The famous Soviet singer Eduard Khil, known to the Western audience as “Mr. Trololo” has died in St. Petersburg after being hospitalized in coma because of a stroke in late May. The singer 77-year-old has been performing down to recent times.
Khil, a recipient of the People's Artist Award in the Soviet Union, became famous in the West after his song of 50 years ago, I Am So Happy to Finally Be Back Home, which contains no words but only a melody of a series of "tro-lo-los," hit the internet.
The Trololo song, according to Khil, had originally featured lyrics describing a cowboy riding a horse to his farm; however, the Soviet Union rejected the lyrics because of the association with American lifestyle. As of now, the original video has well over 12 million views on YouTube.
Eduard Khil was born in Smolensk in 1934. He started his music career in 1960 at the Leningrad Conservatory. He began performing in 1962 and very soon became extremely popular. In the late 1970s he commenced a lecturing career at the Leningrad Conservatory. He was later named an Honored Artist of the Russian Federation.
Victory at an International Youth Festival in Berlin in 1973 gave him a chance to see the world, as the singer made a global tour, visiting some 80 countries.
In the 1980s Eduard Khil was one of the few Soviet people to travel to the US and Europe. In Paris’s Rasputin cabaret, the singer’s performances were enjoyed by Mireille Mathieu and France’s 21st President, François Mitterrand.
International fans of the song nicknamed Eduard Khil the “Trololo Man”, asking the singer to give live shows in their countries.
Eduard Khil recommenced concert activity at the age of 75. Between 2010 and 2012 he wrote a song for a cartoon and was decorated with a “Steppenwolf” music award.
The singer was awarded several Soviet and Russian orders, including the Order of the Red Banner of Labor, Order of Peoples' Friendship and Order of Merit for the Motherland.
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