Debuting in the film Nizhalgal (1980) with the lyrics for 'Ponmalai Pozhudhu', he has now about 5800 songs to his credit as of January 2009.. His partnership with the composers Ilaiyaraaja, and later A. R. Rahman, have resulted in critical praise, awards, and box office hits.

He has been awarded the National Film Award five times in the Best Lyrics category. He is a recipient of Kalaimamani Award and Tamil Nadu State Government award thrice for his contribution to Tamil literature.

Vairamuthu was born to Ramaswamy and Angammal of Mettur in a middle class family. When he was four, the village gave way to Vaigai Dam and the family moved to Vadugapatti village, a farming community in Theni near Periyakulam.

The ambience of the village is said to have inspired him to write poems.According to him, Tamil and Rationalist movements of the sixties stimulated his poetic zeal. The speeches of Periyar & Anna, the writings of Karunanidhi and the works of eminent poets like Bharathi, Bharathidasan and Kannadasan and the life in the countryside shaped the young poet's thinking. At the age of fourteen, he was inspired by Thiruvalluvar's Thirukkural to write a venba compilation of poetry, strictly adhering to the yappu grammar rules of Tamil poetry.

He joined Pachaiyappa's college in Chennai where he was acclaimed as the best speaker and poet. While in his second year of B. A. and barely nineteen years of age, Vairamuthu published his maiden anthology Vaigarai Megangal. It was prescribed for study in Women's Christian College. Thus, he achieved the distinction of a student poet whose work was taken into curriculum while he was still a student.

His second work, Thiruththi Yezhudhiya Theerppugal, in pudhu kavidhai (free verse) form was published in 1979. He made his film debut in the succeeding year when he set lyrics for Bharathiraja's Nizhalgal.

He is strongly influenced by Percy Bysshe Shelley, John Keats, Khalil Gibran, Firdausi and Nizami.

Vairamuthu uses free verse (puthu kavithai in Tamil), wherever it suits him. For him, content is more important than the form.

With 5,600 songs to his credit, he has published nine collections of poems. His writings have also extended to genres such as novel, essay, biography and travelogue. In fact, 20 of the 32 books he has published in the last 30 years are in prose.

On the literature front, his notable works include Innoru Desiya Geetham, Indha Pookkal Virppanai-kkalla, Sigarangalai nOkki, Villodu Vaa Nilave and many others numbering to 30.