Inducted 2007

Born March 10, 1959, Roger grew up in Strawberry, Arkansas. Roger was 15 years old when he played for his first Gospel group, the Wayfaring Singers of Lynn, AR.  In November of 1979, Roger fulfilled his life-long dream of being part of professional Southern Gospel music when he was invited by Glen Payne and George Younce to join the legendary Cathedral Quartet as pianist. Though he would leave the group for two years (1987-1989) to serve as the president of Journey Records, Roger was the group's pianist at the time of the quartet's retirement in 1999.

When the Cathedral Quartet announced their retirement, Roger and Cathedral baritone, Scott Fowler, organized Legacy Five in order to continue the tradition of outstanding gospel music to which they had become accustomed.  In 2004, Roger fulfilled another dream (having his own successful quartet) when readers of Singing News voted Legacy Five as the Favorite Traditional Male Quartet.  Although an excellent singer, Roger is best remembered as pianist--and often a comedian--for the Cathedrals and Legacy Five. Roger received the Singing News Fan Award for Favorite Southern Gospel pianist 14 years in row (1993-2006). He was inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 2006 as a member of the Cathedral Quartet.

Songwriting was another gift of Roger Bennett. Many of his songs appeared on the recordings of the Cathedrals, Legacy Five and others. “I Read the Back of the Book”, “Heroes of the Faith”, “Healing”, and “Jesus Saves”. His writing talent was not limited to just songs, however, Roger was a contributing editor to Singing News, writing  his monthly article,  “Midnight Meditations.”  Also, during his gospel music career, Roger taught many pianists through his gospel piano video series.

Roger was diagnosed with leukemia in 1995. He died March 17, 2007.