Kamukara was born on 4 December 1930 in Thiruvattar in Kanyakumari district of present day Tamil Nadu.
Most of his songs were written by Thirunainar kurichi Madhavan Nair and composed by Brother Lakshmanan.
Later in his career, Kamukara Purushothaman, along with K. P. Udayabhanu and other senior singers formed a music troupe by name Old is Gold and performed stage programs all over India and abroad.
School, died suddenly on 26 May 1995 after suffering from a massive heart attack while on a journey to Thiruvananthapuram.
Awardees by the year are: V. Dakshinamoorthy, K. Raghavan, P. Leela, K. J. Yesudas, P. Jayachandran, P. Susheela, S. Janaki, Vani Jairam, P. B. Sreenivas, M. S. Baburaj,[3] B. Vasantha, L. R. Eswari, K. J. Joy, M. S. Viswanathan, M. K. Arjunan, M. G. Radhakrishnan, Shyam (composer), K. P. Udayabhanu, P. Madhuri, Ouseppachan, Sujatha Mohan, K. S. Chithra and M. G. Sreekumar.