Avicii: everything you need to know about the Swedish DJ
Tim Bergling is probably one of the most famous DJs in the world. His songs are full of experimentation and cheerful melodies. They stayed in the charts worldwide for weeks and are still considered genre-defining today. However, the pressure of success took its toll on the DJ, which ultimately led to his tragical premature death.
Avicii is regarded as one of the most influential house producers of all time and is currently one of the top 100 most listened to artists on Spotify.
Avicii was a famous Swedish DJ, remixer and music producer in the field of electronic dance music (EDM). He produced many world-famous hits and was particularly notable for his experimental sounds, that still characterise the genre today. He died in 2018 at the age of just 28.
| Real Name | Tim Bergling |
|---|---|
| Born | 8th September 1989 in Stockholm |
| Died | 20th April 2018 in Maskat, Oman |
| Famous songs | Levels, Wake me up, The Nights, Waiting For Love, Hey Brother, Without You, Addicted To You |
The beginnings
Tim Bergling was born in Stockholm on 8 September 1989. His father described him as a rather introverted boy who liked to have long and intense conversations, loved to play video games and was sometimes hard to get out of bed in the morning.
At the age of 8, he found a way to process his emotions through music. At 16, he began producing his first house-style songs at home with his laptop and a guitar. He also exchanged ideas with his friends, who today also successfully produce music under the artist names Otto Knows and Alesso .
Finding a name
When Tim wanted to register on the social media platform Myspace, his real name was already taken as his username. He had previously produced music under the name Moonboy , but was now planning to give himself a new name.
In reference to the deepest level of the Buddhist underworld, he wanted to call himself Avici. As this name was already taken, he added a second i. This user name would later become his globally recognised stage name.
First successes
At the age of 19, Tim moved into a small flat in Stockholm and continued to produce music there. He sent his songs to blogs and record labels and his talent was quickly recognised. It wasn’t long before the first songs were released.
Avicii attracted more and more attention, including from well-known musicians. Among other things, he became the support act for the famous DJ Tiësto. His instrumental track Bromance was released as a new version with added vocals as “Seek Bromance” and achieved its first chart successes in several countries.
his final breakthrough came in 2011 with the song “Levels“, which he played for the first time at the Tomorrowland Festival in Belgium. The song was a huge success. It was later included by Billboard in the list of the “100 Songs that Defined the 2010s“.
A “life under high voltage”
The years that followed were filled with popularity and major collaborations. He worked with many well-known artists such as Coldplay (with whom he produced the hit A Sky Full of Stars, for example), Madonna and Robbie Williams.
Some of the best-known songs created during this time include
Avicii received Grammy nominations for Levels and the song Sunshine, which he co-produced with David Guetta.
Together with Arash Pournouri, he founded his own EDM label called “Le7els”.
He also composed the song We Write the Story together with former ABBA members Benny Andersson and Björn Ulveaus, which became the title song of the Eurovision Song Contest in 2013.
What characterises Avicii’s style
Avicii’s music has been described as a“cheerful, upbeat progressive style“. The songs invite you to dance with their positive energy and actually make it impossible to sit still.
He experimented a lot with cross-genre electronic music. For his hit “Wake me up“, for example, he mixed house and bluegrass, a subgenre of country music. In his debut album “True”, he mixed EDM with genres such as soul, funk, blues, folk and country. The second album “Stories” also contained elements of melodic house and pop-rock.
Millions in donations
With the success came the money. Avicii earned millions. However, the financial aspect had never been the driving force behind his work.
“When I started earning real money, I realised that I didn’t really need it. When you have such a mountain of money that you don’t need, the most sensible, humane and obvious thing to do is just give it to people who really need it.”
Avicii
He has donated many millions to charitable organisations. He also organised the“House for Hunger” tour in America in 2012, where he played 26 shows in 27 days. He donated the entire profit of over one million dollars to the organisation Feeding America.
The dark side of success
However, fame did not only have positive sides. Avicii travelled a lot and couldn’t find the peace and quiet to call a place home or to process what he had experienced.
He often turned to alcohol to overcome his shyness, loosen up and get through his shows. This led to excessive consumption, which quickly caused him physical complaints that often led to lengthy hospital visits . He also suffered from problems with drug addiction.
In 2015, he went to rehab in Ibiza. He managed to turn away from alcohol and medication and instead found a way to deal with his anxieties through meditation .
End of the stage career
Despite the successful withdrawal, Avicii’s efforts in show business and the pressure of success took their toll. He announced the end of his stage career in 2016.
“I have to come to terms with a few things now. It was always just about success for the sake of success. I just wasn’t happy anymore. (…)
Avicii
It was a life under high voltage. I didn’t have time to think about whether I liked life on tour. I was constantly on the road for eight years and after four years I realised that there was no feeling of home and I realised that I didn’t want that anymore. It was all just too much for me. That’s when I decided to stop.”
His primary concern was to end the gigs and concerts, but not his work as a music producer.
He continued to work on new songs with great enthusiasm. He was said to have been“inspired” and“enthusiastic” about producing and was completely absorbed in this passion: he sometimes became so engrossed in his work that he worked for up to 16 hours without a break.
Tragic death
At the age of just 28, Avicii was found dead in 2018 while on holiday in Oman on an estate belonging to the Omani royal family.
The media did not initially reveal the cause. However, a statement from the family then suggested that the DJ had committed suicide : he had been tormented by thoughts about “meaning, life, happiness” and had wanted to “find peace”. They also described him as a “seeker, a fragile artistic soul“.
Avicii was a perfectionist; the intense stress of his tours and the pressure to make even better music had taken its toll on him. Even before his death, his family had been worried about his state of health.
Many well-known personalities mourned his loss publicly. Avicii was honoured in many ways, including tribute events, the renaming of Stockholm’s multi-purpose hall Globen to “Avicii Arena” and the production of tribute songs by other artists.
Avicii was buried at Hedwig Eleonora Church in Stockholm.
Legacy
After his death, Tim’s family founded the “Tim Bergling Foundation“, which is committed to raising awareness of mental illness and suicide prevention .
Avicii’s death also seems to have brought about a change in the music industry : according to reports, awareness of mental health has been raised here.
in 2019, the album “Tim” was released posthumously with songs that Avicii had been working on shortly before his death. Many describe the songs he wrote during this time as some of the best of his career. All proceeds from album sales are donated to the Tim Bergling Foundation.
In 2025, another album “Avicii Forever” was released with the best-known songs as a tribute to Avicii’s life’s work. It also included the previously unreleased song “Let’s ride away” and was intended to build “a bridge between the past and the future”.
Today, Tim Bergling’s songs are still popular around the world and are regarded as pioneers of electronic dance music.
