He was born Roland Gardner on 21 June 1979 in London. He is the godson of the late Jaime Ortiz-Patino, owner of Valderrama Golf Club and former Chairman of the World Bridge Association.

In 2004, he founded Sidewalk 7 Limited in the United Kingdom. Initially founded as a company to act as the vehicle for Gardner’s projects and creative ventures, it expanded to a business including a record label, an artist management company and event production agency. Sidewalk 7 Limited released over thirty titles internationally from acts including Winter Roberts, This is Radio Freedom, Jim Kroft, Al Catraz, Billy Vincent and The Blue Eyed Shark Experiment. The company successfully managed campaigns on behalf of artists and garnered radio play on the BBC, television coverage on MTV and widespread college recognition in the United States.

In 2009, Gardner founded Escape Productions LLC. Gardner serves as CEO, Creative Director, and Manager of Tribal Relations.

In 2012, Gardner created the Escape for Good series in partnership with New York marketing firm Sunshine Sachs. It is a charity race over 36 hours where contestants travel with no money in support of their favourite cause.

In 2017, Gardner placed 18,000 tiles on a Venice residential property with New York artist FAILE as a mark of unity within the Venice Community.