He was born in
Newington, London, and in the 1880s started appearing on the
music hall stage in sketches written by singer and songwriter Harry Pleon (1856–1911). He came to recognise that he was a better songwriter than performer, and first found success in 1888 when his song "
Ask a P'liceman", with music by A. E. Durandeau, was taken up by comedian and singer
James Fawn. Within three years, the song reportedly sold half a million copies as
sheet music. Rogers found further success when his 1890 song "Hi-Tiddley-Hi-Ti", with music by
George Le Brunn, was performed by Charles Godfrey. In 1891, he began working as an accompanist to
George Robey, initially without Robey realising that he was a successful songwriter. Rogers began writing some of Robey's songs, including "The Simple Pimple", and monologues. He also wrote material for
Vesta Tilley, including her successful song "Following in Father's Footsteps" in 1902. Tilley commented on Rogers' prodigious output of material: "It was a rare thing not to see Rogers at my home in London every day with a batch of new numbers. He turned them out so quickly, and they were all more or less successful." He also wrote for other performers including
Florrie Forde,
Marie Lloyd,
Tom Costello,
Arthur Lennard, and
Alec Hurley, for whom he wrote the original "Lambeth Walk" (not the 1937
Noel Gay song of the same name). Rogers died in
Wandsworth in 1913, aged 49. ==References==