Who Was Eduard Khil? Here Are 5 Facts You Need To Know
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Eduard Khil, popularly known as Mr. Trololo, was a very talented pop star and singer. To most people, he is simply known as the Soviet pop star who became a meme. Khil gained massive international recognition in 2010 when a video from 1976 in which he sings a non-lexical vocal version of the song “I am very glad, as I’m finally returning home” was uploaded to YouTube. It took a while before it went viral and earned him the name Mr. Trololo, which eventually stuck.

Who Was Eduard Khil?

Born on September 4, 1934, in Smolensk, Russia (then USSR), the son of Anatoly Vasilievich Chil and Yelena Pavlovna. Eduard Khil was a pop star and singer of the Soviet Union. Life as a child was hard for young Khil. It deteriorated after the separation of his parents, and he had to be raised alone by his mother, who was an accountant at the time. Things deteriorated further for Young Khil when his kindergarten school was bombed during World War II, which led to his hometown being occupied by Nazi Germany and separated from his mother. He was moved to Bekovo in the Penza region, where he ended up in a children’s home where basic amenities such as clean water, electricity, adequate shelter, and food were lacking due to the war. Khil’s passion for singing came at a very tender age. As a child, he sang regularly for wounded soldiers in nearby hospitals.

In 1943, when his hometown was liberated from Nazi Germany, he was finally reunited with his mother. Shortly thereafter, they moved to the city of Leningrad with the hope of a better life. Khil enrolled in Leningrad and graduated from a printing school. In 1955 he enrolled at the Leningrad Conservatory and studied under the direction of Yevgeny Olkhovsky and Soya Lodiy.

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In 1958 Khil met the ballerina Soja Pravdina at the Leningrad Conservatory. In the summer and autumn of 1958, they went on tour together and developed romantic feelings for each other during the tour. They finally married on December 1, 1958.

The fact that Khil’s love of pop music developed after he graduated in 1960 after attending a Klavdiya Shuhzhenko concert should be cognitively emphasized. This was the only motivation that motivated him to perform popular music. In the Soviet Union, however, any form of vulgar language in songs could lead to them being banned or censored. So the fact that Khil was successful in this musical genre shows not only how great his talent was, but also how passionately he was committed to music.

His love and zeal for music finally paid off in 1962 when he won the All-Russian competition for performers. This was the beginning of major events in his career. In 1965 Khil was invited to perform at the Festival of Soviet Songs. In the same year, he had even more success, winning second place at the International Sopot Song Festival. His musical career was inundated with success, his passion for music always drove him to new heights, winning several plaques along the way, which made him one of the most highly decorated Russian musicians of all time.

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5 Facts You Need To Know

1. Eduard Khil’s Family Life

He met his wife Zoya Pravdina in 1958, at that time both artists were at the Leningrad Conservatory, and it took only a summer and autumn tour to ignite their feelings and unite their hearts.

On December 1, 1958, the two lovebirds married. It is also a joy to know that he was married to his one true love for the rest of his life until he breathed his last. They had only one child, a boy named Dmitri, born in 1963. Khil also had a grandson who was named Eduardo in his honor.

2. Eduard Khil Wasn’t Only Into Singing

Did you know that the Russian pop sensation Eduard Khil has traveled to 80 countries in his lifetime? But for Khil, life did not revolve around the stage alone. It would surprise you if you knew that Khil once worked as a teacher. Between 1977 and 1979 Eduard Khil taught solo singing at the St. Petersburg State Theater Art Academy. He did so with pleasure, as he enjoyed passing on immense knowledge and experience to other people.

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3. Things Weren’t Always Rosy For Eduard Khil. 

The early 1900s marked the beginning of the end of his amazing musical career. It is also important to realize that after the end of his long, award-winning musical career, he returned to private life and sang cabaret in a café in Paris.

4. His Awards

Eduard’s awards include the RSFSR’s Meritorious Artist of the RSFSR, which he won in 1968, the Order of the Red Banner of Labor (1971), the RSFSR’s People’s Artist of the RSFSR (1974), the Lemon Komsomol Prize, which he received in 1976, the Stephen Wolf Prize (2010), and the Golden Grammophone Prize, which he received in 2011, to name a few. His success was very vivid for everyone so that he was awarded the symbol of Leningrad.

5. How He Died

Khil suffered a partial stroke on April 8, 2012, and was taken to Mariinsky Hospital in St. Petersburg, where he immediately fell into a coma. He was later diagnosed with irreversible brain damage. After all the struggles to save his life, Khil finally gave up the ghost on June 4, 2012, due to complications resulting from the stroke.