Eduard Khil

Eduard Anatolyevich Khil (Russian: Эдуа́рд Анато́льевич Хи́ль; born 4 September 1934, Smolensk, Western Oblast), sometimes referred as Edward Hill or Edward Khil, is a Russian baritone singer and a recipient of the People’s Artist Award of the RSFSR.
After retiring from a singing career, Khil slowly faded into obscurity in his later years. In 2010, Khil reclaimed the spotlight when he became the subject of the viral «Trololo» internet meme on YouTube, featuring a 1976 video of a vocalised version of the song, «I Am Glad To Finally Be Home» (Я очень рад, ведь я, наконец, возвращаюсь домой).
Life

Eduard Khil was born on September 4, 1934 in Smolensk. In 1960 he graduated from the Leningrad Conservatory, where he studied under direction of Evgeni Olkhovksky and Zoya Lodyi. He began performing as a soloist. Khil currently lives at Tolstoy House (Толстовский дом) in St. Petersburg.
He was the first artist to sing such songs as Woodcutters (Лесорубы in Russian) and Moon Stone (Лунный камень) by Arkady Ostrovsky, and Song about Friend (Песня о друге), Blue Cities (Голубые города), And People Go To the Sea (А люди уходят в море) by Andrey Petrov. Other popular songs performed by Khil included From What the Homeland Begins? (С чего начинается Родина?), How the Steamers Are Seen Off (Как провожают пароходы), Winter (Зима), Birch Sap (Берёзовый сок), Alder Catkin (Серёжка ольховая), We Need Only the Victory (Нам нужна одна победа), and many others.
In 1977-1979, Khil taught solo singing at the Saint Petersburg State Theatre Arts Academy.
After his singing career faded in the early 1990s, Khil reentered private life and worked in a cafe in Paris. Since 1997, Khil has been involved with his son in a joint project with the rock group Prepinaki.
Family name
The family name Khil is not derived from Hill. The singer admitted that it is probably a variant of the Spanish name Gil, as in Gilberto Gil.
Internet meme

In 2009, a 1976 video of Khil singing a vocalised version of the song I am very glad, because I’m finally going home (Я очень рад, ведь я, наконец, возвращаюсь домой) was uploaded to YouTube, and quickly became an Internet meme known as «Trololololololololololo.» The song itself was written by Arkady Ostrovsky, and was also performed by Valery Obodzinsky and by Muslim Magomayev on the Little Blue Light program in the Soviet Union. The name «trololo» is an onomatopoeia of the distinctive way Khil vocalises throughout the song, at some points YouTube users have commented Khil vocalises the internet phrase lol and (coincidentally) haha.
It first appeared on some sites beginning on February 21, 2010, and gained prominence on March 3 during a segment on The Colbert Report and was also parodied by actor Christoph Waltz on Jimmy Kimmel Live!. The song has also been used as a bait and switch prank amongst YouTube users, with many users considering that the «trololo» meme may become the new Rick Roll.
The «trololo» meme in turn re-ignited interest in Khil’s singing career; the «trololo» website includes a petition for Khil to come out of retirement to perform on a world tour.
I haven’t heard anything about it. It’s nice, of course!
There is a backstory about this song. Originally, we had lyrics written for this song but they were poor. I mean, they were good, but we couldn’t publish them at that time. They contained words like these: «I’m riding my stallion, so-and-so mustang, and my beloved Mary is thousand miles away knitting a stocking for me». Of course, we failed to publish it at that time, and we, Arkady Ostrovsky and I, decided to make it a vocalisation. But the essence remained in the title. Yes, it’s a little silly – it has no lyrics, so we had to make up something for people would listen to it, and so this was an interesting arrangement.

Awards

Sopot International Song Festival second prize (1965)
Meritorious Artist of the RSFSR (1968)
Order of the Red Banner of Labour (1971)
People’s Artist of the RSFSR (1974)
Order of Friendship of Peoples (1981)
Order of Merit for the Fatherland, 4th class (2009)
Utyosov Prize
Trololo World Award