Fans around the world have been left shocked and heartbroken since the news of Swedish disc jockey Tim Bergling's sudden death broke. Popularly known as Avicii, the 28-year-old star DJ, had a specific reason behind choosing his stage name.
The Swedish musician, in a 2013 interview with Vevo titled "Becoming: Avicii," revealed that a friend once told him that the word "Avici" meant the "lowest level of Buddhist hell." This, he said, was around the same time that he was looking for a username to sign into social networking website MySpace.
The word "Avici" struck a chord with the "Levels" hitmaker and he decided to use it as his name. However, he found out that the username had already been taken. Finding a way to work around it, he added another "I" to the word making it "Avicii" and it struck.
"The name Avici, it means 'lowest level of Buddhist hell.' I think a friend of mine told me about it first for something completely different, and I was kind of choosing my MySpace page at the time," he told Vevo.
"Everything else was taken, my real name was taken. I really like it now, though. I've really gotten accustomed to it."
The Swedish musician has produced numerous chart-topping tracks and released "Avīci (01)," a six-track Extended Play (EP) August 10, 2017. While he did release a few tracks on and off, Avicii had severe health issues and was vocal about it.
The 28-year-old suffered from pancreatitis and had his gall bladder and appendix removed for the same reason.
He is also known to have been dependent on alcohol, especially to deal with anxiety.
"You are traveling 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," Avicii told GQ in a 2013 interview. "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."
In early 2016, Avicii announced that he wasn't going to tour anymore and instead concentrate on his health and changing his lifestyle.
The DJ had seen a meteoric rise in his career since he started his musical journey and inspired many. In tune, Avicii announced a documentary entitled "Avicii: True Stories," which hit Netflix October 26, 2017.
Avicii was found dead in Muscat, Oman, Friday, April 20 and the death was confirmed by his publicist.
"It is with profound sorrow that we announce the loss of Tim Bergling, also known as Avicii," publicist Diana Baron said. "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."
While the world mourns Avicii's death, all we can say is we wish it wasn't true and "Wake me up when it's all over."
