50 Fun Facts About Avicii

What was Avicii's real name?

Tim Bergling filled arenas as Avicii, yet he called himself shy and said he had never liked being recognised or being in the spotlight.

In which city was Avicii born?

Stockholm mourned him in the open: the day after he died, thousands of fans filled the Sergels Torg plaza for a memorial that became a dance party to his songs.

What does Avīci, the word behind Avicii's stage name, mean?

The lowest level of Buddhist hell is how he explained it; he needed a new name because his own was already taken on Myspace.

Which music production software did the 16-year-old Avicii download and teach himself to use?

FL Studio let him build tracks alone in his bedroom, and he posted the results on Dutch DJ Laidback Luke's online forum to ask strangers for feedback.

Which 2011 single launched Avicii into the mainstream?

Levels was already a fan favourite from his shows before a label released it, and within months Flo Rida had borrowed its hook for 'Good Feeling', a US top-five hit.

Which singer's 2011 single 'Collide' used Avicii's 'Fade into Darkness' without credit, sparking a legal dispute?

Leona Lewis's label settled hours before a High Court hearing, and 'Collide' came out credited to both her and Avicii.

Which French DJ shared Avicii's first Grammy nomination, for their 2011 instrumental 'Sunshine'?

David Guetta and Avicii lost that award to Skrillex, and when Avicii was nominated on his own a year later for his breakthrough hit, Skrillex beat him again.

Avicii became the first DJ to headline which New York venue in September 2012?

Radio City Music Hall had never had a DJ top the bill; he used his two nights there to preview 'Stay with You', an unreleased song with Mike Posner.

Which collaboration with Nicky Romero gave Avicii his first UK number one?

I Could Be the One began as an instrumental nicknamed 'Nicktim'; once a vocal was added it entered the UK chart at number one, a first for both DJs.

What was the 'Avicii X You' project?

A crowdsourced hit song made with Ericsson: producers around the world sent in melodies, basslines, beats and effects, and Avicii stitched the winning parts into the single 'X You'.

Which two ex-ABBA members co-wrote the Eurovision Song Contest 2013 anthem with Avicii?

Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson came back to the contest that made them: ABBA won it in 1974 with their song 'Waterloo', and in 2013 a choir opened the final with the anthem they wrote with Avicii.

Who sings on Avicii's 'Wake Me Up'?

Aloe Blacc thought up the words on a plane and sang them, yet the single carried only Avicii's name, and many listeners never learned whose voice it was.

What was Avicii's 2013 debut album called?

True set dance beats to country, soul and bluegrass, with unlikely partners such as Mac Davis, the veteran who wrote 'A Little Less Conversation' for Elvis Presley.

Which 2013 hit lost its UK record for the year's fastest-selling single to Avicii's 'Wake Me Up'?

Blurred Lines lost the record when 'Wake Me Up' sold about 267,000 copies in a week and knocked Robin Thicke's hit off number one.

In February 2014 Avicii's 'Wake Me Up' became the first song to reach 200 million streams on which service?

Spotify saw it pass Imagine Dragons' 'Radioactive' as its most-played song, less than a year after the song's live debut sent part of the Ultra festival crowd off to other stages.

Which bluegrass singer, George Clooney's singing voice in a Coen brothers film, provides the vocals on Avicii's 'Hey Brother'?

Dan Tyminski was in the live band Avicii brought on at Ultra 2013, whose acoustic songs sent part of the dance crowd off to other stages.

Which Coldplay song did Avicii co-write and co-produce, playing the piano parts himself?

A Sky Full of Stars has Avicii at the keys because Chris Martin asked him to play the piano part, then admitted he felt he had cheated on his bandmates by not playing it himself.

Avicii co-produced the official anthem of which sporting event, alongside Carlos Santana and Wyclef Jean?

The 2014 FIFA World Cup closing anthem was named 'Dar um Jeito' for a reason: the Brazilian phrase means finding a way round any obstacle, the message its writers wanted to send.

Which American Idol runner-up sings Avicii's disco-flavoured 'Lay Me Down', with Nile Rodgers on guitar?

Adam Lambert also co-wrote the song, and he sang it live with Avicii and Nile Rodgers at a Long Island charity concert weeks before the album came out.

Which pop star introduced Avicii's set at Ultra 2012 and later had him co-write songs for her 2015 album?

Madonna walked on stage to introduce him, and he opened his set with his own remix of her single 'Girl Gone Wild'.

Which 2014 Avicii single features the voice of Robbie Williams?

The Days was first recorded with Brandon Flowers of The Killers singing; Robbie Williams took over for the single, and the Flowers take surfaced online the following year.

Which fellow DJ co-produced 'Waiting for Love'?

Martin Garrix co-produced it and premiered it with Avicii at Ultra 2015, yet the single carried neither his name nor that of its singer, Simon Aldred of Cherry Ghost.

Whose version of 'Feeling Good' did Avicii rework in 2015?

Nina Simone's soul classic was a favourite of his, so he remade it with new vocals and a restrained beat as the centrepiece of a Volvo campaign called 'A New Beginning'.

Which step did Avicii take in September 2014, months after surgery?

Cancelled his shows: he pulled out of every date left in 2014 to recover, yet Forbes still ranked him sixth among the world's highest-paid DJs of 2015, on about $19 million.

Which brand's global campaign song, 'Taste the Feeling', did Avicii make with Conrad Sewell in 2016?

Coca-Cola came to him for an anthem to carry its new slogan into football's Euro 2016, and paired him with Conrad Sewell, then a little-known newcomer.

How did Avicii announce his 2016 retirement from touring?

An open letter to fans on his website said the road had left him 'too little' for 'the life of a real person behind the artist'; he was 26.

Where did Avicii play his final show, on 28 August 2016?

Ushuaïa Ibiza Beach Hotel was home ground, the club where he held a summer residency, and that week he told fans the night was 'far from' his last in music.

Which illness put Avicii in a New York hospital for 11 days in 2012?

Acute pancreatitis, most likely triggered by his drinking, struck in the middle of an American tour, and the opioids he was prescribed for the pain later became an addiction.

Which two organs did Avicii have removed in 2014?

Appendix and gallbladder came out together after his appendix burst: he had put off the operation a year earlier, and it now cost him his headline set at Ultra.

Who sings on 'Without You' and 'Lonely Together' from Avicii's 2017 EP Avīci (01)?

Sandro Cavazza and Rita Ora each took one: 'Without You' was written with Cavazza on a road trip across America that Avicii took with friends just before he announced his retirement.

What is the title of the 2017 documentary about Avicii's retirement from touring, directed by Levan Tsikurishvili?

Avicii: True Stories shows promoters pressing him to keep touring while he is plainly in physical pain; it was released months before his death.

Where did Avicii die on 20 April 2018?

Muscat, Oman, was a holiday stop: he had gone there to visit friends, and Omani police carried out two autopsies and found nothing suspicious.

Which cause did the foundation set up by Avicii's family first focus on?

Mental health, and suicide prevention above all: at a tribute concert in 2019 his father Klas told a stadium of fans about the foundation's work with young people.

What was the title of Avicii's posthumous 2019 album?

Tim, his own first name, was pieced together by friends and collaborators from the songs, lyrics and notes he left behind.

Which Avicii song, co-written and sung by Coldplay's Chris Martin, became a single a year after his death?

Heaven had waited four years: Avicii was playing it live in 2015, and its video was cut from footage of a trip he took to Madagascar soon after his final show.

Which rhythm video game, released in 2019, lets players fly through 25 of Avicii's songs?

Avicii Invector began as a 2017 PlayStation game he worked on himself, in which a pilot steers a spaceship to the beat of his songs; the expanded edition appeared after his death.

Which Norwegian DJ closed his Coachella set with Avicii's 'Without You' hours after learning of his death?

Kygo told the crowd that Avicii was his biggest inspiration and the reason he had started making electronic music, then ended the night with his favourite Avicii song.

Which RIAA award did Avicii's 'Wake Me Up' reach in June 2023, ten years after its release?

Diamond, for ten million units: the song that baffled its first festival crowd had become, by 2023, the highest-certified dance track in the RIAA's history.

Which soul singer's sampled voice supplies the vocal hook of Avicii's 2011 breakthrough hit?

Etta James sang the line on 'Something's Got a Hold on Me'; another producer, Pretty Lights, had sampled it years earlier, and Avicii admitted that was where he first heard it.

Which French duo is named, with Swedish House Mafia, among the chief influences on Avicii's dance productions?

Daft Punk were an influence from the age of 16, when he began making remixes, and he later recorded with Nile Rodgers, the guitarist on their hit 'Get Lucky'.

In which country did Avicii headline 2013's touring Future Music Festival alongside The Prodigy and The Stone Roses?

Australia was where his health gave way a second time: he was taken to hospital during the tour, and doctors urged an operation that he put off for a year.

Which charity did Avicii and his manager start in 2011, raising $1 million for Feeding America?

House for Hunger was first of all a tour: a month of American shows in January 2012 whose takings he gave away to reach the $1 million.

Which Swedish arena was renamed in Avicii's honour in May 2021?

The Ericsson Globe was where he had played a milestone show nine years earlier; announcing the new name, his father said he would be extremely proud to see it on the landmark.

Which 2010 single took Avicii into the UK top 20, a year before his big breakthrough?

Seek Bromance was a vocal version of his instrumental 'Bromance'; it charted across Europe, and the same year he signed a publishing deal with EMI.

Which video game exclusively debuted Avicii's track 'The Nights' in September 2014?

FIFA 15 players heard it before anyone could buy it; the song began as co-writer Nicholas Furlong's tribute to his own father, under the title 'My Father Told Me'.

What long-held wish of Avicii's did his 2019 tribute concert fulfil?

A live orchestra playing his songs was something friends said he had long wanted; a 30-piece ensemble backed the singers from his records, and the profits went to the foundation in his name.

Which BBC Radio 1 DJ did Avicii tell in 2017 about his comeback EP after a year off?

Pete Tong had aired Avicii's breakthrough hit before it even had a title: it went out on Tong's Essential Mix in December 2010, ten months before fans could buy it.

What is the profession of Avicii's mother, Anki Lidén?

Actress Anki Lidén is known in Sweden for crime dramas such as Wallander and Irene Huss; since her son's death she and his father have run the foundation set up in his name.

Under what username did the teenage Avicii post his music on DJ Laidback Luke's online forum?

Timberman was 17 when he began asking the forum's strangers whether they liked his tracks, and the remixes he posted there led to a manager and his first record deal.

Which streaming service released a documentary on Avicii's life alongside a film of his final show in December 2024?

Netflix released the pair six months after the documentary premiered at the Tribeca Festival, and the interest they stirred brought a shelved 2016 song out of the vault weeks later.