Question: who sings the song happy birthday to ya

title: Eduard Khil
text: Khil was born on 4 September 1934 in Smolensk to Anatoly Vasilievich Khil , a mechanic , and Yelena Pavlovna Kalugina , an accountant . Life as a child was hard for Khil . With his family breaking up , he was brought up by his mother . During the Great Patriotic War ( WWII Eastern Front ) , his kindergarten was bombed and he was separated from his mother and evacuated to Bekovo , Penza Oblast where he ended up in a children 's home , which lacked basic facilities and needs , including food . Despite the desperate situation , Khil regularly performed in front of wounded soldiers in the nearby hospital . He was reunited with his mother in 1943 when Smolensk was liberated from Nazi Germany and in 1949 moved to Leningrad , where he enrolled and then graduated from printing college . In 1955 , Khil enrolled in the Leningrad Conservatory , where he studied under direction of Yevgeny Olkhovsky and Zoya Lodyi . He graduated in 1960 . During his studies , he began performing various lead operatic roles , including Figaro in The Marriage of Figaro .