Tim Bergling (8 September 1989 – 20 April 2018), known professionally as Avicii, was a Swedish
DJ, remixer, and
record producer
A record producer or music producer is a music creating project's overall supervisor whose responsibilities can involve a range of creative and technical leadership roles. Typically the job involves hands-on oversight of recording sessions; ensu ...
. At age 16, he began posting his
remix
A remix, also sometimes called reorchestration or rework, is a piece of media which has been altered or contorted from its original state by adding, removing, or changing pieces of the item. A song, piece of artwork, book, poem, or photograph ca ...
es 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
True most commonly refers to truth, the state of being in congruence with fact or reality.
True may also refer to:
Places
* True, West Virginia, an unincorporated community in the United States
* True, Wisconsin, a town in the United States
* ...
'' (2013), blended electronic music with elements of multiple genres and received generally positive reviews. It peaked in the top 10 in more than 15 countries and topped international 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 extended play, ''
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", "
Lonely Together" and "
SOS
SOS is a Morse code distress signal (), used internationally, originally established for maritime use. In formal notation SOS is written with an overscore line (), to indicate that the Morse code equivalents for the individual letters of "SOS" a ...
". Bergling was nominated for a
Grammy Award
The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...
for his work on "
Sunshine" with
David Guetta
Pierre David Guetta (; born 7 November 1967) is a French DJ and record producer. He has sold over 10 million albums and 65 million singles globally, with more than 30 billion streams on Spotify. Guetta was voted the number one DJ in the DJ Mag ...
in 2012
and "Levels" in 2013. Several music publications credit Bergling as among the DJs who ushered electronic music into
Top 40
In the music industry, the Top 40 is a list of the 40 currently most popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "To ...
radio in the early 2010s.
Bergling retired from touring in 2016, after several years of stress and poor mental health.
In 2018, he died by suicide while on holiday in
Muscat
Muscat (, ) is the capital and most populous city in Oman. It is the seat of the Governorate of Muscat. According to the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI), the population of the Muscat Governorate in 2022 was 1.72 million. ...
,
Oman
Oman, officially the Sultanate of Oman, is a country located on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in West Asia and the Middle East. It shares land borders with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. Oman’s coastline ...
. His third and final album, ''
Tim'', was
released posthumously in 2019.
Life and career
1989–2010: Early life and career
Tim Bergling was born in
Stockholm
Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...
on 8 September 1989, the son of Klas Bergling, who ran an office supply business, and actress
Anki Lidén.
He had three siblings: David Bergling, Linda Sterner, and actor
Anton Körberg. He started mixing in his bedroom at the age of eight.
Inspired by his brother, who was also a DJ, he began making music at the age of 16, teaching himself to use a
pirated copy of
FL Studio
FL Studio (known as FruityLoops before 2003) is a digital audio workstation (DAW) developed by the Belgian company Image-Line. It features a graphical user interface with a pattern-based music sequencer. It is available in four different ...
.
In May 2007, Bergling signed on with the Dejfitts Plays label. He was a member of the
Laidback Luke
Lucas Cornelis van Scheppingen (born 22 October 1976), better known under his stage name Laidback Luke, is a Filipino-born Dutch DJ and record producer. He notably remixed the Robin S. song, "Show Me Love (Robin S. song)#Steve Angello and Laidba ...
Forums, where he refined his craft and, at times, demonstrated his distinct deep house style. By 2009 or 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 adopted his moniker ''Avicii'', which is a respelling of
Avīci, which according to Bergling means "the lowest level of
Buddhist hell." He chose the moniker because his real name was already used upon creating his
Myspace
Myspace (formerly stylized as MySpace, currently myspace; and sometimes my␣, with an elongated Whitespace character#Substitute images, open box symbol) is a social networking service based in the United States. Launched on August 1, 2003, it w ...
page. 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
EMI Music Publishing Ltd. is a British multinational music publishing company headquartered in London, owned by Sony Music Publishing.
In May 2018, Sony Music Publishing agreed to increase its stake in EMI to 90%, pending regulatory approva ...
.
2011–2013: "Levels"

In 2011, Bergling's track "
Fade into Darkness" was sampled by
Leona Lewis
Leona Louise Lewis (born 3 April 1985) is a British singer, songwriter, actress, model, and activist. Born and raised in Islington, Inner London, she later attended the BRIT School for Performing Arts and Technology in Croydon. Lewis achieve ...
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 "Collide" being made a joint release between Lewis and Bergling. In October 2011, Bergling released "
Levels", which launched him into the mainstream. "Levels" reached the top ten in Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, 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
Pierre David Guetta (; born 7 November 1967) is a French DJ and record producer. He has sold over 10 million albums and 65 million singles globally, with more than 30 billion streams on Spotify. Guetta was voted the number one DJ in the DJ Mag ...
was nominated for a
Grammy
The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious a ...
award under the category for Best Dance Recording.
On 23 March 2012, Bergling's unsigned single "Last Dance" was previewed on Pete Tong's show on
BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and Contemporary hit radio, current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including ...
. The song was later released on 27 August 2012. At
Ultra Music Festival
Ultra Music Festival (UMF) is an annual outdoor electronic music Music festival, festival that takes place in March in Miami, Florida. The festival was founded in 1999 by Russell Faibisch and Alex Omes.
It was first held on Miami Beach, but bes ...
2012 in Miami, he premiered two tracks, "
Girl Gone Wild" (Avicii's UMF Remix) with
Madonna
Madonna Louise Ciccone ( ; born August 16, 1958) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress. Referred to as the "Queen of Pop", she has been recognized for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, ...
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
SoundCloud is a German audio streaming service owned and operated by SoundCloud Global Limited & Co. KG. The service enables its users to upload, promote, and share audio. Founded in 2007 by Alexander Ljung and Eric Wahlforss, SoundCloud is ...
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
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...
''
Hot Dance Club Songs
The Dance Club Songs (also known as National Disco Action, Hot Dance/Disco Club Play, and Hot Dance Club Play) was a chart published weekly between 1976 and 2020 by ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' magazine. It used club disc jockeys set list ...
.

Bergling was a featured performer on 4 August 2012 at
Lollapalooza
Lollapalooza () is an annual American four-day music festival held in Grant Park (Chicago), Grant Park in Chicago. It originally started as a touring event in 1991, with Chicago becoming its permanent location beginning in 2005. Music genres i ...
festival in Chicago's Grant Park. On 12 August 2012, he released "Dancing in My Head" (Avicii's 'Been Cursed' Mix) on
Beatport
Beatport is an American electronic music-oriented online music store owned by LiveStyle. The company is based in Denver, Los Angeles, and Berlin. Beatport is oriented primarily towards disk jockey, DJs, selling full songs as well as resources that ...
. 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
iTunes is a media player, media library, and mobile device management (MDM) utility developed by Apple. It is used to purchase, play, download and organize digital multimedia on personal computers running the macOS and Windows operating s ...
, 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
Radio City Music Hall (also known as Radio City) is an entertainment venue and Theater (structure), theater at 1260 Sixth Avenue (Manhattan), Avenue of the Americas, within Rockefeller Center, in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York C ...
in New York City. He performed two sold-out shows on 26 and 27 September. He was supported by Matt Goldman and
Cazzette
Cazzette is a Swedish electronic dance music duo, founded in 2011 by musicians Alexander Björklund and Sebastian Furrer.
Biography
The duo is best known for the songs "Beam Me Up", from their debut album ''Eject'' (2014), and " Sleepless" (201 ...
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 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
(), commonly known as Ericsson (), is a Swedish multinational networking and telecommunications company headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden. Ericsson has been a major contributor to the development of the telecommunications industry and is one ...
designed to create the world's first "
crowdsourced
Crowdsourcing involves a large group of dispersed participants contributing or producing goods or services—including ideas, votes, micro-tasks, and finances—for payment or as volunteers. Contemporary crowdsourcing often involves digit ...
" 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), Vanya Khaksi (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
Adam Richard Wiles (born 17 January 1984), known professionally as Calvin Harris (and sometimes under the stage name Love Regenerator), is a Scottish DJ, record producer, singer, and songwriter. His debut studio album, ''I Created Disco'' (2007 ...
and
Ne-Yo
Shaffer Chimere Smith (born October 18, 1979), known professionally as Ne-Yo ( ), is an American singer and songwriter. Regarded as a leading figure of Contemporary R&B#2000s, 2000s R&B music, he is the recipient of numerous accolades, includi ...
,
Skrillex
Sonny John Moore (born January 15, 1988), known professionally as Skrillex, is an American DJ, record producer, musician, singer. Raised in Northeast Los Angeles and Northern California, he began his career in 2004 as the lead vocalist of the ...
,
Swedish House Mafia
Swedish House Mafia (SHM) are a Swedish house music, house Supergroup (music), supergroup consisting of Axwell, Steve Angello and Sebastian Ingrosso. The group officially formed in late 2008, were placed at number ten on the ''DJ Mag'' Top 100 D ...
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
The Prodigy are an English electronic music band formed in Braintree, Essex, in 1990 by producer, keyboardist, and songwriter Liam Howlett. The original line-up also featured
Rapping, MC and vocalist Maxim (musician), Maxim, dancer and occasi ...
and
The Stone Roses
The Stone Roses were an English rock band formed in Manchester in 1983. They were one of the pioneering groups of the Madchester movement in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The band's classic and most prominent lineup consisted of vocalist I ...
. In late February 2013, Bergling made his first South American tour, with concerts in Venezuela, Argentina, Colombia, Brazil and Chile.
2013–2014: ''True''
In March 2013, Bergling announced and premiered new tracks from his forthcoming new album ''
True
True most commonly refers to truth, the state of being in congruence with fact or reality.
True may also refer to:
Places
* True, West Virginia, an unincorporated community in the United States
* True, Wisconsin, a town in the United States
* ...
''—which was released in September that year—during his Main Stage set at
Ultra Music Festival
Ultra Music Festival (UMF) is an annual outdoor electronic music Music festival, festival that takes place in March in Miami, Florida. The festival was founded in 1999 by Russell Faibisch and Alex Omes.
It was first held on Miami Beach, but bes ...
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
SoundCloud is a German audio streaming service owned and operated by SoundCloud Global Limited & Co. KG. The service enables its users to upload, promote, and share audio. Founded in 2007 by Alexander Ljung and Eric Wahlforss, SoundCloud is ...
. It contained some songs from ''True'' and some of his non-album singles. It also contained some of his IDs 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
ABBA ( ) were a Swedish pop group formed in Stockholm in 1972 by Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, and Anni-Frid Lyngstad. They are one of the most popular and successful musical groups of all time, and are one of the List ...
members
Björn Ulvaeus
Björn Kristian Ulvaeus (; born 25 April 1945) is a Swedish musician, singer, songwriter, and producer best known as a member of the musical group ABBA. He is also the co-composer of the musicals ''Chess (musical), Chess'', ''Kristina från Duve ...
and
Benny Andersson
Göran Bror Benny Andersson (; born 16 December 1946) is a Swedish musician, composer and producer best known as a member of the pop group ABBA and co-composer of the musicals ''Chess (musical), Chess'', ''Kristina från Duvemåla'', and ''Mamm ...
, 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
Peter Michael Tong (born 30 July 1960) is an English DJ who works for BBC Radio 1. He is the host of programmes such as '' Essential Mix'' and '' Essential Selection'' on the radio service, which can be heard through Internet radio streams, for ...
on BBC Radio 1, featuring vocals from
Aloe Blacc
Egbert Nathaniel Dawkins III (born January 7, 1979), known professionally as Aloe Blacc (), is an American singer and rapper. He is known for his guest performance on Avicii's 2013 single "Wake Me Up (Avicii song), Wake Me Up", which peaked on ...
. 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
The Official UK Charts Company Limited (formerly Music Industry Chart Services Limited), trading as the Official Charts Company (OCC) or the Official Charts (formerly the Chart Information Network), is a British inter-professional organisation ...
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
Robbert van de Corput (; born 7 January 1988), known professionally as Hardwell, is a Dutch DJ and music producer from Breda. He was voted the world's number one DJ by ''DJ Mag'' in 2013 and again in 2014. In 2022, he was ranked at number 43 in ...
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 EMAs. On 24 November 2013 he won the
American Music Award
The American Music Awards (AMAs) is an annual American music awards show produced by Dick Clark Productions since 1974. Nominees are selected on commercial performance such as sales and airplay. Winners are determined by a poll of the public and ...
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
Audra Mae Butts (born February 20, 1984) is an American singer and songwriter from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. She is the great-niece of Judy Garland, and a great-granddaughter of Garland's sister, Dorothy Virginia Gumm. Since arriving in California ...
, 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
Adam Mitchel Lambert (born January 29, 1982) is an American singer, songwriter and actor. He is known for his dynamic vocal performances that combine his theatrical training with modern and classic genres. Lambert rose to fame in 2009 after ...
and guitar from
Nile Rodgers
Nile Gregory Rodgers Jr. (born September 19, 1952) is an American musician, songwriter, guitarist and record producer. The co-founder of Chic, he has written, produced, and performed on records that have sold more than 750 million albums and 1 ...
. 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 28 February 2014, ''Wake Me Up'' became the first song in history to surpass 200 million listeners on
Spotify
Spotify (; ) is a List of companies of Sweden, Swedish Music streaming service, audio streaming and media service provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. , it is one of the largest providers of music streaming services ...
, making it the platform's most-streamed track at the time. The song held the top spot as the most-played track on the platform for 506 days until it was overtaken by Ed Sheeran's ''
Thinking Out Loud'' in May 2015.
On 8 March 2014, Bergling's
Instagram
Instagram is an American photo sharing, photo and Short-form content, short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with Social media camera filter, filters, be ...
account confirmed a collaboration with
Madonna
Madonna Louise Ciccone ( ; born August 16, 1958) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress. Referred to as the "Queen of Pop", she has been recognized for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, ...
, and he is credited for co-writing and co-producing some of the tracks on her ''
Rebel Heart
''Rebel Heart'' is the thirteenth studio album by American singer-songwriter Madonna, released by Interscope Records on March 6, 2015. She worked on the album throughout 2014, co-writing and co-producing it with various musicians, including Di ...
'' album, released in 2015. 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
Ultra Music Festival (UMF) is an annual outdoor electronic music Music festival, festival that takes place in March in Miami, Florida. The festival was founded in 1999 by Russell Faibisch and Alex Omes.
It was first held on Miami Beach, but bes ...
, 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
The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...
and
Sony Music Entertainment
Sony Music Entertainment (SME), commonly known as Sony Music, is an American multinational music company owned by Japanese conglomerate Sony Group Corporation. It is the recording division of Sony Music Group, with the other half being the ...
announced that Bergling would be collaborating with
Carlos Santana
Carlos Humberto Santana Barragán (; born July 20, 1947) is an American guitarist, best known as a founding member of the Rock music, rock band Santana (band), Santana. Born and raised in Mexico where he developed his musical background, he r ...
,
Wyclef Jean
Nel Ust Wyclef Jean ( ; born October 17, 1969) is a Haitian rapper, singer, and record producer. Born in Haiti, Jean emigrated to the Northeastern United States, United States as a child. He gained fame as a founding member of the Fugees, a Ne ...
and
Alexandre Pires for the official
FIFA World Cup Anthem titled "
Dar um Jeito (We Will Find a Way)
"Dar um Jeito (We Will Find a Way)" is the List of FIFA World Cup songs and anthems, official anthem of the 2014 FIFA World Cup held in Brazil performed by Carlos Santana and Wyclef Jean featuring Avicii and Alexandre Pires. The song was executive ...
". The anthem was performed at the
FIFA World Cup
The FIFA World Cup, often called the World Cup, is an international association football competition among the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internatio ...
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
Coldplay are a British Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1997. They consist of vocalist and pianist Chris Martin, guitarist Jonny Buckland, bassist Guy Berryman, drummer and percussionist Will Champion, and manager Phil Harvey (band m ...
, 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
Pierre David Guetta (; born 7 November 1967) is a French DJ and record producer. He has sold over 10 million albums and 65 million singles globally, with more than 30 billion streams on Spotify. Guetta was voted the number one DJ in the DJ Mag ...
, was released on 30 June 2014.
2014–2015: ''Stories''

In July 2014, Bergling told ''
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason.
The magazine was first known fo ...
'' that he had worked on 70 songs for his next album ''Stories'', which would include collaborations with
Jon Bon Jovi
John Francis Bongiovi Jr. (born March 2, 1962), known professionally as Jon Bon Jovi, is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, and actor. He is best known as the founder and Lead vocalist, frontman of the rock band Bon Jovi, which was fo ...
,
Serj Tankian
Serj Tankian ( , ; born August 21, 1967) is an Armenian-American musician. He is best known as the lead vocalist of the alternative metal band System of a Down, which was formed in 1994.
Tankian has released five albums with System of a Down ...
of
System of a Down,
Chris Martin,
Wyclef Jean
Nel Ust Wyclef Jean ( ; born October 17, 1969) is a Haitian rapper, singer, and record producer. Born in Haiti, Jean emigrated to the Northeastern United States, United States as a child. He gained fame as a founding member of the Fugees, a Ne ...
and
Matisyahu
Matthew Paul Miller (born June 30, 1979), known by his stage name Matisyahu (; ), is an American singer, rapper, beatboxer, and musician.
Known for blending spiritual themes with reggae, rock and hip hop beatboxing sounds, Matisyahu's 2005 sin ...
. Describing the album, Bergling said that "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
Green Day is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Rodeo, California, in 1987 by lead vocalist and guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong and bassist and backing vocalist Mike Dirnt, with drummer Tré Cool joining in 1990. In 1994, their majo ...
. 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
Thomas Peter Odell (born 24 November 1990) is an English singer-songwriter. He released his debut extended play, ''Songs from Another Love'', in 2012. He won the 2013 BRIT Awards, BRITs Critics' Choice Award in early 2013. Odell's debut studio ...
and "Million Miles" with
LP, which is the demo version of "Trouble", a song from ''Stories'' with vocals from
Wayne Hector
Wayne Anthony Hector is a British songwriter who is best known for his work with pop artists such as Nicki Minaj, One Direction, the Wanted, Toše Proeski and Olly Murs. He co-wrote seven of Westlife's number one singles, including " World ...
.
"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
Robert Peter Williams (born 13 February 1974) is an English singer and songwriter. He found fame as a member of the pop group Take That from 1990 to 1995, launching a solo career in 1996. His debut studio album, ''Life thru a Lens'', was re ...
, and was released on 3 October 2014 via PRMD. On 16 September 2014, it was announced through
EA Sports
EA Sports is a division of Electronic Arts that develops and publishes sports video games. Formerly a marketing gimmick of Electronic Arts, in which they imitated real-life sports networks by calling themselves the "EA Sports Network" (EASN) ...
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
Nel Ust Wyclef Jean ( ; born October 17, 1969) is a Haitian rapper, singer, and record producer. Born in Haiti, Jean emigrated to the Northeastern United States, United States as a child. He gained fame as a founding member of the Fugees, a Ne ...
released a track titled "
Divine Sorrow" featuring Avicii, which was part of
Product Red's "Share the Sound of an AIDS-Free Generation" campaign.

On 2 March 2015, Bergling performed live at Australia's
Future Music Festival his upcoming single "
Heaven
Heaven, or the Heavens, is a common Religious cosmology, religious cosmological or supernatural place where beings such as deity, deities, angels, souls, saints, or Veneration of the dead, venerated ancestors are said to originate, be throne, ...
", with another collaboration with Chris Martin on vocals. The vocals were later resung by singer Simon Aldred from
Cherry Ghost, who sang the track at the Avicii Tribute Concert in 2019. However, the version with Martin on vocals was finalized in 2018/2019 after Bergling's death and was released on the posthumous third album ''Tim,'' which credits Martin for co-writing "Heaven". On 27 March that year, during his live performance at
Ultra Music Festival
Ultra Music Festival (UMF) is an annual outdoor electronic music Music festival, festival that takes place in March in Miami, Florida. The festival was founded in 1999 by Russell Faibisch and Alex Omes.
It was first held on Miami Beach, but bes ...
in
Miami
Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...
, Bergling premiered new tracks from ''Stories,'' and a month later he released three full sets on the internet,
[Middleton, Ryan (19 April 2015]
Avicii Releases Ultra Music Festival 2015 Live Set Filled With New 'Stories' Songs
. Musictimes.com which included "Heaven", "
Waiting for Love", and some of his IDs "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
Nina Simone ( ; born Eunice Kathleen Waymon; February 21, 1933 – April 21, 2003) was an American singer, pianist, songwriter, and civil rights activist. Her music spanned styles including classical, folk, gospel, blues, jazz, R&B, and po ...
's version of "
Feeling Good", composed in 1964 by the English songwriters
Anthony Newley and
Leslie Bricusse
Leslie Bricusse OBE (; 29 January 1931 – 19 October 2021) was a British composer, lyricist, and playwright who worked on theatre musicals and wrote theme music for films. He was best known for writing the music and lyrics for the films '' D ...
. 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 and 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
Martijn Gerard Garritsen (; born 14 May 1996), known professionally as Martin Garrix (or Ytram and GRX), is a Dutch Republic, Dutch DJ and record producer who was ranked number one on ''DJ Mag''s Top 100 DJs list for three consecutive years—20 ...
, 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 second album ''Stories'' would be released in late 2015.
On June 12, 2015, the Canadian indie pop band
Walk Off the Earth released the track ''"I'll Be Waiting"''. The song was written by Avicii in collaboration with the band members and is part of their album ''"
Sing It All Away"''. A music video for the song was released on May 3, 2016.
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
Nel Ust Wyclef Jean ( ; born October 17, 1969) is a Haitian rapper, singer, and record producer. Born in Haiti, Jean emigrated to the Northeastern United States, United States as a child. He gained fame as a founding member of the Fugees, a Ne ...
and
Matisyahu
Matthew Paul Miller (born June 30, 1979), known by his stage name Matisyahu (; ), is an American singer, rapper, beatboxer, and musician.
Known for blending spiritual themes with reggae, rock and hip hop beatboxing sounds, Matisyahu's 2005 sin ...
. 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.
On December 9, 2015, Avicii remixed his song ''"
Broken Arrows"'' to be featured as part of the soundtrack for that year's
YouTube Rewind.
2016: Retirement from touring
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 once again teamed up 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 Music AB was the 6th-fastest-growing company in Europe, with a revenue of €7.7 million in 2014.
On 19 March 2016 at Ultra Music Festival, Bergling debuted new demos featuring
Sandro Cavazza such as "We Burn (Faster Than Light)", "Lord", "Our Love", & "Unbreakable", as well as a collaboration with Australian pop star
Sia called "All I Need"; they remain unreleased to this day. On 29 March, Bergling announced via his Facebook page that he would be retiring from performing later that year, citing health concerns. On 7 April 2016, Bergling announced that he was working on a third studio album. On 3 June 2016, Bergling released a collaboration with Otto Knows titled "Back Where I Belong".
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, the track was pulled from YouTube with the video being made private. On 28 August 2016, Bergling performed his final show at
Ushuaïa Ibiza Beach Hotel.
On 22 December 2016, a representative of Avicii Music AB announced that Bergling had parted ways with long-time manager
Arash Pournouri and At Night Management along with Pournouri'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
Rita Sahatçiu Ora (; born Rita Sahatçiu; 26 November 1990) is a British singer-songwriter, television personality, and actress. Born in Pristina, modern-day Kosovo, she rose to prominence when she featured on DJ Fresh's 2012 single, "Hot Rig ...
debuted a semi-acoustic version of "
Lonely Together" at a private event at Annabel's in London. "Lonely Together" was later released as 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
BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and Contemporary hit radio, current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including ...
, 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, titled ''
Avicii: True Stories''. The documentary chronicles the artist's retirement from touring and features interviews from his colleagues
David Guetta
Pierre David Guetta (; born 7 November 1967) is a French DJ and record producer. He has sold over 10 million albums and 65 million singles globally, with more than 30 billion streams on Spotify. Guetta was voted the number one DJ in the DJ Mag ...
,
Tiësto
Tijs Michiel Verwest (; born 17 January 1969), known professionally as Tiësto ( , ), is a Dutch DJ and record producer. He was voted "The Greatest DJ of All Time" by ''Mix (magazine), Mix'' magazine in a 2010/2011 poll amongst fans. In 2013, h ...
,
Wyclef Jean
Nel Ust Wyclef Jean ( ; born October 17, 1969) is a Haitian rapper, singer, and record producer. Born in Haiti, Jean emigrated to the Northeastern United States, United States as a child. He gained fame as a founding member of the Fugees, a Ne ...
,
Nile Rodgers
Nile Gregory Rodgers Jr. (born September 19, 1952) is an American musician, songwriter, guitarist and record producer. The co-founder of Chic, he has written, produced, and performed on records that have sold more than 750 million albums and 1 ...
and
Chris Martin of
Coldplay
Coldplay are a British Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1997. They consist of vocalist and pianist Chris Martin, guitarist Jonny Buckland, bassist Guy Berryman, drummer and percussionist Will Champion, and manager Phil Harvey (band m ...
.
On January 4, American singer
Anderson East released the single ''"Girlfriend"''. The song was co-written with Avicii for Anderson's album ''
Encore''.
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 between the two, following "Somewhere in Stockholm" from Bergling's album ''Stories''.
In March 2018, Bergling posted previews of him working with collaborators such as Bonn,
Carl Falk,
Joe Janiak, Albin Nedler, and more. The songs previewed during these clips ended up being the tracks that were finished and released as part of the posthumous
''Tim'' album.
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 suggested that his unreleased material comprised some of his best work. In August 2018, producer Carl Falk, who co-produced some of the songs on ''Stories'' in 2015 and ''Avīci (01)'' in 2017, stated that he was 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.
Posthumous release and tribute activities
In April 2019, it was announced that the album ''
Tim'', which Bergling was working on before his death, would be released on 6 June 2019, with the lead single, "
SOS
SOS is a Morse code distress signal (), used internationally, originally established for maritime use. In formal notation SOS is written with an overscore line (), to indicate that the Morse code equivalents for the individual letters of "SOS" a ...
", released on 10 April. All proceeds from the sale of the album went towards the
Tim Bergling Foundation.
Later that month, it was announced that an
official biography
A biography, or simply bio, is a detailed description of a person's life. It involves more than just basic facts like education, work, relationships, and death; it portrays a person's experience of these life events. Unlike a profile or curri ...
of Bergling, written by Måns Mosesson, would be released in 2020, with the proceeds also going to the foundation. The second single from the album, titled "
Tough Love", was released on 9 May 2019, followed by a music video on 14 May. The third single, "
Heaven
Heaven, or the Heavens, is a common Religious cosmology, religious cosmological or supernatural place where beings such as deity, deities, angels, souls, saints, or Veneration of the dead, venerated ancestors are said to originate, be throne, ...
", was released on 6 June; it was co-written by
Coldplay
Coldplay are a British Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1997. They consist of vocalist and pianist Chris Martin, guitarist Jonny Buckland, bassist Guy Berryman, drummer and percussionist Will Champion, and manager Phil Harvey (band m ...
's lead singer
Chris Martin. Martin spoke about the collaboration on his social media, stating that he co-wrote the song with Bergling back in 2014, but it was completed by Bergling in 2016. The music video used old clips of Bergling on vacation in
Madagascar
Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country that includes the island of Madagascar and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Lying off the southeastern coast of Africa, it is the world's List of islands by area, f ...
after his retirement from touring in 2016 and was released on 24 June 2019. On 28 June, ''
Billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...
'' cited "Heaven" as one of the best dance songs of the first half of 2019. "Fades Away" was released on 5 December as the fourth and final single, 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", a collaboration with
Kygo and
Sandro Cavazza. The song was previously performed by Bergling during his final tour in 2016, starting with
Ultra Music Festival
Ultra Music Festival (UMF) is an annual outdoor electronic music Music festival, festival that takes place in March in Miami, Florida. The festival was founded in 1999 by Russell Faibisch and Alex Omes.
It was first held on Miami Beach, but bes ...
. Kygo and Sandro Cavazza performed the song together live at the Avicii Tribute Concert, held at Stockholm's
Friends Arena in December 2019. On 15 February,
Tiësto
Tijs Michiel Verwest (; born 17 January 1969), known professionally as Tiësto ( , ), is a Dutch DJ and record producer. He was voted "The Greatest DJ of All Time" by ''Mix (magazine), Mix'' magazine in a 2010/2011 poll amongst fans. In 2013, h ...
premiered three unreleased Avicii singles on the latest episode of his radio show ''
Tiësto's Club Life'': a fifth collaboration with
Aloe Blacc
Egbert Nathaniel Dawkins III (born January 7, 1979), known professionally as Aloe Blacc (), is an American singer and rapper. He is known for his guest performance on Avicii's 2013 single "Wake Me Up (Avicii song), Wake Me Up", which peaked on ...
called "I Wanna Be Free", a fifth collaboration with Sandro Cavazza called "We Burn", and a fifth collaboration with
Wyclef Jean
Nel Ust Wyclef Jean ( ; born October 17, 1969) is a Haitian rapper, singer, and record producer. Born in Haiti, Jean emigrated to the Northeastern United States, United States as a child. He gained fame as a founding member of the Fugees, a Ne ...
called "Now That We Found Love".
On October 30, 2020, the American singer
Cam
Cam or CAM may refer to:
Science and technology
* Cam (mechanism), a mechanical linkage which translates motion
* Camshaft, a shaft with a cam
* Camera or webcam, a device that records images or video
In computing
* Computer-aided manufacturin ...
released the track "The Otherside", co-written by Avicii. The version included in the album of
the same name does not feature the DJ's original instrumentals, as they were removed to align with the album's country style, but it retains the lyrics written by Avicii.
A biography titled ''
Tim – The Official Biography of Avicii'' was released in the UK and North America on 16 November 2021. Kitty Empire of ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'' described it as "An honest study of the shy young man turned superstar DJ".
A second tribute concert was held at the
Avicii Arena
Avicii Arena, originally known as the Stockholm Globe Arena and previously as the Ericsson Globe, but commonly referred to in Swedish simply as Globen (; ), is an indoor arena located in Stockholm Globe City, Johanneshov district of Stockho ...
on 1 December. A third tribute concert, titled "Together for a Better Day", was also held at the Avicii Arena on 6 December 2023.
On 14 February 2024,
Zac Brown Band's lead singer
Zac Brown, who had worked with Bergling on "
Broken Arrows", announced that Bergling's remix of their song "
Beautiful Drug" would be released on 16 February. On 19 April, it was announced that the documentary ''
Avicii – I'm Tim'' would premiere at the
Tribeca Festival
The Tribeca Festival is an annual film festival organized by Tribeca Enterprises. It takes place each spring in New York City, showcasing a diverse selection of film, episodic, talks, music, games, art, and immersive programming. The festival ...
on 9 June 2024. Directed by Henrik Burman, the film will feature interviews with
David Guetta
Pierre David Guetta (; born 7 November 1967) is a French DJ and record producer. He has sold over 10 million albums and 65 million singles globally, with more than 30 billion streams on Spotify. Guetta was voted the number one DJ in the DJ Mag ...
,
Chris Martin and
Nile Rodgers
Nile Gregory Rodgers Jr. (born September 19, 1952) is an American musician, songwriter, guitarist and record producer. The co-founder of Chic, he has written, produced, and performed on records that have sold more than 750 million albums and 1 ...
, among others. On 23 May, a
SiriusXM
Sirius XM Holdings Inc. is an American broadcasting corporation headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, that provides satellite radio and online radio services operating in the United States. The company was formed by the 2008 merge ...
radio channel titled "Avicii Radio: Music for a Better Day" was launched.
On June 14, a
photobook
A photo book or photobook is a book in which photographs make a significant contribution to the overall content. A photo book is related to and also often used as a coffee table book.
Early
Early photo books are characterized by their use of ...
about Avicii's childhood and life was released by Swedish author Måns Mosesson, the same author of
Avicii's biography. The profits from the photobook sales were directed to the
Tim Bergling Foundation.
On December 31, 2024,
Netflix
Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...
released Avicii's final live performance, titled ''Avicii: My Last Show'', which took place on August 28, 2016, at the
Ushuaïa Ibiza Beach Hotel. The performance was launched simultaneously with the global release of the documentary ''
Avicii: I'm Tim''.
On February 14, 2025, the single "
Forever Yours (Tim's 2016 Ibiza Version)" was released. The song was already finished in 2016, but since the documentary was released, the pressure to release the song was higher. A "Creative Journey" video was posted on the same day in tandem to the song's release. It featured rare studio footage of Bergling listening to the demo with friends and performing it on his last concert at
Ushuaïa Ibiza Beach Hotel.
Artistry
Influences
In response to the question "''Which musicians influenced Avicii?''", asked on
Quora
Quora is an American social question-and-answer website and online knowledge market headquartered in Mountain View, California. It was founded on June 25, 2009, and made available to the public on June 21, 2010. Users can post questions, answ ...
, Avicii replied:
Musical style
Bergling's early work was
deep house
Deep house is a subgenre of house music that originated in the 1980s, initially fusing elements of Chicago house with the lush chords of 1980s jazz-funk and touches of soul music. Its origins are attributed to the early recordings of Larry Heard ...
and
progressive house
Progressive house is a subgenre of house music that emerged in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom. It is characterized by its evolving, melodic Musical form, structures, subtle Transition (music), transitions, and layered sound design.Gerard, ...
, 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
Folktronica is a genre of indie electronic music comprising various elements of folk music and electronica, often featuring uses of acoustic instruments—especially stringed instruments—deploying hip hop, electronic or dance rhythms, and ...
.
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
Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be ca ...
crossover, which, as noted by Katie Bain of ''
The Observer
''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. First published in 1791, it is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.
In 1993 it was acquired by Guardian Media Group Limited, and operated as a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' ...
'', "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 made up of "soaring synths and keening melodies".
Musicians such as
Kygo,
Skrillex
Sonny John Moore (born January 15, 1988), known professionally as Skrillex, is an American DJ, record producer, musician, singer. Raised in Northeast Los Angeles and Northern California, he began his career in 2004 as the lead vocalist of the ...
,
Diplo
Thomas Wesley Pentz (born November 10, 1978), known professionally as Diplo, is an American DJ and music producer. He is a co-creator and lead member of the electronic dancehall music project Major Lazer; a member of the supergroup LSD (group), ...
,
Gryffin,
Martin Garrix
Martijn Gerard Garritsen (; born 14 May 1996), known professionally as Martin Garrix (or Ytram and GRX), is a Dutch Republic, Dutch DJ and record producer who was ranked number one on ''DJ Mag''s Top 100 DJs list for three consecutive years—20 ...
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 Arash 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
Laura Lane Welch Bush (née Welch; born November 4, 1946) is an American educator who was the first lady of the United States from 2001 to 2009 as the wife of George W. Bush, the 43rd president of the United States. Bush was previously the fir ...
, 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
Bergling enjoyed playing ''
World of Warcraft
''World of Warcraft'' (''WoW'') is a 2004 massively multiplayer online role-playing (MMORPG) video game developed and published by Blizzard Entertainment for Windows and Mac OS X. Set in the '' Warcraft'' fantasy universe, ''World of War ...
'' in his youth. He developed
anxiety
Anxiety is an emotion characterised by an unpleasant state of inner wikt:turmoil, turmoil and includes feelings of dread over Anticipation, anticipated events. Anxiety is different from fear in that fear is defined as the emotional response ...
at a young age,
with his parents taking him to a therapist at the age of 14.
Relationships
From 2011 to 2013, Bergling dated Emily Goldberg, an American student. He then dated Racquel Bettencourt, a Canadian student and model; they lived together in
California
California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...
before splitting up in late 2014.
On the podcast ''Sofia with an F'', Bettencourt revealed she and Bergling got back together in the beginning of 2016. The reunion resulted in a pregnancy that was
miscarried. At the time of his death, he was dating Tereza Kačerová, a Czech model; they had decided to keep their relationship private.
Health
In January 2012, Bergling was hospitalised for 11 days in
New York City
New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
with
acute pancreatitis caused by excessive alcohol use.
Between 2012 and 2014, Bergling was prescribed
opioid
Opioids are a class of Drug, drugs that derive from, or mimic, natural substances found in the Papaver somniferum, opium poppy plant. Opioids work on opioid receptors in the brain and other organs to produce a variety of morphine-like effects, ...
s for the pain caused by his pancreatitis, including
OxyContin and
Vicodin, to which he developed an addiction. In 2014, Bergling underwent surgery and had both his
appendix and
gallbladder
In vertebrates, the gallbladder, also known as the cholecyst, is a small hollow Organ (anatomy), organ where bile is stored and concentrated before it is released into the small intestine. In humans, the pear-shaped gallbladder lies beneath t ...
removed. In 2015, Bergling entered a
rehab facility, later announcing in March 2016 that he would be retiring from touring.
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.
Following his retirement, Bergling took up
transcendental meditation, which he credited with reducing his anxiety, and started seeing a therapist.
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
Hate mail (as electronic, posted, or otherwise) is a form of harassment, usually consisting of invective and potentially intimidating or threatening comments towards the recipient. Hate mail often contains exceptionally abusive, foul or otherwi ...
' after cancelled gigs."
His manager, Arash Pournouri, admitted that he knew of Bergling's anxieties but refused to label them a problem of mental health. 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 was no crew to "keep tabs" on Bergling during his recuperation.
Pournouri met with Bergling's father Klas in 2014 to share concerns about Bergling's health.
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.
Death

Bergling died on 20 April 2018 in
Muscat, Oman
Muscat (, ) is the capital and most populous city in Oman. It is the seat of the Governorate of Muscat. According to the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI), the population of the Muscat Governorate in 2022 was 1.72 million. ...
, where he was on holiday, at the age of 28.
No cause of death was immediately given.
On 21 April, the
Omani authorities stated that there was "no criminal suspicion" or evidence of foul play in Bergling's death.
A day before Bergling's death, a friend expressed concern about his mental state to his father Klas.
TMZ
''TMZ'' is an American entertainment-focused tabloid news organization owned by Fox Corporation. It made its debut on November 8, 2005, as a collaboration between AOL and Telepictures, a division of Warner Bros., until Time Warner divested ...
later reported that he died by
suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death.
Risk factors for suicide include mental disorders, physical disorders, and substance abuse. Some suicides are impulsive acts driven by stress (such as from financial or ac ...
, using a glass shard to cut himself. On 26 April, his family released an open letter stating:
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 cemetery
Skogskyrkogården in Stockholm. He was buried at
Hedvig Eleonora Church
Hedvig Eleonora Church () is a church (building), church in central Stockholm, Sweden. It is located at Östermalm and belongs to the Church of Sweden and is parish church for Hedvig Eleonora Parish in the Diocese of Stockholm (Church of Sweden), ...
in June 2018.
Tributes
From fellow musicians
On 22 April 2018, American band
OneRepublic
OneRepublic is an American pop rock band from Colorado Springs, Colorado, formed in 2002. The lineup currently consists of Ryan Tedder (lead vocals, piano), Zach Filkins (guitar, viola), Drew Brown (musician), Drew Brown (guitar), Brent Kutzle ( ...
paid tribute to Bergling by performing his hit single "Wake Me Up" during their show in
Mumbai
Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...
.
On April 28, 2024, DJ
Nicky Romero dedicated his radio show, ''Protocol Radio'', to playing Avicii's music. The one-hour program featured songs and remixes exclusively by Avicii.
On 20 May 2018, American DJ duo
The Chainsmokers
The Chainsmokers are an American electronic DJ and production duo consisting of Alex Pall and Drew Taggart. They started out by releasing remixes of songs by indie artists. The electronic dance music, EDM-Pop music, pop duo achieved a breakth ...
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 21 May 2018, Tiësto played a medley of Bergling's songs at EDC Las Vegas.
Aloe Blacc
Egbert Nathaniel Dawkins III (born January 7, 1979), known professionally as Aloe Blacc (), is an American singer and rapper. He is known for his guest performance on Avicii's 2013 single "Wake Me Up (Avicii song), Wake Me Up", which peaked on ...
joined him on stage to perform "Wake Me Up".
On 27 May, at
BBC Radio 1's Big Weekend,
Rita Ora
Rita Sahatçiu Ora (; born Rita Sahatçiu; 26 November 1990) is a British singer-songwriter, television personality, and actress. Born in Pristina, modern-day Kosovo, she rose to prominence when she featured on DJ Fresh's 2012 single, "Hot Rig ...
, Bergling's most recent collaborator, paid tribute to the late DJ, describing him as "a really good friend" who "changed
erlife". A similar tribute was also paid by Ora during
King's Day
() or King's Day is a public holiday, national holiday in the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Celebrated on 27 April (26 April if the 27th is a Sunday), the date marks the birth of King Willem-Alexander. When the Monarchy of the Netherlands, D ...
and
Capital's Summertime Ball
Capital's Summertime Ball is a mini-festival in London, usually held on either first or second Saturday or Sunday of June by the radio station Capital (radio network), Capital. The first ball was at Emirates Stadium in 2009, and it has since b ...
.
The 2018 edition of
Tomorrowland Tomorrowland may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Tomorrowland (Disney Parks), a theme land at a number of Disney theme parks around the world
* Tomorrowland (festival), an annual electronic dance music festival in Boom, Belgium
* ''Tom ...
saw several tributes to Bergling from
Axwell Λ Ingrosso,
Don Diablo
Don Pepijn Schipper (; born 27 February 1980), better known by his stage name Don Diablo, is a Dutch DJ, digital artist, record producer, musician and songwriter of electronic dance music. He is one of the pioneers of the future house genre and ...
,
Nicky Romero,
Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike,
Zedd
Anton Zaslavski (; born 2 September 1989), known professionally as Zedd (), is a German record producer and DJ. His stage name, Zedd, was derived from ''zed'', the Z#Name and pronunciation, English pronunciation, barring American English, for ...
and
Kygo, the latter mentioning that Bergling was his biggest 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
isbest 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."
During the 2018 version of
Creamfields, Kaleidoscope Orchestra performed a special tribute performance, where they played out Bergling's greatest dance hits.
On 12 October,
Vicetone released a song called "South Beach", which they stated was influenced by Bergling's music and was one of the first songs they created, and that they decided to finish and release it as a tribute.
In addition to the live tributes, many other artists—including
Eric Prydz,
Imagine Dragons
Imagine Dragons are an American pop rock band formed in 2008, based in Las Vegas, Nevada. The band currently consists of lead singer Dan Reynolds, guitarist Wayne Sermon, and bassist Ben McKee. They first gained exposure with the release of ...
,
Skrillex
Sonny John Moore (born January 15, 1988), known professionally as Skrillex, is an American DJ, record producer, musician, singer. Raised in Northeast Los Angeles and Northern California, he began his career in 2004 as the lead vocalist of the ...
,
Calvin Harris
Adam Richard Wiles (born 17 January 1984), known professionally as Calvin Harris (and sometimes under the stage name Love Regenerator), is a Scottish DJ, record producer, singer, and songwriter. His debut studio album, ''I Created Disco'' (2007 ...
,
Hardwell
Robbert van de Corput (; born 7 January 1988), known professionally as Hardwell, is a Dutch DJ and music producer from Breda. He was voted the world's number one DJ by ''DJ Mag'' in 2013 and again in 2014. In 2022, he was ranked at number 43 in ...
,
Deadmau5
Joel Thomas Zimmerman (born January 5, 1981), known professionally as deadmau5 (pronounced "dead-mouse"), is a Canadian electronic music producer and disc jockey, DJ. His musical style mostly includes progressive house and electro house music, ...
,
Marshmello
Christopher Comstock (born May 19, 1992), known professionally as Marshmello, is an American DJ and record producer. His songs "Silence (Marshmello song), Silence" (featuring Khalid (American singer), Khalid), "Wolves (Selena Gomez and Mar ...
,
Zedd
Anton Zaslavski (; born 2 September 1989), known professionally as Zedd (), is a German record producer and DJ. His stage name, Zedd, was derived from ''zed'', the Z#Name and pronunciation, English pronunciation, barring American English, for ...
, and
Robbie Williams
Robert Peter Williams (born 13 February 1974) is an English singer and songwriter. He found fame as a member of the pop group Take That from 1990 to 1995, launching a solo career in 1996. His debut studio album, ''Life thru a Lens'', was re ...
—also paid tribute to Bergling on
Twitter
Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...
.
One year after his death, tributes on social media continued to be paid by
Nicky Romero,
DJ Snake,
Nile Rodgers
Nile Gregory Rodgers Jr. (born September 19, 1952) is an American musician, songwriter, guitarist and record producer. The co-founder of Chic, he has written, produced, and performed on records that have sold more than 750 million albums and 1 ...
, and the organisers of
Tomorrowland Tomorrowland may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Tomorrowland (Disney Parks), a theme land at a number of Disney theme parks around the world
* Tomorrowland (festival), an annual electronic dance music festival in Boom, Belgium
* ''Tom ...
, amongst others. In 2019,
Madonna
Madonna Louise Ciccone ( ; born August 16, 1958) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress. Referred to as the "Queen of Pop", she has been recognized for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, ...
paid tribute to Avicii in her song "Funana" from her album ''
Madame X''. In 2021,
Basshunter recorded the song "Life Speaks to Me" as a tribute to Avicii.
Other tributes
On 21 April 2018, a collection of Avicii's songs were played on the
carillon
A carillon ( , ) is a pitched percussion instrument that is played with a musical keyboard, keyboard and consists of at least 23 bells. The bells are Bellfounding, cast in Bell metal, bronze, hung in fixed suspension, and Musical tuning, tu ...
within
Dom Tower of Utrecht
The Dom Tower ( ) of Utrecht is the tallest church tower in the Netherlands, at 112.32 metres (368,5 feet) in height. It is considered the symbol of Utrecht. The tower was part of St. Martin's Cathedral, also known as the Dom Church, and w ...
, performed by Malgosia Fiebig.
On 21 May 2018, during the first night of the finale of the fourteenth season of reality television singing competition show ''
The Voice'', coach
Alicia Keys
Alicia Augello Cook (born January 25, 1981), known professionally as Alicia Keys, is an American singer and songwriter. A classically trained pianist, Keys began composing songs at the age of 12 and was signed by Columbia Records at 15. After d ...
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 at the
Hedvig Eleonora Church
Hedvig Eleonora Church () is a church (building), church in central Stockholm, Sweden. It is located at Östermalm and belongs to the Church of Sweden and is parish church for Hedvig Eleonora Parish in the Diocese of Stockholm (Church of Sweden), ...
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
The Swedish Army () is the army, land force of the Swedish Armed Forces of the Kingdom of Sweden. Beginning with its service in 1521, the Swedish Army has been active for more than 500 years.
History
Svea Life Guards dates back to the year 1 ...
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 Tomorrowland may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Tomorrowland (Disney Parks), a theme land at a number of Disney theme parks around the world
* Tomorrowland (festival), an annual electronic dance music festival in Boom, Belgium
* ''Tom ...
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
Pierre David Guetta (; born 7 November 1967) is a French DJ and record producer. He has sold over 10 million albums and 65 million singles globally, with more than 30 billion streams on Spotify. Guetta was voted the number one DJ in the DJ Mag ...
,
Kygo,
Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike,
Nicky Romero, and
Laidback Luke
Lucas Cornelis van Scheppingen (born 22 October 1976), better known under his stage name Laidback Luke, is a Filipino-born Dutch DJ and record producer. He notably remixed the Robin S. song, "Show Me Love (Robin S. song)#Steve Angello and Laidba ...
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,
Madame Tussauds revealed a wax figure of Avicii.
In 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
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'' rated the game 4/5 stars, describing it as "an immersive musical tribute".
On 19 May 2021, Stockholm's Ericsson Globe was renamed the
Avicii Arena
Avicii Arena, originally known as the Stockholm Globe Arena and previously as the Ericsson Globe, but commonly referred to in Swedish simply as Globen (; ), is an indoor arena located in Stockholm Globe City, Johanneshov district of Stockho ...
. To commemorate the new name, the
Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra
The Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra ( or , literal translations, "Royal Philharmonic" or "Royal Philharmonic Orchestra") is a Swedish orchestra based in Stockholm. Its principal venue is the Konserthuset.
History
The orchestra was foun ...
recorded a performance of the Avicii song "
For a Better Day", with vocals provided by 14-year-old Swedish singer
Ella Tiritiello.
On 8 September 2021,
Google Doodle celebrated what would have been Bergling's 32nd birthday with an animated video featuring "Wake Me Up", in support of
National Suicide Prevention Week.
On 20 April 2023, five years after his death,
Tomorrowland Tomorrowland may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Tomorrowland (Disney Parks), a theme land at a number of Disney theme parks around the world
* Tomorrowland (festival), an annual electronic dance music festival in Boom, Belgium
* ''Tom ...
paid tribute to Bergling by playing his biggest hits and the album ''Stories'' the whole day on
One World Radio.
Legacy
Music innovation
Many artists in the EDM genre have cited Avicii as influences on their work, many of whom paid tribute to him after his death.
Alan Walker and
DubVision
DubVision is a Dutch DJ duo from The Hague consisting of brothers Victor (born 1989) and Stephan Leicher (born 1981) signed to the labels Spinnin' Records, Armada Music, STMPD RCRDS and Axtone.
Biography
Stephan and Victor's parents pressur ...
described him as an "icon" in
EDM. Norwegian DJ
Kygo cited Avicii as "
isbiggest inspiration and the reason why
estarted making electronic music." Other artists such as
Diplo
Thomas Wesley Pentz (born November 10, 1978), known professionally as Diplo, is an American DJ and music producer. He is a co-creator and lead member of the electronic dancehall music project Major Lazer; a member of the supergroup LSD (group), ...
,
Sebastian Ingrosso,
Felix Jaehn, and
Martin Garrix
Martijn Gerard Garritsen (; born 14 May 1996), known professionally as Martin Garrix (or Ytram and GRX), is a Dutch Republic, Dutch DJ and record producer who was ranked number one on ''DJ Mag''s Top 100 DJs list for three consecutive years—20 ...
, 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
''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...
'' 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 good examples of this movement. Avicii is also credited for influencing other attempts at continuing this genre crossover, including songs such as
Zedd
Anton Zaslavski (; born 2 September 1989), known professionally as Zedd (), is a German record producer and DJ. His stage name, Zedd, was derived from ''zed'', the Z#Name and pronunciation, English pronunciation, barring American English, for ...
's "
The Middle" and
Hailee Steinfeld
Hailee Steinfeld (born December 11, 1996) is an American actress, singer, and songwriter. She had her breakthrough with the western film ''True Grit (2010 film), True Grit'' (2010), which earned her List of awards and nominations received by H ...
's "
Let Me Go".
Avicii also influenced a number of mainstream artists outside electronic music.
Nile Rodgers
Nile Gregory Rodgers Jr. (born September 19, 1952) is an American musician, songwriter, guitarist and record producer. The co-founder of Chic, he has written, produced, and performed on records that have sold more than 750 million albums and 1 ...
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
An Incubus () is a demon, male demon in human form in folklore that seeks to have Sexuality in Christian demonology, sexual intercourse with sleeping women; the corresponding spirit in female form is called a succubus. Parallels exist in many c ...
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
Imagine Dragons are an American pop rock band formed in 2008, based in Las Vegas, Nevada. The band currently consists of lead singer Dan Reynolds, guitarist Wayne Sermon, and bassist Ben McKee. They first gained exposure with the release of ...
said "working with
viciiwas 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
Eric Patrick Clapton (born 1945) is an English Rock music, rock and blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He is regarded as one of the most successful and influential guitarists in rock music. Clapton ranked second in ''Rolling Stone''s l ...
, 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
The Official UK Charts Company Limited (formerly Music Industry Chart Services Limited), trading as the Official Charts Company (OCC) or the Official Charts (formerly the Chart Information Network), is a British inter-professional organisation ...
's chart of the decade.
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. Since 2019 people in the music industry are claiming Avicii's death has raised awareness of mental health in the industry.
Museum
On 9 June 2020, it was announced that an Avicii Tribute Museum would open in Stockholm in the summer of 2021. The renamed Avicii Experience was opened in February 2022 by
Prince Carl Phillip and
Princess Sofia, alongside Bergling's father Klas, in Space Stockholm, a new digital culture centre near
Sergels torg.
The museum features reconstructions of Bergling's childhood bedroom and Los Angeles mansion, as well as offering recordings of Avicii's most popular work and the ability to remix them, as well as unreleased music.
The museum was the idea of Bergling's parents, who wanted to give fans a place to remember and celebrate the work of their late son and learn about his process for creating music. The interactive museum also includes exhibitions from various stages in Bergling's life, including a simulation of the high-paced lifestyle he experienced before his retirement from touring in 2016, which are designed to give visitors an understanding of the health issues faced by the star. Exhibitions are also dedicated to raising the awareness of mental health problems in young people and the wider music industry.
Filmography
Discography
Studio albums
* ''
True
True most commonly refers to truth, the state of being in congruence with fact or reality.
True may also refer to:
Places
* True, West Virginia, an unincorporated community in the United States
* True, Wisconsin, a town in the United States
* ...
'' (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
PostNord Sverige AB (formerly ''Posten AB'') is a Swedish postal service and courier company, which is part of PostNord. In 2009 Posten merged with its Danish equivalent, Post Danmark A/S, to form PostNord AB, a company that is jointly owned b ...
.
* 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".
* Avicii was the codename of the
OnePlus Nord, a smartphone released in 2020.
* On 8 September 2021,
Google
Google LLC (, ) is an American multinational corporation and technology company focusing on online advertising, search engine technology, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, consumer electronics, and artificial ...
released a
doodle
A doodle is a drawing made while a person's attention is otherwise occupied. Doodles are simple drawings that can have concrete representational meaning or may just be composed of random and abstract art, abstract lines or shapes, generally w ...
to pay homage to Bergling on what would have been his 32nd birthday during
National Suicide Prevention Week.
See also
*
Popular music in Sweden
*
Tim Bergling Foundation
Notes
References
External links
*
Avicii Experienceinteractive museum
*
*
*
*
{{Authority control
1989 births
2018 deaths
2018 suicides
21st-century Swedish male musicians
21st-century Swedish musicians
Buddhism in music
Burials at Skogskyrkogården
DJs from Stockholm
Swedish electronic dance music DJs
Geffen Records artists
Male suicides
MTV Europe Music Award winners
Musicians from Stockholm
Progressive house musicians
Swedish remixers
Suicides in Oman
Swedish composers
Swedish house musicians
Swedish philanthropists
Swedish male songwriters
Suicides by sharp instrument