Hundreds of people attended the memorial service at the theatre, many of them being over forty. Almost everyone brought some kind of flowers. Many of those who came to bid farewell to the singer were familiar with his work since the 1960s, as they grew up with Khil’s songs.
Family and friends sent many messages of condolence. For example, President Vladimir Putin wrote Khil’s family, saying that his name would always live in the popular memory, as he was a “richly gifted, amazingly bright, and positive person in an epoch in the history of our people’s music”. In the photo above, we see Zoe Pravdina, the widow of Eduard Khil, at the secular memorial service at the Raikin Theatre.
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Singer and songwriter Aleksandr Rozenbaum spoke at the secular memorial service for Eduard Khil at the Raikin Theatre.
People’s Artist of the RSFSREduard Khil died of a stroke at the age of 77. It’s hard to believe that he’s gone. Everyone knew of Khil’s humour and of the optimism that permeated his songs; he remained lively and energetic to the end. Khil possessed a composed but powerful lyric baritone voice, fantastic diction, and great artistry. His life wasn’t easy. At age seven, he was evacuated from Smolensk an hour before the Germans arrived. The spectre of death hung over his head… sinister planes with black crosses bombed a train carrying wounded people, to which the car with the children was attached at the last moment. Eduard remembered for the rest of his life the metallic glint of the low-flying aircraft and the blood of the newly-killed soldiers and children who were buried almost every day. Then, he went to an orphanage in distant Buryatia because his mother had lost him in the chaos of the VOV (by that time she was divorced from her husband). Eduard made two failed attempts to get to the front lines. He suffered from malnutrition. Later, he recalled that he often dreamed about bread at night. Eduard survived. He took part in concerts for the wounded. Towards the end of the war, his mother found him and took back home to devastated Smolensk. It’s no accident that Khil had so many military songs in his repertoire. He used to say, “Those who survived the war are not afraid of anything”.
Having witnessed so many horrors as a child, Khil looked at the bright side for his whole life. He not only survived, he became a professional singer after graduating from the Leningrad Conservatory in 1960. His first performance was in 1949, when he was a student at a vocational printing school. As he recalled later on, he was paid in crackers. Where did this son of a mechanic and an accountant get his talent? He probably inherited it from his grandfather Vasili. He was a church choir director before the Revolution, but he was purged by the Soviets. Why didn’t Khil become an opera singer? After all, he played the role of Figaro in Mozart‘s The Marriage of Figaro; he performed in Rossini’s The Barber of Seville; he sang Janusz from Moniuszko’s Galkaand the leading parts in Yevgeni Onegin and The Queen of Spades. Khil probably wanted to transcend the classical genre. He launched his career as a pop singer in 1962 and he soon became one of the country’s best performers. However, he didn’t forget about other musical genres, either. As the host of By the Fireplace on Leningrad television, he described the history of classic Russian lyrical songs and sang them himself.
Audiences in many countries loved Khil, and not just those in the Eastern bloc. Apart from his vocal talents, Khil had the important skill of always being “in synch” with his era. In the 1990s, when many Soviet performers lost their jobs, Khil and the youth band Prepinaki presented a project, “Khil and Sons”, offering updated version of popular Soviet songs. In 2010, Khil became popular all over the world as young American internet users fell in love with a video of him singing Arkady Ostrovsky’s 1966 song, I’m Very Happy ‘cause I’m Finally Goin’ Home. Khil became known as “Mr Trololo” after the sound he repeats throughout the wordless vocalise. He recalled his moment of international fame by saying, “I was sitting at home, peeling potatoes. My grandson rushed in and said, ‘What are you doing, Gran’pa? They’re showing you on the Internet!’ I don’t even know how many people saw me, but I was immediately showered with invitations from all over the world”.
Several generations were raised on Khil’s songs. As one of his fans wrote, “He was a great singer with a unique voice. He sang as if he were reading novels out loud, and it was impossible to be unmoved by his singing”. Khil once remarked, “Only fools believe that pop singing’s a simple genre. Many still consider show business easy, but I’ll tell you that all these things are very difficult”.
Besik Pipia of RIA-Novosti kept a personal archive of photographs the late Soviet and Russian pop star and People’s Artist of the RSFSR Eduard Khil , shot on the banks of the Neva over many years. We publish these images here for the first time. Eduard Khil was a frequent guest entertainer at the Остров (Ostrov: The Island) night club, he was friends with one of the founders, Sergei Osintsyov.
Khil told Besik Pepia, “We should have more such forums for intellectual communication. The ambience here reminds me of my annual trips to Georgia in the Soviet period; it was a sunny country, full of song, with nice tart wines”.
“When I’m in the city, I miss the country… I miss my fruit trees and my berry bushes, as well as my black and red currant beds. I plant herbs… dill, celery, and parsley… I really love tilling the soil. I have a greenhouse, but everything’s natural… I refuse to use chemicals”.
The funeral of Eduard Khil will be on Thursday at the Smolensky Cemetery in St Petersburg, a secular memorial service will be at the Arkady Raikin Variety Theatre. Dmitri Khil, the singer’s son, said, “The funeral’s set for 7 June at the Smolensky Cemetery. The secular memorial service is set for the Variety Theatre”.
Doctors transferred Soviet-era singer Eduard Khil to the Polenov Russian Neurosurgical Institute for unknown reasons. The Polenov Institute is the oldest Russian institute specialising in both scientific research and practical neurosurgery, it is also one of the world’s first facilities of this sort. At present, it’s the largest high-tech centre of neurosurgical care in the RF Ministry of Health and Social Development. Previously, Khil was at the Mariinsky Hospital of St Petersburg. He entered hospital a few days ago, but a spokesman for the hospital didn’t specify why the singer was hospitalised, citing medical confidentiality rules. Khil is in serious but stable condition. Meanwhile, media reports say that Khil suffered a stroke.
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Here’s the original “Mr Trololo” video
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Eduard Khil was born in 1934 in Smolensk. In 1974, he became a People’s Artist of the RSFSR. He became the first performer of the songs Лесорубы (Woodcutters)” and Лунный камень (The Moonstone) by Arkady Ostrovsky, Песня о друге (Song About a Friend), Голубые города (Blue City), А люди уходят в море (And People Go To Sea) by Andrei Petrov. People associate Khil’s voice with such well-known songs as С чего начинается Родина? (Where does the Motherland Begin?), У леса на опушке (At the Edge of the Forest), На безымянной высоте (On a Nameless Height), Человек из дома вышел (A Man Came Out of the House), Как хорошо быть генералом (How Good It Is to Be a General), Не плачь, девчонка (Don’t Cry, Girlie). In 2010, Khil experienced another surge in popularity… the Internet has caused great interest in his music video for Ostrovsky’s vocalise, Я очень рад, ведь я наконец возвращаюсь домой (I’m Very Happy ‘cause I’m Finally Goin’ Home). Khil became a phenomenon amongst many American students, they called the song he sang “Trololo”, and Khil became known as the “Mr Trololo”.
