Rose was born in Washington, D.C., and raised by his mother Mary, who worked for the Army Corps of Engineers, his aunt, and his grandmother in an area known as South Fairlington Historic District, in Arlington, Virginia, where he was to meet Scott McKenzie, who lived nearby.

In November of that year, he played two gigs at the Fillmore Auditorium in San Francisco; headlining were the Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane.

Backed up by a trio that included William Lewis Wexler on keyboards and flute, he played at such clubs as Basin Street West in San Francisco and Le Hibou in Ottawa, Ontario.

Rose's version (crediting himself as author), unlike the others, was a slow, angry ballad, which received US radio airplay and became a regional hit in the San Francisco area in 1966, as well as upstate New York cities like Buffalo and Albany.

Rose heard Fred Neil's version, then recorded the song with a harder, rock feel and improperly added his name to the song-writing credit.

A roadie introduced Fred Neil's version of the song to Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead, who electrified it, recorded it on their debut album in 1967, and played it live many times over nearly three decades, beginning with their performance at the Human Be-In in San Francisco on January 14, 1967.

In 1968, while his song "Roanoke" was getting some airplay in the UK, Rose was considered while replacements were being selected for Brian Jones's place in The Rolling Stones.

Rose worked in the late 1960s and 1970s with sidemen Bob Bowers, Felix Pappalardi, Alan Seidler, Tina Charles, Pierre Tubbs, B. J. Cole, Colin Winston-Fletcher, Micky Wynne, John Bonham, Les Podraza, Aynsley Dunbar, Alex Damovsky, John McVie, Andy Summers, Eric Weissberg, Russ Kunkel, Randall Elliot, Pete Sears.

In 1972, he put together his short-lived LA band featuring: Michael 'Papabax' Baxter on keyboards, Shelly Scott on drums, Bob Zinner on guitar and Larry "Fuzzy" Knight on bass, to play the 'California concert halls and 'nite' spots'.

He appeared on bills with Traffic, The Staple Singers, Stevie Wonder, Simon and Garfunkel, The Doors, Uriah Heep, Johnny Mathis, Frank Zappa, Jimi Hendrix, Jeff Beck, Rod Stewart, Procol Harum, the Grateful Dead, Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, The Band of Joy, and Tim Hardin.

He returned to New York for a number of years, living in Hell's Kitchen on Restaurant Row, and then much later Lincoln Square near Central Park.

[citation needed] Having lost his contacts in the music industry, he was forced to work as a construction laborer until an opportunity arose to sing jingles for TV commercials in early 1980.

While working on Wall Street, he met Dennis Lepri, former lead guitarist for the folk rock group, Gunhill Road.

[2] He also appeared on the BBC Television show Later with Jools Holland, and performed with Robert Plant's folk-rock band, Priory of Brion.

[citation needed] By the late 1990s to early 2000s, most of his back catalog had been re-released (some as double albums), and were available both in record stores and from Rose's own web site, Tim-Rose.co.uk.

[1][2] Not Goin' Anywhere by Norwegian band Headwaiter, featuring four songs with lyrics by Rose and a duet with the lead singer Per Jorgenson, was released in Norway in September 2002.

[1] In 2002, Rose had completed a successful tour of Ireland with co-writer and guitarist Mickey Wynne and had a number of gigs planned around the UK.