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Ravi was born in Delhi on March 3, 1926. He had no formal training in classical music; instead he learned music from listening to his father sing bhajans. He taught himself to play harmonium and other classical instruments and worked as an electrician to support his family. In 1950 he decided to shift to Bombay and become a professional singer. At first Ravi was homeless, living on the streets and sleeping in Malad railway station at night. In 1952, he was discovered by Hemant Kumar who hired him to sing backing vocals in Vande Mataram from the film Anand Math.Ravi gave several hit songs and received Filmfare nominations for these films: Chaudhvin Ka Chand (1960), Do Badan (1966), Humraaz (1967), Ankhen (1968), and Nikaah (1982). He won Filmfare awards for Gharana (1961) and Khandaan (1965).[2] His other successful films include Waqt, Neel Kamal and Gumraah. His songs Aaj mere yaar ki shaadi hai, Babul ki duyaen leti ja and Doli chadh ke dulhan sasural chali became very popular in wedding celebrations. He was one of the music directors who shaped the career of Asha Bhosle with songs like Tora man darpan. He was also instrumental in making Mahendra Kapoor a popular singer in Bollywood. After a successful career in Hindi films during the 1950s and 1960s, he took a long break after 1970 till 1982. In 1982, he gave music for the Hindi film Nikaah, and one of the film's songs Dil ke armaan aansooyon main beh gaye sung by Salma Agha won her the Filmfare Best Female Playback Award.
Ravi's wife, whom he married in 1946, died in 1988. His son Ajay is married to Varsha Usgaonkar who is a Marathi and Hindi film actress.