Rugmini Gopalakrishnan was born in Tamil Nadu, before moving to Kerala with her family as a young girl.

[citation needed] She began her preliminary training in music and vocal under her uncle, Sri Nellai T.V.

Krishnamoorthy, prior to receiving the Government of India Cultural Scholarship to undertake deeper studies in Carnatic music on the Saraswati veena with Padma Bhushan K. S. Narayanaswamy.

[2] She is a member of the Board of Studies at University of Calicut and a Member of the Audition Board of All India Radio for Delhi and Thiruvananthapuram, and the author of several Indian government commissioned books and essays on Carnatic music in the Tamil and Malayalam languages.

She has been given the title A-Top Grade Artist with All India Radio, a station that has been broadcasting her Veena recitals for over 64 years starting 1954.