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Avicii
Quick Facts
Biography
Tim Bergling ([ˈtɪmː ˈbæ̂rjlɪŋ] (); 8 September 1989 – 20 April 2018), better known as Avicii (/əˈviːtʃi/ ə-VEE-chee, [aˈvɪ̌tːɕɪ]), was a Swedish DJ, remixer, record producer, musician, and songwriter who specialized in audio programming, remixing, and record producing.
At the age of 16, Bergling began posting his remixes on electronic music forums, which led to his first record deal. He rose to prominence in 2011 with his single "Levels". His debut studio album, True (2013), blended electronic music with elements of multiple genres and received generally positive reviews. It peaked in the top ten in more than fifteen countries and topped international dance charts; the lead single, "Wake Me Up", topped most music markets in Europe and reached number four in the United States.
In 2015, Bergling released his second studio album, Stories, and in 2017 he released an EP, Avīci (01). His catalog also included the singles "I Could Be the One" with Nicky Romero, "You Make Me", "X You", "Hey Brother", "Addicted to You", "The Days", "The Nights", "Waiting for Love", "Without You" and "Lonely Together". Bergling was nominated for a Grammy Award for his work on "Sunshine" with David Guetta in 2012 and "Levels" in 2013. Several music publications credit Bergling as among the DJs who ushered electronic music into Top 40 radio in the early 2010s.
Bergling retired from touring in 2016 due to health problems, having suffered from stress and poor mental health for several years. On 20 April 2018, he committed suicide in Muscat. He was buried on 8 June at Hedvig Eleonora Church in his hometown. His posthumous third album titled Tim was released in 2019.
Life and career
1989–2010: Early life and career
Tim Bergling was born in Stockholm on 8 September 1989, the son of Klas Bergling and actress Anki Lidén. He started mixing in his bedroom at the age of eight. He has three siblings: David Bergling, Linda Sterner, and Anton Körberg. Inspired by his brother, who was also a DJ, he began making music at the age of 16. In May 2007, Bergling signed on with the Dejfitts Plays label. He was a member of the Laidback Luke Forums, where he refined his craft and, at times, demonstrated his distinct deep house style. By 2009 to 2010, Bergling was a prolific producer and was releasing music incredibly quickly. His remixes during this period were "Sound of Now", "Muja", "Ryu" and "Even". Bergling explained that the name Avicii means "the lowest level of Buddhist hell" and he chose the moniker because his real name was already used upon creating his Myspace page. Then, in 2010, Bergling released the hit song "Seek Bromance", which reached the top 20 in several countries, including Belgium, France, the Netherlands, United Kingdom, and Sweden. He also remixed Nadia Ali's classic single "Rapture" for her album Queen of Clubs Trilogy: Onyx Edition. In October 2010, Bergling signed with the European A&R team with EMI Music Publishing.
2011–2013: "Levels"
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In 2011, Bergling released "Levels", which launched him into the mainstream. "Levels" reached the top ten in Austria, Belgium, Bosnia, Croatia, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Slovenia and the United Kingdom, whilst topping the charts in Hungary, Norway and Sweden.
In 2012, his collaboration track "Sunshine" with David Guetta was nominated for a Grammy award under the category for Best Dance Recording. His track "Fade into Darkness" was sampled by Leona Lewis on her single "Collide". The sampling was not accredited and led to controversy as Bergling attempted to block the single's release. The matter was resolved out of court with representatives stating "that Leona Lewis and Avicii will work together on the forthcoming single of Collide".
On 23 March 2012, Bergling's unsigned single "Last Dance" was previewed on Pete Tong's show on BBC Radio 1. The song was later released on 27 August 2012. At Ultra Music Festival 2012 in Miami, he premiered two tracks, "Girl Gone Wild" (Avicii's UMF Remix) with Madonna and "Superlove" with Lenny Kravitz. Bergling's UMF Remix of "Girl Gone Wild" was released on 20 April 2012, and "Superlove" with Kravitz was released on 29 May 2012. After reaching two million followers on Facebook, Bergling released a new song titled "Two Million". It was put out as a free download on his official SoundCloud page. On 27 April 2012, Bergling released "Silhouettes". The song featured vocals from Salem Al Fakir and peaked at number 5 on the UK Dance charts and number 4 on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Songs.
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Bergling was a featured performer on 4 August 2012 at Lollapalooza festival in Chicago's Grant Park. On 12 August 2012, he released "Dancing in My Head" (Avicii's 'Been Cursed' Mix) on Beatport. The track features vocals from Eric Turner. A radio edit of the track, titled "Dancing in My Head" (Tom Hangs Mix) was released on 14 August 2012 on iTunes, and a remix EP was later released on 30 October 2012 featuring remixes from Charlie Bernardo and Michael Woods. On 26 September 2012, Bergling made history as the first DJ to headline the world-famous Radio City Music Hall in New York City. He performed two sold-out shows on 26 and 27 September. He was supported by Matt Goldman and Cazzette at the two shows. At his Radio City Music Hall shows, he played a preview of his new track with Mike Posner titled "Stay with You".
On 29 December 2012, Bergling premiered many new songs at Lights All Night, Dallas Convention Center, some of which made it on to his first album, True. These unreleased songs included "I'll Be Gone" and "Let It Go". The instrumental of "Let It Go" was mixed with the a cappella of "Addicted to You" to become "Addicted to You (Avicii by Avicii)".
On the same day, Bergling released "I Could Be the One" with Nicky Romero. After first being debuted at his shows almost a year earlier, the track finally got released via Bergling's record label LEVELS. The new vocal version was released along with an instrumental version, a radio edit, and remixes from Audrio and Didrick. On 9 January 2013, Bergling launched the Avicii X You project, a partnership with Ericsson designed to create the world's first "crowdsourced" hit song. The project enabled fans to send in basslines, effects, melodies, rhythms and vocals to Bergling as sound files over the Internet. The song features sequences from Kian Sang (melody), Naxsy (bassline), Martin Kupilas (beat), Ваня Хакси (break), Jonathan Madray, Mateusz Kolata, and Christian Westphalen (effects). Bergling acted as executive producer and created the finished song officially titled X You, which was released on 26 February 2013. On 30 January 2013, Bergling released "Three Million" featuring Negin to celebrate three million fans on his Facebook page.
Bergling was nominated for a Grammy for Best Dance Recording with "Levels" at the 2013 Grammy Awards. He was nominated alongside Calvin Harris and Ne-Yo, Skrillex, Swedish House Mafia and John Martin, and Al Walser. The award show took place on 10 February 2013. From late February to early March 2013, Bergling toured Australia as one of the headline acts in the Future Music Festival alongside The Prodigy and The Stone Roses. In late February 2013, Bergling made his first South American tour, with concerts in Venezuela, Argentina, Colombia, Brazil and Chile.
2013–2014: True
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In March 2013, Bergling announced and premiered many new tracks from his new album True, which would later be set to be released in September, during his Main Stage set at Ultra Music Festival in Miami. The new tracks were experimental in nature. For example, Bergling brought out a stomping band to play through the new bluegrass-tinged song "Wake Me Up". Many of these new songs received mixed critical reviews after the concert.
On 11 April 2013, Bergling released his new album promo mix on SoundCloud. It contained some songs from True and some of his non-album singles. It also contained some of his ID's such as "Black and Blue" and "Enough is Enough (Don't Give Up On Us)".
The EBU and SVT announced on 15 April that Bergling, along with ex-ABBA members Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson, had composed the anthem for the Eurovision Song Contest 2013. The song was performed for the first time in the Final on 18 May.
On 14 June 2013, the world premiere of Bergling's new single, "Wake Me Up", was previewed by Pete Tong on BBC Radio 1, featuring vocals from Aloe Blacc. The song was later released on iTunes and radio on 25 June 2013. It is the first single from Bergling's album True, which was released on 16 September 2013. "Wake Me Up" was number 1 on the Spotify Global Chart and Bergling was at 2 in most streamed artist worldwide. "Wake Me Up" later went on to set a then record of 14 weeks as the number one hit on Billboard's Dance/Electronic Songs list. The Official Charts Company announced on 21 July that "Wake Me Up" had become the UK's fastest selling single of 2013 after overtaking Robin Thicke's "Blurred Lines", having sold 267,000 copies in its first week on sale in the UK. "Wake Me Up" subsequently became a major hit, topping the charts in over 20 countries including Australia, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Sweden, the Netherlands, and New Zealand.
On 19 October 2013, the DJ Mag 2013 Top 100 DJs List was announced, with Bergling ranking number 3 on the list. Hardwell became the new World No.1 displacing Armin Van Buuren. On 28 October 2013, Bergling released the single "Hey Brother" with vocals by Dan Tyminski. On 10 November, Bergling won his first award "Best Electronic" at the MTV EMA's. On 24 November 2013 he won the American Music Award for favorite Electronic Dance Music Artist.
In December 2013, Bergling released his fourth single off the album, "Addicted to You", which reached number 5 in Australia, with vocals from Audra Mae, who also sings on "Shame on Me" and "Long Road to Hell", both tracks on the album. Bergling also released the single "Lay Me Down", featuring vocals from Adam Lambert and guitar from Nile Rodgers. On 29 December 2013, Bergling debuted his new track "Dreaming of Me", featuring vocals from Audra Mae, via episode 19 of his LE7ELS podcast. It is unknown whether it will be released in the future.
On 8 March 2014, Bergling's Instagram account confirmed a collaboration with Madonna. The extent of the collaboration is unknown. On 21 March 2014, Bergling released a remixed edition of his album True titled True: Avicii By Avicii containing remixes by himself of all the tracks, excluding "Heart Upon My Sleeve" for unknown reasons. The promotion of this album was supposed to begin at the 2014 Ultra Music Festival, but Bergling announced he had been hospitalised on 28 March, and was unable to play his closing set at the festival. On 28 March 2014, FIFA and Sony Music Entertainment announced that Bergling would be collaborating with Carlos Santana, Wyclef Jean and Alexandre Pires for the official FIFA World Cup Anthem titled "Dar um Jeito (We Will Find a Way)". The anthem was performed at the FIFA World Cup closing ceremony on 13 July 2014.
In July 2014, Bergling released his single "Lay Me Down". He also produced and collaborated with Chris Martin from Coldplay, co-writing and co-producing the track "A Sky Full of Stars" from the band's sixth studio album Ghost Stories, released on 19 May 2014. He also played and recorded the piano parts on the track. "A Sky Full of Stars" was released on 3 May as the second single from Ghost Stories. "Lovers on the Sun", a track Bergling co-produced with David Guetta, was released on 30 June 2014. Bergling also worked with Wyclef Jean on a single titled "Divine Sorrow" for the Haitian singer's upcoming album Clefication.
2014–2015: Stories
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In July 2014, Bergling told Rolling Stone that he had worked on 70 songs for his next album Stories, which would include collaborations with Jon Bon Jovi, Serj Tankian of System of a Down, Chris Martin, Wyclef Jean and Matisyahu. Describing the album, Bergling said: "It's going to be a lot more song-oriented."
During his tour for True, he also performed his upcoming single "No Pleasing a Woman" with vocals from Billie Joe Armstrong of the American rock band Green Day. It has a similar instrumental to "Wake Me Up" albeit different chord progressions, along with "No Pleasing a Woman". Bergling also performed other upcoming songs like "In Love with Your Ghost" with Daniel "Danne" Adams-Ray, "Love to Fall" with Tom Odell and "Million Miles" with LP, which is the demo version of "Trouble", a song from Stories with vocals from Wayne Hector.
"Lose Myself", a collaboration between Bergling and Chinese singer Wang Leehom, was released on 1 September 2014. On 8 September 2014, his 25th birthday, Bergling decided to cancel all of his remaining performances of 2014 due to health concerns. The following day, he announced through Denim & Supply that he would release his new single "The Days" later in 2014; a video was also featured with a preview of the track. "The Days" is a collaboration between Bergling and Robbie Williams, and was released on 3 October 2014 via PRMD. On 16 September 2014, it was announced through EA Sports that Bergling was debuting a new track called "The Nights" exclusively on FIFA 15. On 17 November 2014, it was officially announced that the track is to be released as a part of an EP together with "The Days". On 17 November 2014, Wyclef Jean released a track titled "Divine Sorrow" featuring Avicii.
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On 2 March 2015, Bergling performed live at Australia's Future Music Festival his upcoming single "Heaven", a collaboration with Coldplay frontman Chris Martin on vocals. The vocals were later resung by singer Simon Aldred from Cherry Ghost; Chris Martin will receive writing credits on "Heaven". However, the version with Chris Martin on vocals was finalized in 2018/2019 after Bergling's death and will be officially released on the posthumous third album "Tim". A lot of songs were leaked into the internet via Bergling's UMF set 2015. These songs include "Heaven", "Waiting For Love," and some of his ID's "For A Better Day", "City Lights", "Can't Catch Me", "True Believer", "What Would I Change It To", "Can't Love You Again" (previously leaked on the internet under the name "Don't Call") and "Attack".
On 25 April 2015, Bergling announced on episode 35 of his LE7ELS podcast that he would be playing some of his unreleased songs on his show. He also previewed his bootleg of Kings of Tomorrow's song "Finally" and one of his old songs that he did with ASH, titled "Papa Was a Rolling Stone".
On 6 May 2015, Bergling released his rework of Nina Simone's version of "Feeling Good", composed in 1964 by the English songwriters Anthony Newley and Leslie Bricusse. On 8 May 2015, Bergling previewed his song "I'll Be Gone" via episode 422 of Tiësto's Club Life Podcast which has a very similar instrumental to Liar Liar (Avicii by Avicii) albeit different vocals and chord progressions. It was leaked into the internet between 2013–2014 via the name "Stars" and is yet to be released. It also shares a similar drop to one of Bergling's ID's "Black and Blue". On 22 May 2015, Bergling premiered another single from Stories, "Waiting for Love". The track was co-produced by fellow DJ and producer Martin Garrix, and featured vocals from Simon Aldred of Cherry Ghost. On 25 May 2015, Bergling previewed three old tracks on episode 36 of his LE7ELS podcast: "Tracks of My Tears", "Sorry Mr. Atari" and "Time to Get lll", all of which are songs that Bergling had made years ago. "Tracks of My Tears" is the original version of Bergling's "All You Need is Love". On 27 May 2015, it was confirmed by a Swedish newspaper through an interview with Bergling that his sophomore album Stories would be released in late 2015.
On 3 July 2015, Bergling previewed two tracks from his album Stories on episode 37 of his LE7ELS podcast: "Broken Arrows" featuring Zac Brown Band and "Can’t Catch Me" featuring Wyclef Jean and Matisyahu. He also played a full version of his track "Heaven" and said that he was doing another track with Chris Martin on vocals called "True Believer". Later, Bergling said that he is also singing on that track. On 18 July 2015, it was announced by Bergling that he had finally finished production on Stories after 2 years of work.
A couple of weeks later, on 4 August 2015, it was announced that the final singles before the release of Stories would be "For a Better Day" featuring American singer Alex Ebert and "Pure Grinding" featuring vocals from Kristoffer Fogelmark and Earl St. Clair. On 27 August, Bergling released a teaser video on Instagram with the song "Pure Grinding" playing. The tracks "For a Better Day" and "Pure Grinding" were released the following day through Spotify and iTunes. On 26 September, Bergling announced "Stories – Megamix" on Spotify. Stories was released on 2 October 2015 alongside 3 promotional singles: "Broken Arrows" with Zac Brown, "Ten More Days" with Zak Abel and "Gonna Love Ya" with Sandro Cavazza.
2016: Retirement from touring
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On 15 January 2016, Bergling released his remix of Morten's "Beautiful Heartbeat". Coca-Cola had partnered with Bergling for a global campaign anthem "Taste the Feeling" featuring Conrad Sewell. The song was released on 19 January. On 25 January, Bergling teamed up again with Coldplay to co-produce the band's single "Hymn for the Weekend", which was released as the second single from their album A Head Full of Dreams. In 2016, according to a report by Inc. magazine, Avicii was the 6th fastest-growing company in Europe, with a revenue of €7.7 million in 2014.
On 19 March 2016, Bergling performed live at Ultra Music Festival and premiered new IDs such as "Without You (feat. Sandro Cavazza)", "We Burn (Faster Than Light)", and a collaboration with Australian pop star Sia (which he first played in Dubai). On 29 March, Bergling announced on Facebook that he would be retiring from performing live and touring in 2016. On 7 April 2016, Bergling announced that he was working on a third studio album. On 3 June 2016, Bergling released his collaboration with Otto Knows titled "Back Where I Belong". It's the second collaboration with the two producers after "Itrack", back in 2011.
On 15 July 2016, Bergling released a remix of his own song, "Feeling Good". The remix was titled "Feeling Good (Avicii by Avicii)". This track was only released on Bergling's official YouTube channel. On 1 August, it appears to have been pulled with the YouTube video being made private. On 28 August 2016, Bergling performed his final live performance in Ibiza, before retiring from touring citing health concerns. His initial announcement was made on his website in April. On 23 April 2018, three days after his death, it was revealed by Tiësto that Swedish House Mafia's Ultra Music reunion inspired Avicii to take up DJing again which saw him through his final weeks until his death on 20 April.
On 22 December 2016, a representative of Avicii Music AB had announced that Bergling had parted ways with long-time manager Ash Pournouri and At Night Management along with Ash's record label PRMD. The representative also announced that Bergling had signed on to Universal Music Sweden and was expected to release his third studio album in 2017.
2017–2018: Avīci (01) and Avicii: True Stories
In June 2017, British singer Rita Ora debuted a semi-acoustic version of "Lonely Together" at a private event at Annabel's in London. "Lonely Together" was later the second single from Avīci (01). From 13 July to 2 August, Bergling shared one-minute snippets on Instagram, captioned "New music coming very very (very) soon!", with track titles as hashtags. Bergling uploaded teasers of each track from the EP online upon release.
On 10 August 2017, Bergling released the six-track EP Avīci (01). Bergling said of the release: "I'm really excited to be back with music once again.It has been a long time since I released anything and a long time since I was this excited over new music! My focus on this first EP of the album was to get a mix of new and old songs: some that fans have been asking about and waiting for mixed with brand new songs that they haven't heard before!"
In an interview with Pete Tong on BBC Radio 1, Bergling stated that the EP is one of three parts of his third studio album. On 11 September 2017, Bergling announced a documentary directed by his close and long time collaborator Levan Tsikurishvili, entitled Avicii: True Stories. The documentary chronicles the artist's retirement from touring and features interviews from his colleagues David Guetta, Tiësto, Wyclef Jean, Nile Rodgers and Chris Martin of Coldplay.
On 10 February 2018, Bergling released "Ghost", a collaboration with Swedish singer-songwriter Daniel Adams-Ray, who was credited as HUMAN. The song, which was leaked on the internet in 2014/2015 under the title "(I'm Still) In Love With Your Ghost", marks the second collaboration with the 2 Swedes following "Somewhere In Stockholm" from Bergling's album "Stories".
Following Bergling's death that April, news outlets reported that at the time of his death, he had over 200 unreleased songs, some finished and others still in development. It was further stated that he had produced some of the best songs in his career before his passing. In August 2018, producer Carl Falk, who co-produced some of the songs on Bergling's Stories album in 2015 and Avici (01) in 2017, stated that he's putting the finishing touches on the Chris Martin collaboration "Heaven" (originally written during the Stories sessions) and that it might be posthumously released in a few months along with the third album.
2019–2020: Tim and leaked material
In April 2019, it was announced that the album Tim, which Avicii was working on before his death, would be released on 6 June 2019, with the first single, "SOS", released on 10 April. All proceeds from the sale of the album go towards the Tim Bergling Foundation. Also in April, it was announced an official biography of Avicii, written by Måns Mosesson, would be released in 2020, the proceeds also going to the Tim Bergling Foundation.
A second single from the album, titled "Tough Love", was released on 9 May 2019. The music video for "Tough Love" was released on YouTube 14 May 2019.
"Heaven" which was released on 6 June 2019 was the last single to be released from the album. The track was co-written by Coldplay's lead singer Chris Martin. Chris spoke about the collaboration on his socials citing that he co wrote the song with Avicii back in 2014 which Tim completed in 2016. The music video, called a "tribute video", which used old clips of Avicii, was released on 24 June 2019. On 28 June, Billboard cited "Heaven" as one of the best dance songs of the first half of 2019.
On 8 September 2019, on what would have been Avicii's 30th birthday, some unreleased songs, never meant to be heard by the public, were leaked on the internet. Two of them feature demo vocals from Tim himself, "Promises of Tears" and an early version of "No Pleasing A Woman". The latter was also sung by Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong. In December, two singles were released on the networks, "Alive" with Wyclef Jean and "Lethal Drug" with Chris Martin of Coldplay. "Fades Away" featuring MishCatt was also released in December after being performed in Stockholm at the Avicii Tribute Concert for Mental Health.
On 24 January 2020, another posthumous single by Avicii was released: "Forever Yours", which is a collaboration with Kygo and Sandro Cavazza. The song was previously performed by Avicii during his final tour in 2016, starting with Ultra Music Festival. Kygo and Sandro Cavazza performed the song together live at the Avicii Tribute Concert back in December 2019. On 15 February, Tiësto premiered three unreleased Avicii singles on the latest episode of his radio show Tiësto's Club Life: A fifth collaboration with Aloe Blacc called "I Wanna Be Free", a fifth collaboration with Sandro Cavazza called "We Burn" and a fifth collaboration with Wyclef Jean called "Now That We Found Love".
Artistry
Influences
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Bergling's influences included Daft Punk, Swedish House Mafia, and Eric Prydz. He described his introduction to electronic music as "listening to a lot of Daft Punk, way before I knew what house music was".
Musical style
Bergling's early work was deep house and progressive house, usually based on a four-chord structure, sub-bass and a simple synth melody. His debut studio album True featured a blending of music genres, including folktronica. While making the album, Bergling wanted to fuse the electronic music genre with soul, funk, blues, folk and country, as he felt that EDM had become too focused on "dirty drops". Its first single, "Wake Me Up", is a folk music crossover, which, as noted by The Observer writer, "tapped into the market potential of mixing EDM and country, a template many artists have since recreated". A Variety editor commented that Bergling's "distinct sound" was comprised by "soaring synths and keening melodies". Musicians such as Kygo, Skrillex, Diplo, Martin Garrix and Cheat Codes have cited him as a source of inspiration.
Philanthropy
After achieving widespread commercial success, Bergling began working with his manager and executive producer Ash Pournouri to start House for Hunger in 2011, a charity dedicated to alleviating global hunger. The pair wanted to showcase the giving spirit fostered by the house music community. Bergling explained, "You have to give something back. I am so fortunate to be in the position where I can actually do that. I feel lucky every day when I wake up and am able to do what I love and make a living." In addition to donating $1 million to Feeding America, a charity founded by John van Hengel, House for Hunger has helped fund the efforts of The Feed Foundation, started by Laura Bush, allowing it to distribute over 2 million school meals throughout Africa. He also supported campaigns against human trafficking and gang violence when he directed the videos for his tracks "For a Better Day" and "Pure Grinding".
Personal life
In January 2012, Bergling was hospitalized for 11 days in New York City with acute pancreatitis caused by excessive alcohol use. In 2014, Bergling underwent surgery and had both his appendix and gallbladder removed. In 2016, Bergling's health deteriorated, and he retired from performing live. In the 2017 documentary Avicii: True Stories, directed by his close and longtime collaborator Levan Tsikurishvili, Bergling spoke about his physical and mental health struggles. The documentary depicts the pressure from his management to continue performing live in spite of his objections.
High pressure from management and fans to continue touring and maintaining his public persona were cited as key reasons for his suicide, according to GQ. In a statement from the article, "Bergling feared upsetting fans. He was sensitive to the 'flood of hate mail' after cancelled gigs."
His manager, Ash Pournouri, admitted that he knew of Bergling's health problems but refused to label them mental health problems. Furthermore, his management team only became aware of his painkiller addiction in November 2014. They staged two interventions for him, neither of which were successful. Pournouri rescheduled many shows in order for Bergling to recover in Stockholm. Having discovered his client's alcohol issues earlier, Pournouri set out to forbid his promoters from offering him alcohol, clearing out his minibar and focusing on his recovery. Problems worsened, however, when there were no crew to "keep tabs" on Bergling during his recuperation.
Against his client's wishes, Pournouri claimed to have cancelled two more world tours, which would have added up to approximately US$2.9 million in profits.
Avicii was dating Czech model Tereza Kačerová at the time of his death.
Death
Bergling died on 20 April 2018 near Muscat at the age of 28. No cause of death was immediately given. On 21 April, the Omani police stated that there was "no criminal suspicion" or evidence of foul play in Bergling's death. On 26 April, his family released an open letter stating:
Our beloved Tim was a seeker, a fragile artistic soul searching for answers to existential questions. An over-achieving perfectionist who travelled and worked hard at a pace that led to extreme stress. When he stopped touring, he wanted to find a balance in life to be able to be happy and to do what he loved most – music. He really struggled with thoughts about Meaning, Life, Happiness. He could now not go on any longer. He wanted to find peace. Tim was not made for the business machine he found himself in; he was a sensitive guy who loved his fans but shunned the spotlight. Tim, you will forever be loved and sadly missed. The person you were and your music will keep your memory alive. We love you, The Family
On 1 May, TMZ reported that the cause of death was a suicide due to self-inflicted injuries with a broken wine bottle, with Bergling eventually dying of blood loss. On 22 May, Bergling's family announced plans for a private funeral with "the people who were closest to him". A funeral service was held on 8 June at the Skogskyrkogården cemetery in Stockholm. He was buried at Hedvig Eleonora Church in June 2018.
Tributes
From fellow musicians
On 20 May 2018, American DJ duo The Chainsmokers and American singer-songwriter Halsey paid tribute to Bergling at the 2018 Billboard Music Awards before presenting the winner of the Top Hot 100 Song. The Chainsmokers’ Drew Taggart said, "His passing was a great loss for the music world and for us. He was an artist who inspired so many in so many ways, and simply put, he meant so much to us and everyone in the EDM community." Halsey then delivered an emotional discussion about mental health and emphasized the need for people to love and support each other.
On 27 May, at BBC's Biggest Weekend, Rita Ora, Bergling's most recent collaborator, paid tribute to the late DJ, describing him as "a really good friend" who "changed [her] life". A similar tribute was also paid by Ora during King's Day and Capital's Summertime Ball.
On 22 April 2018, American band OneRepublic paid tribute to Bergling by performing his hit single "Wake Me Up" during their show in Mumbai. On 21 May 2018, Tiësto played a medley of Bergling's songs at EDC Las Vegas. Aloe Blacc joined him on stage to perform "Wake Me Up".
The 2018 edition of Tomorrowland saw several tributes to Bergling from Axwell Λ Ingrosso, Don Diablo, Nicky Romero, Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike, Zedd and Kygo, the latter mentioning that Bergling was his big influence in EDM. All DJs honoured his memory by playing his music in their sets during the festival which Michael Thivaios (Like Mike) described as Bergling's home. Thivaios continued calling Bergling "one of [his] best friends" and "a great inspiration". Avicii's songs "Levels" and "Wake Me Up" came second and eighth respectively in Tomorrowland 2018's most played songs.
On 27 July, Russian DJ and producer Arty released a song called "Tim" as a tribute to Bergling. "I made a track for my friend," he stated. "I just want to honor his memory. I want to do something right, and in my opinion it's the right thing to do."
In addition to the live tributes, many other artists including Eric Prydz, Imagine Dragons, Skrillex, Calvin Harris, Hardwell, Deadmau5, Marshmello and Zedd also paid tribute to Bergling on Twitter.
One year after his death, tributes on social media continued to be paid by Nicky Romero, DJ Snake, Nile Rodgers, and the organisers of Tomorrowland amongst others.
Other tributes
On 21 April 2018, a collection of Avicii's songs were played on the carillon within Dom Tower of Utrecht, performed by Malgosia Fiebig.
On May 21, 2018, during the first night of the finale of the fourteenth season of reality television singing competition show The Voice, coach Alicia Keys performed Avicii's "Wake Me Up" as part of her coach duet with the last remaining artist on her team, Britton Buchanan.During the performance, Keys made a verbal tribute to Avicii.
On 16 November 2018, Bergling's family organised a public memorial service atthe Hedvig Eleonora Church in Stockholm. The service saw a huge turn-out, with hundreds of fans filling the church to mourn and pay their respects. The service featured an orchestral choir which played music linking to events in Bergling's life and ended with a version of his 2013 number one hit "Wake Me Up". One fan described it as a "very moving" service and "a great tribute to Bergling".
On 30 April 2019, the Mounted Royal Guards and the Life Guards' Dragoon Music Corps of the Swedish Army paid tribute to Avicii during a ceremony at Stockholm Palace, where brass renditions of his songs "Without You", "Hey Brother", and "Wake Me Up" were played.
The 2019 Edition of the music festival Tomorrowland included a tribute in the decoration of the Main stage of the festival.
In September 2019, it was announced that a tribute concert would be held in Stockholm on 5 December 2019 in memory of Avicii. The concert saw David Guetta, Kygo, Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike, Nicky Romero, and Laidback Luke headlining, along with a number of vocalists that Tim had worked with playing alongside a 30-piece orchestra, fulfilling one of Avicii's dreams for his music in a live setting. All profits went to the Tim Bergling Foundation. Following the start of ticket sales, the concert sold out in 30 minutes.
In October of the same year, Avicii was honoured with a waxwork statue at the Madame Tussauds museum in New York City.
The same month it was announced that the video game Avicii: Invector would be released. Gameplay includes single and multiplayer versions where players would use the game to recreate 25 of his hits throughout the years. A portion of the profits are set to be donated to the Tim Bergling Foundation. Rebecca May of The Guardian rated the game 4 stars, describing it as "an immersive musical tribute".
Legacy
Mental health awareness
On 26 March 2019, Bergling's family launched a mental illness and suicide prevention foundation, named after the late DJ, the Tim Bergling Foundation. The foundation works internationally and aims to educate people and businesses on the issues surrounding suicide and mental health. The foundation also works to tackle climate change, manage business development, and conserve endangered species. People in the music industry are already claiming Avicii's death has raised awareness of mental health in the industry.
Music innovation
Avicii inspired many artists in the EDM genre, many of whom paid tribute to him after his death. Norwegian DJ Kygo cited Avicii as "[his] biggest inspiration and the reason why [he] started making electronic music." In addition, artists like Alan Walker and DubVision described him as an "icon" in EDM. Other artists such as Diplo, Sebastian Ingrosso, Felix Jaehn, and Martin Garrix, the last of whom collaborated with Avicii on his 2015 single "Waiting for Love", have also cited him as a source of inspiration, with the songs "Levels" and "Seek Bromance" being specifically mentioned as points of inspiration.
On the day of his death, The Washington Post wrote an article citing Avicii as a pioneer artist in the attempt to bridge the gap between country and electronic music, crediting his 2013 hits "Wake Me Up" and "Hey Brother" as a good example of this movement. Avicii is also credited for influencing other attempts at continuing this genre crossover, including songs such as Zedd's "The Middle" and Hailee Steinfeld's "Let Me Go".
Avicii also influenced a number of mainstream artists outside electronic music. Nile Rodgers said that in terms of melody writing, Avicii was "maybe one of the best, if not the best I’ve ever worked with." Mike Einziger of Incubus said "Some of the work we did together is some of the music I’m most proud of in my whole life." Dan Reynolds of Imagine Dragons said "working with [Avicii] was one of my favorite collaborative moments." Charlie Puth said that Avicii was "The man who really opened my eyes as to what my productions could one day sound like." Eric Clapton, who never publicly worked with Avicii, said he was "Inspired by Avicii", and dedicated a song off his Christmas album, Happy Xmas, to him.
On 21 November 2019, Billboard named Avicii's 2011 hit "Levels" as one of the one hundred songs which defined the 2010s, whereas his 2013 hit "Wake Me Up" came 13th (and was the highest charting EDM song) on the Official Charts Company's chart of the decade.
Discography
Studio albums
- True (2013)
- Stories (2015)
- Tim (2019)
Concert tours
- House for Hunger (2012)
- True Tour (2014)
- Stories World Tour (2015)
Awards and nominations
In popular culture
- Avicii was depicted on a Swedish postage stamp issued 15 January 2015 by PostNord Sverige.
- Avicii was named in the 2015 song "I Took a Pill in Ibiza" by American singer and songwriter Mike Posner. Posner recounts the event when he went to an Avicii show in Ibiza and got a mystery pill from someone, with the starting lyrics "I took a pill in Ibiza / To show Avicii I was cool". The song was made in the week they wrote a song together in Sweden called "Stay with You".