Best known for the parodies of this number: Mr. Trololo original upload - YouTube
Such as Trololo at: Trololo Cat - YouTube
and Christoph Waltz’s version: - YouTube
A sad day indeed. He made me lol lol lol lol lol.
Oooh, I cut the C off my Cat, I was so upset.
Assuming he was singing live and not lip-synching in this performance from earlier this year, I have to say “Holy crap, his voice held up well!”
A little joy has left the word. It has to be said, though, with a name like Edward Khil you’d expect him to stay alive whilst all around him died.
Russian readers: what kind of position did he have in your culture? Here in the West he seemed to be part of a parallel universe - a doubly parallel universe, Russia from (a) the distant past (b) the Soviet period. And at first I assumed he wasn’t real, and that the video was a kitsch modern comedy sketch.
I wonder how people outside the UK perceive Tommy Cooper? Old-fashioned, strangely incompetent buffoon, or clever post-modernist comedy deconstructor?
I liked the sing along version.
RIP
A similar meme star is Ivan Mládek, best-known for his bizarre 1970s rendition of Jožin z Bažin (“Joey the Swamp Monster”): Jozin z bazin Russian version - YouTube
Turns out Mládek is a really talented singer and banjo player and kind of a big star in Eastern Europe, and the video is *supposed *to be funny. But the parodies are brilliant: A nightclub tribute: Kabaret Pod Wyrwigroszem - Jozin z Bazin (Donald Marzy) - YouTube
And this great 50 Cent version: 50 Cent vs. Jozin z Bazin - YouTube
(Also, I find Ivan Mládek kinda hot, in a Jason Lee sort of way . . . )
I shall never forget you, Mr. Trololol Guy. 
I love this video in which Eduard Khil thanks the internet. (I think.)
RIP
Hitler has also talked to Mr. Trololo.
NSFW link.
***When Memes Collide! ***Must check it out when I get home tonight.
Damn. I will pour out a shot or two of vodka for this fine musician.
At least we still have Richard Cheese.
I always like the absurdity of this sage act with the song:
Wow, nice background to the song in that article. I never knew it was a sympathetic American song censored by the Russian government. You will be missed Mr. Trololo!
Possibly the fast meme creation yet–Hitler Finds Out the Trololo Guy is Dead! Hitler is informed the Trololo guy ist tot - YouTube
I have no doubt from the happy and confident way he was moving about the stage that he was actually singing, too.
Aww. 
He always struck me as a really cool guy.
I was rather pleased to find official confirmation of the censorship story.
I’ve never heard or seen this before…when did you all first hear/see this guy? Is this one of those cultural things I missed out on, and from what decade?
The original video was from a 1976 Soviet TV broadcast, and was probably never seen on this side of the Iron Curtain until somebody posted it to YouTube in 2010. And it looked so corny and ridiculous that it just took off.
ETA: I think the key was that the guy was obviously singing nonsense, not in Russian, but those of us outside the USSR had no context to understand why he was singing that way, so it just came off as hilarious. And the guy moved like a robot. And, of course, at the time it was posted nobody outside the former Soviet Union had any idea who this guy was, hence the “Mr. Trololo” moniker.
He really had a fine, rich baritone voice with a lot of range. And it seems he was very happy when he learned a lot of people got to hear it over the internet, even though many were laughing at him.