Born and raised in Louisiana, Roger was encouraged as a pianist, songwriter and singer from an early age. His mother was a pioneering and flamboyant minister and piano player, his two brothers were R&B recording artists and country & gospel music was an integral part of his childhood. But drawn more to Hindemith and Bartok, at 16 he left his roots behind to study violin and viola at the University of Southern California and soon after moved to Manhattan to explore voice, theater and composition. After premiering song cycles using poetry of James Agee, Robert Frost and Dorothy Parker, early in 1980 Anderson was boldly paired with lyricist and DC Comics author Lee Goldsmith to write Shine, a musical about a bootblack. Based on the works of Horatio Alger and developed for Broadway by 20th Century Fox, much of the making and now infamous "un-making" of Shine is documented in Supporting Player, an autobiography by Richard Seff.

The joyful collaboration with Goldsmith continued with several other works including Beside the Seaside, Eldorado, Quality Street, Goodbye My Fancy and Ladykiller, A Musical Noir. As a team they are recipients of numerous honors including the Carbonell Award for Chaplin, several ASCAP awards and the Broadway USA Award for Shine! (published by Samuel French).

As a young composer, he was privileged to work closely with such master talents as Ernest Kinoy, Michael Smuin, Joe Layton, Vivian Matalon and Hal Prince.

Roger has also designed sound and composed incidental music for several productions in New York City, including Of Lives and Leaves at the Red Room, Andrew Reaches the Other Side at the Bank Street Theatre and We Were There, Two Spoons, and most recently Accidentally, Like A Martyr for Other Side Productions.

In 2007 he began work on Flying Tiger, a large-scale Chinese-American co-production that explores the life of General Claire Chennault and relationship with Madame Chiang Kai-shek with renowned playwright William Luce and lyricist Kenneth Jones. Also in 2007, Chaplin made its UK premiere with directors Martin Connor and Bill Deamer.

His musical, Abe, commissioned in 2008 by The Muddy River Opera Company in Quincy, Illinois had its Lincoln Bicentennial premiere in February 2009 and is now licensed and published by Samuel French, Inc. Abe is a mature and powerful musical about Lincoln's life prior to his presidency.

Shine! garnered new praise, strong reviews and awards of excellence as part of NYMF 2010 and the new version with orchestrations is now available for licensing by Samuel French.