ST. PETERSBURG, Russia — Soviet crooner Eduard Khil, who gained international stardom in 2010 when his 1976 video of a vocalized song known as Trololo became a global Internet hit, has died. He was 77.
Ksenia Kachalova, a press officer at the city’s culture department, said the singer, better known internationally as Mr. Trololo, died in a St. Petersburg hospital on Sunday night. The cause of death was not immediately reported.
Khil suffered a stroke in early April and has been in hospital ever since. Doctors then reported that Khil had severe brain damage.
While the crooner was a top Soviet performer during the 1960s and the 1970s, he unexpectedly rose to international stardom in 2010 when Khil’s old video of a vocalized song “I’m so Glad I’m Finally Coming Back Home” was uploaded on YouTube and shortly got 2 million hits afterwards.
Khil explained in an interview that the song, which originally had lyrics about a cowboy riding a prairie back home, was banned by Soviet censors. Khil then had to take out the words in order to be able to perform it.
http://youtu.be/1orMXD_Ijbs