Remembering one of the world's best DJs — Avicii

Lifestyle Saturday 21/April/2018 08:54 AM
By: Times News Service
Remembering one of the world's best DJs — Avicii

Muscat: The world-famous DJ Avicii has died while on holiday in Oman, his agent confirmed.
Avicii – who hailed from Stockholm in Sweden – was born Tim Bergling, and made his name as one of the world’s finest disc-jockeys, musicians, remixers and record-producers of his age.
Often hailed as a musical genius by his peers, Avicii was twice nominated for a Grammy Award, for collaborating with David Guetta on the song Sunshine in 2013, and Levels in 2013.
Known for bringing new styles of performance to the Electronic Dance Music (EDM), progressive house and electro-house genre, Avicii began producing and releasing music as early as 2009, aged just 20, and won acclaim from more established musicians at that time.
His breakthrough came in 2011, when he released Levels, a song which catapulted to the top the most popular music charts in Sweden and the United States, and became a smash hit in several other European nations, including Austria, Belgium, Bosnia-Hercegovina, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Hungary, the Netherlands, Italy, Ireland, Norway, Switzerland and Great Britain.
Offers with other international stars came calling: in addition to his 2012 collaboration with David Guetta, British pop star Leona Lewis worked with him on her single Collide the next year, and at the Ultra Music Festival in Miami, Florida, in 2012, Avicii shared two of his songs – Girl Gone Wild, on which we worked with Madonna, and Superlove with Lenny Kravitz.
Later that year, Salem Al Fakir, another prominent Swedish DJ, worked with Avicii to release Silhouettes, a song which reached number four on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Songs.
Avicii was soon selling out to packed audiences who were paying top dollar to see him performing in public. He played to sold-out crowds at the Lollapalooza music festival in Chicago, and then headlined at the Radio City Music Hall in New York City later that year, performing two sold-out shows in September.
Famed followed him into the next year, as Avicii performed a variety of tracks from his album True at the Ultra Music Festival in Miami, before working on the anthem for the 2013 Eurovision Song Contest with former ABBA members Bjorn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson. He also won the American Music Award for favourite Electronic Dance Music Artist that year.
Another accolade came Avicii’s way when he was asked to compose the official anthem for the 2014 FIFA World Cup with Carlos Santana, Wyclef Jean and Alexandre Pires, which was titled Dar Um Jeito (We Will Find a Way), and released an album featuring more than 70 songs after the tournament. Stories featured collaborations with Jon Bon Jovi, Armenian-American band System of a Down, Scottish DJ Chris Martin, as well as Wyclef Jean and American DJ Matisyahu.
More chart-topping numbers followed for Avicii, as he released albums with pieces featuring Danial Adams-Ray, Tom Odell, Wayne Hector, Robbie Williams and Chinese singer Wang Leehom, as well as Laura Pergolizzi.
Unfortunately, Avicii’s hard-living ways, the dark side of his claim to fame, caught up with him, and he was forced to cancel the rest of all of his tours on 8 September 2014, his 25th birthday.
Despite continuing to tour in 2015, he was forced to limit his time on the road, after his lifestyle led to him suffering from acute pancreatitis. Avicii was also forced to have his appendix and gallbladder removed. His deteriorating health meant he was compelled to cancel touring, as more intensive care saw him devote more of his time to in-studio albums.
He performed live at the Ultra Music Festival in March 2016, and gave his last ever showing at the Spanish party island of Ibiza, announcing that three new albums were on the horizon, one of which was with British pop sensation Rita Ora.
On 10 August 2017, Avicii released the eponymous Avicii (01), one of three parts of his studio album – a work that would never be finished.
Late on Friday evening, on April 21, 2018, while residing at a five-star resort in the Sultanate, who had previously welcomed him by sharing pictures of him on social media, Avicii's death was announced by his publicist, and was later spread across the world by international media.
The cause of death is unknown so far, and investigations into his passing are ongoing.