Eduard Anatolyevich Khil (4 September 1934-4 June 2012) was a Soviet-Russian singer. Born in Smolensk, Russian SFSR, he was raised in Bekovo, Penza Oblast (singing for wounded soldiers during World War II) and moved to Leningrad in 1949. He graduated from the Leningrad Conservatory in 1960, and he became a successful singer during the early 1960s and became a national hero; he occasionally promoted communist values in his music, such as in the song "Woodcutter", in which he praised workers toiling for the greater good. In 1974, he was awarded the title of People's Artist and allowed the rare opportunity of touring the world, even visiting the United States and entertaining Russian immigrants in New York City. Khil later taught young singers at the Leningrad State Theater Arts Academy from 1977 to 1979. He fell out of popularity following the Dissolution of the Soviet Union, as younger generations preferred to listen to Western music; he was reduced to entertaining diners at a Russian restaurant in Paris with nostalgic songs from the Soviet era. In 2009, President Dmitry Medvedev awarded him the Order for Services to Homeland, and Khil died of a stroke in 2012.