The music community was left reeling in 2018 when news broke that famed DJ and producer Avicii was found dead in the Oman city of Muscat.
The Swedish musician — known off stage as Tim Bergling — took the world by storm with his two albums, creating chart-topping singles like “Wake Me Up” and “Waiting For Love” and collaborating with the likes of David Guetta, Coldplay, and Martin Garrix.
In 2019, the posthumous and namesake album Tim was released, closing the musical chapter of the Grammy-nominated artist’s life. Avicii has been receiving renewed attention of late, following a string of tribute concerts and the launch of an experience-based museum in his honor in his hometown of Stockholm.
Naturally, the news has cast fans’ minds back to the DJ’s untimely passing, and the events leading up to his death.
How did Avicii die?
News broke in April 2018 that Avicii had died while vacationing in Oman, Muscat. While speculation swirled at the time that the producer had been murdered, an autopsy quickly ruled that there was “no criminal suspicion” surrounding his death. Instead, coroners ruled in May 2018 that Avicii had died by suicide, taking his own life by cutting himself with a broken wine bottle.
Avicii’s family had alluded to suicide in a statement released shortly before the autopsy. The DJ’s family wrote that he had long “struggled with thoughts about meaning, life, [and] happiness,” and that his hard-working nature and constant touring had caused extreme stress. The family added that Avicii “could not go on any longer” and “wanted to find peace.”
Avicii endured multiple struggles in the years leading up to his death. It was reported that the musician suffered from mental health issues, alcoholism, and pill addiction, leading to health problems including acute pancreatitis. In 2014, he had his gallbladder and appendix removed due to excessive drinking and eventually retired from touring in 2016.
Avicii reportedly became addicted to the opioids prescribed to him post-surgery and revealed in the 2017 documentary Avicii: True Stories that he took up drinking to calm his nerves before shows. At one point in 2015, Avicii’s family staged an intervention that saw him undergo treatment in the Ibiza Calm rehab center.
Much of Avicii’s struggles were detailed in his diary, which formed part of the 2021 biography Tim – The Official Biography of Avicii. Entries by the musician were penned during his stays in both hospitals and rehabilitation centers, and detailed his reluctance to quit drinking, advice from doctors about his health, and his hours-long meditation sessions.
According to TMZ, the final entry written by Avicii before his death read: “The shedding of the soul is the last attachment, before it restarts!”
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