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Эдуард Хиль

[b]Eduard Khil[/b] (4 September 1933/34, Smolensk, USSR — 4 June 2012, Saint Petersburg, Russia) was a Soviet-Russian baritone and tenor vocalist, variety singer, and father of musician [url=https://discogs.com/artist/3064024]Dmitry Khil[/url] (b. 1963). One of the most distinguished "household name" singers across the Soviet Union from the 1960s until the late 1980s, Khil held numerous prestigious accolades: Honored Artist of the RSFSR (1968), People's Artist of the RSFSR (1974), Order of the Red Banner of Labour (1971), Lenin Komsomol Prize (1976), Order of Friendship of Peoples (1981), and the 4th-degree Order "For Merit to the Fatherland" (2009). He taught at the Leningrad State Institute of Theatre, Music & Cinema (LGITMiK) between 1987 and 1989, with [url=https://discogs.com/artist/1078769]Oleg Pogudin[/url] and [url=https://discogs.com/artist/1284513]Evgeny Dyatlov[/url] as notable students. In 2010, seventy-seven-year-old Eduard Khil had a brief meme-driven comeback as [b][a=Trololo Man][/b] after one of his mid-1970s live videos went viral online. Growing up during World War II, eight-year-old Eduard separated from his parents for two years during the emergency evacuation of Smolensk in 1941; with his original birth certificate lost, Khil later claimed his birthdate was erroneously recorded as "1934" when he restored the documents after WWII. In 1949, Eduard Khil came to Leningrad to pursue artistic education — initially, both in visual arts and opera singing; subsequently, he focused solely on music. In 1960, Khil graduated from [url=https://discogs.com/label/1513139]Leningrad Conservatory[/url] and joined the government [i]Lenconcert[/i] organization as a classical soloist. He sang leading baritone roles in [url=https://discogs.com/artist/95546]Mozart[/url]'s [i]Marriage of Figaro[/i], [url=https://discogs.com/artist/999914]Tchaikovsky[/url]'s [i]Eugene Onegin[/i] and [i]Pique Dame[/i], [i]Barber of Seville[/i] by [a=Gioacchino Rossini], [a=Stanisław Moniuszko]'s [i]Halka[/i], [url=https://discogs.com/artist/873725]Daniel Auber[/url]'s [i]Le domino noir[/i], and other prominent operas. In 1962, Eduard Khil presented some popular "variety" repertoire at Moscow's [url=https://discogs.com/label/411307]Central House of Artists[/url] for the first time; his mainstream breakthrough followed after recording title songs for two Georgiy Daneliya's films, [i][url=https://discogs.com/master/833479]Road to Berth[/url][/i] ("Путь к причалу") in 1962 and [i][url=https://discogs.com/master/401301]I Walk Around Moscow[/url][/i] ("Я шагаю по Москве") in 1964. Khil regularly collaborated with [url=https://discogs.com/artist/3526978]Yury Reitman[/url]'s instrumental quartet [url=https://discogs.com/artist/1957118]Kammerton[/url] and performed duos with leading Soviet female singers, such as [url=https://discogs.com/artist/948344]Maria Pachomenko[/url], [url=https://discogs.com/artist/3839367]Tatiana Novikova[/url], [url=https://discogs.com/artist/1542787]Taisia Kalinchenko[/url], [url=https://discogs.com/artist/716009]Ludmila Senchina[/url], [url=https://discogs.com/artist/715926]Maria Lukach[/url], [url=https://discogs.com/artist/817250]Maya Kristalinskaya[/url], [url=https://discogs.com/artist/490460]Alla Pugacheva[/url], and [url=https://discogs.com/artist/1522603]Valentina Tolkunova[/url]. Eduard Khil was among the few top-tier Soviet artists who toured internationally far beyond the "Eastern block" in the sixties, giving solo recitals in Poland, Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania, Egypt, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, the Philippines, Columbia, Brazilia, Chili, and even North America. Between 1969 and 1986, Khil released seven LP albums and numerous 7" singles on the state-owned [url=https://discogs.com/label/15486]Melodiya[/url] label and frequented some of the highest-ranking [url=https://discogs.com/label/435288]Central Television[/url] musical shows of the seventies, including the New Year Eve's [i]Little Blue Light[/i] ("Голубой огонёк") and the annual [i]Song of the Year[/i] ("Песня года") gala festival. After the USSR collapse in the early 1990s, however, Khil's career greatly diminished, forcing him to embark on "nostalgia exploitation" tours at various Russian émigré restaurants in Europe and America; such prolific artists as [a=Charles Aznavour], [a=Mireille Mathieu], and [a=Gilbert Bécaud] visited his critically acclaimed concert series at "[i]Rasputin[/i]" cabaret in Paris. In 1996, Eduard's son [url=https://discogs.com/artist/3064024]Dmitry[/url] urged him to launch a new joint music project, [b]Khil and Sons[/b], re-recording a collection of Khil's 1960 "schlagers" in contemporary arrangements with Russian rock band [url=https://discogs.com/artist/1785158]Prepinaki[/url]. In November 2009, an archival 1976 video of Eduard Khil performing [url=https://discogs.com/artist/805291]Arkady Ostrovsky[/url]'s non-lexical vocalize [i]I'm Glad As I'm Finally Coming Back Home[/i] ("Я очень рад, ведь я наконец возвращаюсь домой") appeared on YouTube. A combination of catchy, rollicking melody, unique tonal singing, and Khil's overly cheerful smile and vivacious mimicking solidified the viral popularity of the "Trolololo" video (a portmanteau of [i]trolling[/i] and onomatopoeic representation of indiscernible lyrics), which spread from social networks to [a=Stephen Colbert] show and the [i][a=Family Guy][/i]. The retired singer greatly adored numerous parodies; after numerous booking offers, Khil agreed to return to the stage as "[i]Trololo Man[/i]" and continued performing at various Moscow and Saint Petersburg nightclubs until his hospitalization in April 2012. Diagnosed with severe brain aneurysm and cerebrovascular stroke, he died at 78.