As a child, he was immensely talented and inducted into mridangam lessons very early in his life.
Later he learnt the art from Palghat T. S. Mani Iyer, to whose niece, Swarnambal, he was married.
Raghu toured extensively in Europe, United States, Australia, Malaysia and Singapore.
He performed with artists such as Sitar Maestro Pandit Ravi Shankar, Flute Hariprasad Chaurasia, Santoor Shivkumar Sharma and Alla Rakha in numerous concerts in India and abroad.
Palghat Raghu's grandsons are carnatic musician Abhishek Raghuram and mridangam artist Anantha R. Krishnan.