He was born in the settlement of Pavlovskaya in Krasnodar Krai, Russia. In 1944 he entered the Yerevan Theatre Institute and studied there for two years. He then lived and worked in various cities of the USSR. In 1958–1962 he was a literary staff member of the magazine "Pioner", in 1963–1970 a technical editor at the "Hayastan" publishing house, and from 1970 a member of the Union of Writers of the USSR. From 1979 he worked at the Scientific-Methodological Centre of Folk Art and Cultural-Educational Work of the Ministry of Culture of the Armenian SSR as head of the folklore sector. Many Armenian composers have written a great many songs to his lyrics.
