Gavrilov was born in the city
Derbent,
Dagestan ASSR,
USSR. His father
Boris Gavrilov (1908–1990) was a poet and dramatist. Since the beginning of the
World War II, Gavrilov worked as a locksmith's apprentice, a 4-grade locksmith, then a 4-grade turner at the Derbent cannery. In 1944 he voluntarily joined the
Red Army. After Gavrilov graduated from the school of junior aviation specialists, he served as a fighter armament master in the 26th reserve aviation regiment, then in the 117th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment, he supported the
Yak-3 fighter. He was demobilized from the army in February 1947. was its first editor-in-chief, as well as the chairman of the
Mountain Jewish section of the Writers' Union of Israel, edited books published in the Judeo-Tat language. In 2004 he with his family moved back to live in Derbent. He started to work as an editor of the department of the republican newspaper
Vatan. Mikhail Gavrilov's son, Semyon Gavrilov, is also a poet. == Awards==