Top 100 Metal Vocalist of All Time.