Drugs, booze and 100s of gigs a year had DJ Avicii warning he’d die… but he was told to carry on
Despite his model girlfriend, a string of hits and a £60million fortune, giving gruelling performances night after night was killing him
WHILE superstar DJ Avicii built a party atmosphere in the most glamorous clubs and at the biggest festivals, the fun times felt long gone for the Swedish musician.
Despite his model girlfriend, a string of hits and a £60million fortune, giving gruelling performances night after night was killing him.
At first it was thought addictions to alcohol and heroin-like painkillers had been the cause of his death this month at the age of 28.
But now it seems the man, who could earn £180,000 for a gig and had two UK No1 singles, took his own life under the stress of an unforgiving business.
As the world of music reels from the death of the producer, who collaborated with names such as Coldplay, Rita Ora, Leona Lewis, Robbie Williams and David Guetta, disturbing evidence is emerging that he may have been worked to an early grave.
On Friday Rita paid a teary tribute to him at a festival in the Netherlands before performing Lonely Together, the song they had both worked on.
She told the crowd: “Can you all please join me in having a minute of silence, because he was one of my dearest friends.”
Avicii’s instantly recognisable global hit Wake Me Up has registered more than 1.5billion views on YouTube.
It includes telling lines: “I tried carrying the weight of the world.
“But I only have two hands.”
The words seem even more poignant after the statement released by his family, since visiting the compound in Muscat, Oman, where he died on April 20.
They said: “He really struggled with thoughts about meaning, life, happiness. He could not go on any longer. He wanted to find peace.”
Born Tim Bergling in Stockholm, he was the son of sitcom actress Anki Liden and started writing music as a teenager.
With his name already taken on the music sharing site MySpace, he chose the moniker Avicii instead because it meant “the lowest level of Buddhist hell”.
He won a production competition held by Pete Tong in 2008 and three years later he became a star with his house music classic Le7els.
Avicii grew so popular, he played at the 2014 World Cup closing ceremony and the wedding of his country’s Prince Carl Philip in 2015.
He even had his own brand of condoms.
But Avicii was struggling, living on a diet of booze and burgers to get through a schedule that saw him perform as many as 300 gigs a year, often starting in the small hours.
In January 2012 his alcohol intake led to 11 days in hospital as he battled acute pancreatitis.
Two years later he had his appendix and gallbladder removed.
Naturally shy, Avicii confessed: “You are travelling around, you live in a suitcase, you get to this place, there’s free alcohol everywhere.
“It’s sort of weird if you don’t drink.
“I was so nervous. I just got into a habit because you rely on that encouragement and self-confidence you get from alcohol, and then you get dependent on it.”
Given the detrimental effects work was having on his health, Avicii wanted a rest.
Instead doctors prescribed him drugs to numb the pain of his operations, and he got hooked.
The DJ explained: “Percocets is like heroin.
“The only solution that I got was to take medicine or battle through it.
“Take this and you will feel better.”
In the end Avicii decided the only way to clear his head was to quit touring.
But when he warned his managers “I’m going to die” if he carried on, they told him he’d lose lots of money cancelling gigs.
In a fly on the wall documentary called Avicii: True Stories, released last October, he said: “They have seen how ill I have felt by doing it, but I had a lot of push-back when I wanted to stop doing gigs.
“I have said, like, ‘I’m going to die’. I have said it so many times.”
The film reveals the relentless pressure he was under, his eyes rolling closed as he was shuttled to another engagement.
Finally, in 2016 he announced his retirement and performed his last gig at Ibiza club Ushuaia in August that year.
Since relaxing his schedule, the once baby-faced Swede had started to look more like his old self.
Gone was the gaunt, pale figure of his dark days.
After retiring he said: “This was obviously the hardest decision of my life.
“But so far it has paid off tremendously in terms of well-being for me.
“I’m happier than I have been in a very, very long time.”
Things seemed to be looking more positive, with Avicii apparently excitedly speaking about the new songs he’d recorded and arranging a conference call from Oman with managers to discuss his plans.
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Per Sundin, the head of Universal Music Sweden, said: “All his notes were in happy mode. He loved what he had created.”
And his Czech girlfriend Tereza Kacerova claimed he had talked about starting a family with her and doted on her son Luka.
She was left reeling from his death and wrote on her Instagram page: “I think it’s finally settling on me now that I will truly never get to see you again.”
Although his cause of death has yet to be officially confirmed, the signs seem to point to the words of Wake Me Up in 2013 becoming true, when he wrote: “Wish that I could stay forever this young”.
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