Avicii

As one of the defining figures in the late-2000s EDM surge, the Grammy-nominated Swedish producer Avicii climbed to the summit of record charts across numerous nations while circling the globe with his buoyant house anthems. He first surfaced in 2008, carving out recognition on the electronic circuit before achieving worldwide breakthrough via the explosive single “Levels,” which earned platinum status on every continent and established him as a regular presence on festival stages and broadcast playlists. His first full-length project, the 2013 album True, yielded three consecutive chart leaders—“Wake Me Up,” “You Make Me,” and “Hey Brother”—and he kept balancing club-rooted experimentation with pop accessibility through successive EPs and DJ mixes that also accumulated platinum honors. Roughly six months after the sixth installment, Avici (01), appeared, the 28-year-old artist was discovered deceased in Oman from self-inflicted injuries. One year later the posthumous collection TIM reached the public.

Tim Bergling entered the world in Stockholm in 1989 and started composing at eighteen, crafting tracks and remixes inside his bedroom before posting them online. Shaped by the work of Daft Punk and Steve Angello, his melodic house style quickly drew a devoted audience, prompting invitations from Tiësto for a weekly residency at Privilege in Ibiza and from Pete Tong for the release of his earliest single, “Manman,” on the Bedroom Bedlam imprint.

Alongside reworkings for Little Boots, Robyn, and Dizzee Rascal, Bergling issued independent 2010 singles such as “Bromance” and “My Feelings for You.” The vocal version “Seek Bromance,” which incorporated Amanda Wilson’s performance over the prior instrumental, achieved moderate European success, yet it was the 2011 release “Levels”—built around a sample of Etta James’s “Something’s Got a Hold on Me”—that propelled him to global prominence, topping dance rankings everywhere and securing platinum certification in no fewer than ten territories.

Near the close of 2012, Bergling teamed with Nicky Romero for the single “I Could Be the One,” another commercial success that saturated European radio and reality television programming. In 2013 he unveiled “Wake Me Up,” featuring Aloe Blacc’s vocals; the folk-inflected soul number ascended to number one in more than twenty countries and became his most dominant hit yet. That same “folktronica” palette dominated the late-2013 debut album True, a multi-platinum set boasting contributions from Adam Lambert, MØ, and Nile Rodgers and spawning further singles including “Hey Brother” and “Addicted to You.” A remix edition titled True: Avicii by Avicii followed in 2014, the same year Bergling added another mainstream entry with the Coldplay collaboration “A Sky Full of Stars.”

Stories, his second studio album, arrived in late 2015 and continued the fusion of EDM and pop; guests Zac Brown, Wyclef Jean, Matisyahu, and Martin Garrix appeared on the project, which immediately topped the Billboard dance chart. Although he kept recording and appearing live, Bergling disclosed in early 2016 that ongoing health issues would force his withdrawal from touring; that summer he played his final concert in Ibiza.

Fresh material surfaced with the Avici (01) EP in summer 2017, while he kept working on what were planned as the second and third chapters of the series. On 20 April 2018 he died suddenly in Muscat, Oman, at the age of 28. The next year the posthumous album TIM was released, containing appearances by Aloe Blacc, Vargas & Lagola, A R I Z O N A, Imagine Dragons, and Chris Martin of Coldplay.