Born on 11 August 1914 at Abhivirutheeswaram in East Thanjavur district as the only son of Kadershah Ravuthar and Pathuma amma, he lived an exemplary life.

He did not have a regular school education but was tutored privately in Tamil language till he was 14 years of age.

He was a follower of the Congress party freedom fight and has taken part in the Quit India Movement in 1942.

He was influential in introducing M. Karunanidhi to the Modern Theaatres' owner T. R. Sundaram, who hired the young script writer for a monthly sum of 500 rupees, to join the story department of his company.

Sheriff has penned more than 400 lyrics, many of which are popular and ever-green among Tamil film song lovers.

His very first movie lyric was penned for the 1950 film Ponmudi, produced by the Modern Theatres.

Music directors who composed tunes to his lyrics are: G. Ramanathan, S. M. Subbaiah Naidu, S. Dakshinamurthi, K. V. Mahadevan, Ramaneekaran, T. A. Kalyanam, T. R. Pappa, S. Rajeswara Rao Singers who sang his lyrics include T. M. Soundararajan, M. K. Thyagaraja Bhagavathar, Sirkazhi Govindarajan, A. M. Rajah, P. Leela, Jikki, K. Jamuna Rani, Soolamangalam Jayalakshmi, (Radha) Jayalakshmi, K. Rani, U. R. Chandra, Ponnammal, N. L. Ganasaraswathi, A. P. Komala, [1] Ka.