- Father of Bas van Otterloo. Had two other children: Alfie and Thijs.
- Son of Willem van Otterloo.
- In spite of his six ultimately unsuccessful years of trying to master the violin, Rogier never lost his love for it - "there is no instrument more wonderful than the violin", he once said.
- His mother was ballet dancer Ankie Heukers; his father Willem van Otterloo, renowned chief conductor of the Utrechts Stedelijk Orkest (1937-1949) and later of the Residentie Orkest, alternatively known as The Hague Philharmonic (1949-1974).
- Chief of the Netherlands' Metropole Orchestra from 1980 until his untimely passing in 1988.
- Rogier never obtained his diploma; in 1966, he was expelled from conservatory.
- Asked by a journalist about his arranging work, Rogier van Otterloo felt it should be considered a form of craftsmanship rather than art.
- In the mid-1960s he was a pianist with the cabaret group Lurelei. He then began to compose more intensively. He wrote for Gerard Cox and Jasperina de Jong, among others. Most of the compositions were recorded by sound engineer Dick Bakker.
- Van Otterloo played the violin, but switched to drums and then piano.
- Van Otterloo got lung cancer at a young age. In 1983, he had a tumor removed, but the disease later returned. He continued to work as long as possible, until finally the musicians of the Metropole Orkest could no longer bear it and insisted on his resignation.
- The saxophonist Thijs van Otterloo (1973) is his son. Thijs and his half-brother Bas van Otterloo released an album of three CDs in 2004 with a choice of Van Otterloo's music.
- After high school he studied piano and flute at the Amsterdam Muzieklyceum.
- When he was eleven his parents divorced.
- Between 1980 and 1987 he was five times, the conductor of the Dutch contributions to the Eurovision Song Contest.
- On 1 September 1980 he was appointed chief conductor of the Metropole Orkest as successor to Dolf van der Linden.
- He attended the Vossius Gymnasium in Amsterdam and founded the Gold Coast Combo in which he played the piano and his classmate Edwin Rutten drums.
- On March 10, 2011, the Metropole Orkest, in collaboration with Omroep Max, organized a tribute to Van Otterloo in concert hall Vredenburg Leidsche Rijn. Collaboration was provided by Rita Reys, Louis van Dijk, Toots Thielemans, Gerard Cox, Thijs van Leer, Ernö Olah and Edwin Rutten. Also on that evening the first copy of Van Otterloo's biography was presented to his widow Willy.
- He received an Edison twice, once in 1971 and (posthumously) in 1988.
- Van Otterloo was born as the eldest son of the composer and conductor Willem van Otterloo and Annette Jacoba Adriana Heukers. From childhood, the feeling and love for music were instilled in him from an early age.
- Van Otterloo became best known for the film music for successful Dutch feature films such as Turks Fruit (1973), Help! The doctor is drowning... (Help, de dokter verzuipt) (1974), Keetje Tippel (1975), Soldier of Orange (1977), Grijpstra en de Gier (1979) and On hope of blessing ( Op Hoop van zegen) (1986).
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