EDUARD Khil, singer, opera singer, pop star and internet meme, has died aged 77.

He had been taken to hospital last week after suffering a stroke.

Although a household name in Russia, Khil was best known around the word as Mr Trololo, after decades-old TV footage of him performing I Am So Happy to Finally Be Back Home was uploaded to YouTube in 2009.

The song became known as "Trololololololololololo" because of Khil's distinctive vocal performance.

The "Trololo" meme re-ignited interest in Khil's singing career, with his performance 12 million views since November 2009.

Khil himself was flattered by the attention, telling Life News:

"It's nice, of course! Thanks for good news! There is a backstory about this song. Originally, we had lyrics written for this song but they were poor. I mean, they were good, but we couldn't publish them at that time. They contained words like these: 'I'm riding my stallion on a prairie, so-and-so mustang, and my beloved Mary is thousand miles away knitting a stocking for me.'

"Of course, we failed to publish it at that time, and we, (composer) Arkady Ostrovsky and I, decided to make it a vocalisation. But the essence remained in the title. The song is very playful – it has no lyrics, so we had to make up something for people would listen to it, and so this was an interesting arrangement."