Background

Tim was born on 8 September in 1989 in Stockholm, Sweden. He was a son of Swedish actress Anki Lidén and Klas-Otto Bergling. He was a half-brother of actor Anton Körberg. He also had a brother David Bergling, and a sister Linda Sterner.

Tim started mixing at the age of 8, inspired by his brother, who was also a DJ.

Education

Tim Bergling studied at Östra Real from 1996 to 2007.

Career

Bergling only started making music at the age of 18, writing and remixing tracks in his bedroom and then leaking them onto various blogs. Influenced by Daft Punk and Steve Angello, his melodic house sound gained a huge following and led to support from Tiësto, who invited him to perform a weekly residency at Privilege in Ibiza, and Pete Tong, who released the first single "Manman" through his Bedroom Bedlam label. After he remixed tracks for Little Boots, Robyn, and Dizzee Rascal, Bergling's first mainstream release, the Ministry of Sound instrumental "Seek Bromance," became a huge hit across Europe and later in the United Kingdom, thanks to a vocal version featuring Amanda Wilson.

Avicii had only been producing a few months when his friends noticed that the productions were amazingly professional and that they had just witnessed a great talent being born. Avicii started out with doing a remix of the theme music for the Commodore 64 game "Lazy Jones" but decided to drop it as it inspired him to make his own "Lazy Lace" - released almost immediately on Strike Recordings.

Avicii was instantly fascinated with producing and spent many hours in his home studio creating one fresh tune after the next. Avicii never tried to get caught up in a specific subgenre of the house but wanted to keep the productions up to date and innovative. His music was inspired by the likes of Laidback Luke, Steve Angello, and Tocadisco, but also Daft Punk, Eric Prydz and that of Axwell. In April 2008, Avicii released the first big track, "Manman", on Pete Tongs Bedroom Bedlam label after winning the Pete Tong Fast Trax. Avicii received an astonishing 70% of the votes and after the release and was contacted by numerous labels, promoters, and booking agencies from all over the globe. Even Laidback Luke mentioned Avicii on his Myspace website saying: “[Avicii], by winning this competition, left many contesters behind in their dust. So a big congratulation to these brilliant DJs for winning the contest and all the luck with their future careers!”

What Avicii wanted is to create music for people to listen to and come to love, whether it be at home or in a dark nightclub. Avicii put great emphasis on melodies in his productions and wants to appeal to fans of many different house music genres. Avicii signed on to At Night Management in May 2008 and within a month the buzz around them spread noticeably and they were recognized on labels such as Joia Records, Vicious Grooves and Ministry Of Sound, just to name a few. By the end of that month, Avicii had already signed a big deal with Vicious Grooves in Australia and was head on target to soon explode over the entire globe.

In addition to remixing tracks for Little Boots, Robyn, and Dizzee Rascal, Bergling issued a handful of his own singles, like "Bromance" and "My Feelings for You" in 2010. "Seek Bromance" - which added the vocals of Amanda Wilson atop his earlier track - became a modest hit across Europe. However, it wasn't until his next single, 2011's "Levels," that his international popularity exploded. Featuring a sample of Etta James' "Something's Got a Hold on Me," the track topped dance charts across the globe and reached platinum status in at least ten countries, launching Avicii into the mainstream.

Toward the end of 2012, Bergling issued "I Could Be the One," a collaborative single with Nicky Romero. The song became another hit for the producer and was featured heavily on reality TV shows and European radio. The following year, he released the single "Wake Me Up." Featuring the vocals of Aloe Blacc, the pastoral soul track peaked at the top of the charts in over 20 countries, making it his biggest hit to date. That "folktronica" sound would feature heavily on his debut album, True, which arrived in late 2013. The multi-platinum LP featured guests like Adam Lambert, MØ, and Nile Rodgers, and produced four additional hit singles like "Hey Brother" and "Addicted to You." A version of the album featuring Bergling's own club remixes - the aptly titled True: Avicii by Avicii - arrived in 2014. That same year, Bergling scored another mainstream hit with "A Sky Full of Stars," a collaboration with Coldplay.

In late 2015, his sophomore album, Stories, arrived. Continuing his cross-genre exploration of EDM and pop, Bergling recruited guests like Zac Brown, Wyclef Jean, Matisyahu, and Martin Garrix for the effort, which topped the Billboard dance chart upon release. While he continued to perform and release new music, Bergling announced in early 2016 that he would retire from the live scene due to persistent health concerns. That summer, he performed his final live set in Ibiza.

New music in the form of the Avici (01) EP arrived in summer 2017 while Bergling continued to produce material for an expected second and third installment of the EP series. However, on April 20, 2018, he suddenly passed away in Muscat, Oman, at the age of 28. The following year, a posthumous collection was issued. TIM featured appearances by Aloe Blacc, Vargas & Lagola, A R I Z O N A, Imagine Dragons, and Chris Martin of Coldplay.

Achievements

• 

  Over the years, Avicii has achieved so much as a DJ. Some of his notable achievements were headlining the world’s biggest electronic music festivals such as Ultra in Miami, Electric Daisy Carnival in Las Vegas and Tomorrowland in Belgium; and collaborating with music icons such as Tiësto, David Guetta and Madonna. In 2011, Avicii ranked No. 6 on the Top 100 DJs list by DJ magazine, and ranked higher the following year, coming in at No. 3. Avicii’s hit Sunshine won as Best Dance Recording in 2011, while Levels was nominated as Best Dance Recording this year, both at the Grammys. In 2012, Avicii made history as the first DJ to headline Radio City Music Hall in New York. All of this Avicii was able to achieve at a very young age.
  
  Avicii was depicted on a Swedish postage stamp issued 15 January 2015 by PostNord Sverige.

Works

More photos

• music

  • True 2013
  • Stories 2015
  • Tim 2019
  • Avicii Presents Strictly Miami 2011
  • True: Avicii By Avicii 2014
  • Levels 2012

Religion

Avicii was not religious but was searching for a religion and purpose in life. He had a good friend that was religious and he made Avicii listen to a lecture not too long ago. He expressed interest in religion but no one knows if he actually converted to any religion or became religious.

Views

A one of a kind DJ, Avicii produced his musical melodies from intuition rather than what’s popular. “I don’t really look at the charts at all. If anything, I try to out-do what I’ve done before. I try to make music that I like and I trust my own judgment with what works with a wider audience. If you compare yourself to the charts, you lose perspective on what you’re doing and why you’re doing it.”

His music touched a new level of experimentation, as he mixed electronic music with several genres of popular music.

Quotations: “Life's a game made for everyone and love is the prize.”

“There’s always haters, no matter what you’re doing - whether they’re complaining that everything you do sounds the same, or it’s too different.”

“All this time, I was finding myself. I didn’t know I was lost”

“Spread positivity through my music, in message and enjoy success but not materialistic success”

"I have always been mainstream. It's so weird, because I don't see it as something negative at all. So many people see it as something negative."

"When I started working on electronic music, that was after the rave period. I haven't even seen that part of it that much."

"For me there are two types of country: There's the shoot-yourself-in-the-head country, and then there's really good country music."

"There's always haters, no matter what you're doing - whether they're complaining that everything you do sounds the same, or it's too different."

"It's hard - some people get inspired by a feeling, but I'm mostly inspired by melodies."

Personality

Calvin Harris called Avicii "a beautiful soul, passionate and extremely talented with so much more to do." Ellie Goulding wrote that Avicii "inspired so many of us. Wish I could have said that to you in person."

Physical Characteristics: In 2016, Bergling's health deteriorated, and he was diagnosed with acute pancreatitis due to excessive alcohol use. He stopped performing live.

By 2017, he started talking about depression and suicidal thoughts openly. Depression is highly prevalent in artists, and Avicii became one of its latest victims. The pressure and the lack of privacy that fame brought, perhaps, contributed to his failing mental health.

Quotes from others about the person

• "We lost a friend with such a beautiful heart and the world lost an incredibly talented musician. Thank you for your beautiful melodies, the time we shared in the studio, playing together as djs or just enjoying life as friends." - David Guetta
  
  "Tim was one of the greatest, natural melody writers I've ever worked with, and I've worked with some of the most brilliant musicians on this planet." - Nile Rodgers
  
  "Every generation has its icon and heroes who break convention to capture hearts and minds," he said. "Our friend Tim Bergling was one of those bright, shining stars. Through his music, he shared his joy, his pain and his passion, and I witnessed his brilliance first hand.I trusted him and I believed in his artistic vision, and in a short time I would see the tremendous impact our collaboration would have on the world. It changed my life forever. Thank you, Tim." - Aloe Blacc

Interests

• videomaking

• Sport & Clubs

  football

• Music & Bands

  house, progressive house, country, soul, Daft Punk, Swedish House Mafia, Eric Prydz

Connections

Avicii was an unmarried man.

In 2018, Czech model Tereza Kačerová has posted a heart-rending and highly personal open letter to the Swedish DJ Avicii, revealing her secret relationship with him, and the stepfather role he played for her young son Luca.

Father:

Klas-Otto Bergling

Mother:

Anki Lidén

Anna Catarina Lidén is a Swedish actress. She has appeared in more than 50 films and television shows since 1971.

Half-brother:

Anton Körberg

Dan Anton Fabian Körberg, is a Swedish television presenter, musician and actor.

Brother:

David Bergling

Sister:

Linda Sterner

colleague:

Rita Ora

Rita Sahatçiu Ora is an English singer, songwriter and actress. She rose to prominence in February 2012 when she featured on DJ Fresh's single "Hot Right Now", which reached number one in the UK. Her debut studio album, Ora, released in August 2012, debuted at number one in the United Kingdom.

colleague:

Aloe Blacc

colleague:

Calvin Harris

colleague:

David Guetta

colleague:

Madonna Ciccone

References

• Avicii - Facebook
• Tim Bergling (@Avicii) -Twitter
• Avicii (@avicii) - Instagram photos and videos