Avicii, DJ-Producer Who Performed Around the World, Dies

Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption The DJ will be remembered for club hits like Levels, Wake Me Up and Hey Brother

Swedish DJ Avicii, one of the world's biggest dance music stars, has died in Oman at the age of 28.

Avicii's club anthems include Wake Me Up, Levels, and recently, Lonely Together with Rita Ora.

His representative said in a statement: "It is with profound sorrow that we announce the loss of Tim Bergling, also known as Avicii.

"The family is devastated and we ask everyone to please respect their need for privacy in this difficult time."

No cause of death was announced, and Avicii's representative said no further statements would be issued.

Image copyright Muscat Hills Resort Image caption One of the last pictures of Avicii (centre), at a tourist resort near Muscat

The electronic dance music (EDM) star, who reportedly made $250,000 (£180,000) a night on tour, had struggled with some health issues in the past, having his gall bladder and appendix removed in 2014.

He announced his retirement from touring in 2016, partly because of the health problems.

"I know I am blessed to be able to travel all around the world and perform, but I have too little left for the life of a real person behind the artist," he said at the time.

Who was Avicii?

One of the biggest names in dance music of the last 10 years, he had a catalogue full of pumping, uplifting, house smashes

He started his career when he won a production competition held by Pete Tong in 2008

He went on to notch up 11 billion streams on Spotify and was the first EDM DJ to stage a worldwide arena tour

He was nominated for two Grammy Awards and had nine UK top 10 singles, including two number ones

He suffered from health problems including acute pancreatitis, in part due to excessive drinking

He later announced a return to the studio, and released a new self-titled EP in 2017.

The EP, Avĩci (01), was nominated for a Billboard music award for top electronic album just days before his death.

As well as working with the likes of Aloe Blacc and Rita Ora, Avicii collaborated with artists including Madonna and Coldplay.

Former Radio 1 DJ Judge Jules, who often performed alongside him, said his biggest achievement was being the first electronic dance star to break America.

"He was the first huge commercial star," Judge Jules told the BBC. "He really became someone who couldn't go out on the street, he was so heavily recognised."

Other leading electronic artists wrote tributes to Bergling after the news of his death.

Skip Twitter post by @CalvinHarris Devastating news about Avicii, a beautiful soul, passionate and extremely talented with so much more to do. My heart goes out to his family. God bless you Tim x — Calvin Harris (@CalvinHarris) April 20, 2018 Report

Skip Twitter post by @deadmau5 my sincerest and most heartfelt condolences to the friends, fans and families of @Avicii :( Banter aside, nobody can deny what he has accomplished and done for modern dance music and im very proud of him. — Goat lord (@deadmau5) April 20, 2018 Report

Singer Dua Lipa tweeted: "Such sad news to hear about Avicii passing. Too young and way too soon. My condolences go out to his family, friends and fans."

US band Imagine Dragons tweeted: "Working with him was one of my favourite collaborative moments. Far too young. The world was a happier and fuller place with his presence and art."

"No words can describe the sadness I'm feeling right now, hearing about Avicii passing away," offered DJ Zedd, while singer Adam Lambert, who collaborated on the track Lay Me Down, called him "a brilliant composer and a gentle spirit."

An enchanting artist

Analysis by Mark Savage, BBC Music reporter

At Avicii's last ever show in August 2016, one crazed fan climbed a 100ft-high (30m) scaffolding tower, just to get a better view.

That's not something that happens that often during a DJ set (who needs to see the stage anyway?) but it was a testament to Avicii's ability to enchant an audience.

Confetti cannons and bass drops aside, his shows encapsulated the inclusive, everyone-welcome philosophy that led him to collaborate with Coldplay, Nile Rodgers and Antony Hegarty as well as bluegrass and metal musicians in the studio.

That final show, at Ushuaia Ibiza, was a two-hour greatest hits set, featuring crowd pleasers like Levels and Wake Me Up alongside his remixes of Robyn and Dizzee Rascal.

But the DJ, who famously let the cat out of the bag when he revealed most major DJs pre-programmed their sets (comments he later walked back), was also known for dropping unexpected, whimsical tracks into his performances. A bit of Smokey Robinson here; a dash of Chicago there.

He approached it all with an energy and optimism that permeated his own recordings. It's no surprise he was one of the most beloved DJs on the circuit.

Avicii in his own words

To Billboard Magazine in 2016: "When I look back on my life, I think: whoa, did I do that? It was the best time of my life in a sense. It came with a price - a lot of stress, a lot of anxiety for me - but it was the best journey of my life"

Post-retirement on his website: "[Creating music], that is what I live for, what I feel I was born to do... The next stage will be all about my love of making music to you guys. It is the beginning of something new."

Prelude to music video for hit The Nights: "When I was 16, my father said, 'You can do anything you want with your life, you just have to be willing to work hard to get it.' That's when I decided when I die, I want to be remembered for the life I live, not the money I make."

Are you an Avicii fan? Did you meet him or go to one of his gigs? Tell us about it by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk.

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New York (AP) -- Avicii, the Grammy-nominated electronic dance DJ who performed sold-out concerts for feverish fans around the world and also had massive success on U.S. pop radio, died Friday. He was 28.

Publicist Diana Baron said in a statement that the Swedish performer, born Tim Bergling, was found dead in Muscat, Oman.

"It is with profound sorrow that we announce the loss of Tim Bergling, also known as Avicii," the statement read. "The family is devastated and we ask everyone to please respect their need for privacy in this difficult time. No further statements will be given."

No more details about the death were provided. Oman police and state media had no immediate report late Friday night on the artist's death.

Avicii was an international pop star, performing his well-known electronic dance songs around the world for die-hard fans, sometimes hundreds of thousands at music festivals, where he was the headline act. His popular sound even sent him to the top of the charts and landed onto U.S. radio: His most recognized song, the country-dance mashup "Wake Me Up," was a multi-platinum success and peaked at No. 4 on Billboard's Hot 100 chart. On the dance charts, he had seven Top 10 hits.

But in 2016, the performer announced he was retiring from the road. He continued to produce songs and albums.

Avicii was part of the wave of DJ-producers, like David Guetta, Calvin Harris and Swedish House Mafia, who broke out on the scene as lead performers in their own right, earning international hits, fame, awards and more like typical pop stars.

Avicii earned his first Grammy nomination at the 2012 show — for a collaboration with Guetta. It was around the time he gained more fame for the Etta James-sampled dance jam, "Le7els," which reached No. 1 in Sweden.

He continued to collaborate with more high-profile acts, producing Madonna's "Devil Pray" and the Coldplay hits, "A Sky Full of Stars" and "Hymn for the Weekend." He was even part of Mike Posner's megahit "I Took a Pill in Ibiza," which featured the lyrics: "I took a pill in Ibiza/To show Avicii I was cool." The song was based off Posner's true story at an Avicii concert in Ibiza.

Avicii built a strong musical and personal friendship with Nile Rodgers, who called Avicii his "little brother" in an interview with The Associated Press on Friday.

"I'm shocked because I don't know medically what happened, but I can just say as a person, as a friend, and more importantly, as a musician, 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," Rodgers said.

Avicii had in the past suffered acute pancreatitis, in part due to excessive drinking. After having his gallbladder and appendix removed in 2014, he canceled a series of shows in attempt to recover.

"It's been a very crazy journey. I started producing when I was 16. I started touring when I was 18. From that point on, I just jumped into 100 percent," Avicii told The Hollywood Reporter in 2016. "When I look back on my life, I think: whoa, did I do that? It was the best time of my life in a sense. It came with a price - a lot of stress a lot of anxiety for me - but it was the best journey of my life."

Rodgers said his last performance with Avicii — about three years ago — upset him because of Avicii's drinking.

"It was a little bit sad to me because he had promised me he would stop drinking, and when I saw him he was drunk that night. And I was like, 'Whoa. Dude. C'mon. What are you doing? What's going on? You said that that was done,'" Rodgers recalled. "We did a show and I was a little upset. I didn't even stick around for his performance because it was breaking my heart. But we still had a great time. It was wonderful — we were that close."

Last year, Avicii posted this message on his website, promising to keep creating: "The next stage will be all about my love of making music to you guys. It is the beginning of something new."

Fans and members of the music community mourned his death on social media Friday.

"Something really horrible happened. We lost a friend with such a beautiful heart and the world lost an incredibly talented musician," Guetta wrote on Instagram. "Thank you for your beautiful melodies, the time we shared in the studio, playing together as djs or just enjoying life as friends. RIP @avicii."

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."

Sweden's Prince Carl Philip and Princess Sofia , who knew Avicii from playing at their wedding, said they were saddened by his death.

"We are grateful that we got to know him and admired him as an artist and the great person he was. He made our wedding unforgettable with his amazing music. Our warmest thoughts go to his family," they said in a joint statement.

Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven called the lost star "one of Sweden's biggest musicians".

Avicii, a two-time Grammy nominee, won two MTV Europe Music Awards and one Billboard Music Award. His death comes just days after he was nominated for a 2018 Billboard Music Award for top dance/electronic album for his EP "Avicii (01)."

Avicii is the subject of the 2017 Levan Tsikurishvil documentary "Avicii: True Stories."

Muscat, where Avicii died, is the capital of the sultanate on the eastern edge of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a popular vacation destination on the Arabian Sea.

_____

AP writers Mark Kennedy, Jon Gambrell and David Keyton contributed to this report.

Artist, DJ, and producer Tim Bergling, a.k.a. Avicii, died Friday afternoon in Oman, according to a statement from his rep. He was 28.

“It is with profound sorrow that we announce the loss of Tim Bergling, also known as Avicii,” the statement reads. “He was found dead in Muscat, Oman this Friday afternoon local time, April 20th. The family is devastated and we ask everyone to please respect their need for privacy in this difficult time. No further statements will be given.”

One of the most popular and successful electronic dance-music artists of all time — he scored a No. 4 hit on the Billboard 200 in 2013 with “Wake Me Up” regularly appeared in the Top 5 of Forbes’ “Highest-Paid DJs” lists — he retired from live performing in 2016 at the peak of his success, citing health reasons. He had suffered from health problems for several years, including acute pancreatitis, in part due to excessive drinking. He had his gallbladder and appendix removed in 2014.

He posted the following statement on his website last year:

“WE ALL REACH A POINT IN OUR LIVES AND CAREERS WHERE WE UNDERSTAND WHAT MATTERS THE MOST TO US.

For me it’s creating music. That is what I live for, what I feel I was born to do.

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Last year I quit performing live, and many of you thought that was it. But the end of live never meant the end of Avicii or my music. Instead, I went back to the place where it all made sense – the studio.

The next stage will be all about my love of making music to you guys. It is the beginning of something new.

Hope you’ll enjoy it as much as I do.”

Bergling was born in Stockholm on Sept. 8, 1989. He began DJing as a teenager and released his first single in 2007. He released a large number of singles and remixes in the following years and rapidly built a reputation as a live act. He broke through with his 2010 hit “Seek Bromance,” which charted in several European countries; he signed a publishing deal with EMI the same year. He explained his chosen DJ name as “the lowest level of Buddhist hell,” chosen because his real name was already being used by another Tim Bergling on MySpace.

His 2011 single “Levels,” which was later nominated for a Grammy Award, vaulted him into the mainstream, charting in multiple European countries and topping the chart in his native Sweden. “Sunshine,” his 2012 collaboration with David Guetta, was nominated for a Grammy for best dance recording. In September of that year, he became the first DJ to headline New York’s prestigious Radio City Music Hall; at those two shows, he previewed a new song with Mike Posner titled “Stay with You.”

His proper debut album, “True,” was released on September 2013, much of which was previewed during his headlining set at the Ultra Music Festival earlier that year. The album featured “Wake Me Up,” a collaboration with Aloe Blacc, which topped the charts in multiple countries across the world and was No. 1 for a record 14 weeks on Billboard’s Dance/Electronic Songs chart; it was also the U.K.’s fastest-selling single of 2013. Other singers on the album included Adam Lambert and Audra Mae. He also worked with Madonna during this period and contributed to two songs on her 2015 album “Rebel Heart,” although both parties seemed unhappy with the collaboration and Avicii said the final versions were quite different from his demos.

The extent of his popularity was reflected in a 2014 “Saturday Night Live” digital short called “When Will the Bass Drop?,” with comic Andy Samberg playing a fictional mega-DJ named “Davvincii” (although he was made up to look more like David Guetta).

However, as his popularity rose, his health declined. He was hospitalized in March 2014 and cancelled several tour appearances; not long after, he collaborated with Carlos Santana and Wyclef on the official FIFA World Cut Anthem “We Will Find a Way.” Also that year, he produced a song on Coldplay’s album “Ghost Stories.” He released his second full-length album, “Stories,” in October 2015.

In March of 2016, he performed at the Ultra Music Festival, premiering new material, but 10 days later announced that he was retiring from performing. He made a final live appearance in August in Ibiza. In December, he parted ways with longtime manager Ash Pournouri.

In August of 2017 he released a six-track EP entitled “Avici,” which he said was the first of three installments that would be his next album. He followed a month later with a full-length documentary called “True Stories,” which was largely about his retirement. In it, promoters are seen trying to convince him to continue touring, even though he’s in obvious physical pain. “I looked at myself like, ‘F—, you should’ve really stood up for yourself more there. Come on, Tim!,'” he said of the documentary to Rolling Stone in an interview published last September. “Why didn’t I stop the ship earlier?”

“I needed to figure out my life,” he continued. “The whole thing was about success for the sake of success. I wasn’t getting any happiness anymore. Now that I have more time in the studio, I want to learn as much about other genres as possible. That’s what I love the most – having a session with Nile Rodgers, for instance, and getting an understanding of music that’s invaluable.”

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