The talented Avicii has died leaving his fans and family confused and upset. The Triton Voice researched information about the artist and interviewed students about how they felt due to his tragic death.

Tim Bergling was born on September 8, 1989 in Stockholm, Sweden, to Klas Bergling and actress Anki Liden. At the age of 16, he was inspired by his brother who was also a DJ, and began making music. Later in May 2007, Avicii signed on with the Dejfitts Plays label.

By 2009 to 2010, Bergling was a prolific producer and was releasing music incredibly quickly. He explained that the name Avicii means, “the lowest level of Buddhist hell.”

In 2011, Avicii released “Levels,” which launched him into the mainstream. This popular song was one of junior, Grace Posters favorite songs,

“Levels is such a good song to listen to. It’s upbeat and makes you want to dance. I was always happy when I would hear this song play,” says Poster.

On June 25, 2013, Bergling’s new single, “Wake Me Up,” was released and in September it was number one on the Spotify Global Chart and Bergling was one of the two most streamed artist worldwide.

All of Avicii’s top songs that went global are known throughout the world. There is no voice to recognize him by, which is why it is confusing for people to actually think about who he actually is. Junior Bella Kreticos talks about how she wasn’t sure who Avicii really was,

“I never knew that Avicii was the one who created “Levels,” “Wake Me Up,” and a lot of other songs that have been a hit in the last couple of years. I’ve been listening to these songs all the time, and I never knew who Avicii even was until I read about his death and what songs he produced,” says Kreticos. “I was so surprised to find out some of my favorite songs were created by this guy I never really knew, and it’s upsetting knowing that he is gone and can’t be making more songs that everybody, the whole world, loves.”

A couple of months later on October 28, 2013, Avicii released the single, “Hey Brother,” and a few weeks later he won the American Music Award for favorite Electronic Dance Music Artist.

“Hey Brother” was probably one of my favorite songs as soon as it came out. It is enjoyable to just sing along to. My friends and I would always start singing it on car rides when it came on the radio and that is a great memory I will always have,” says junior Jessica Hood.

Throughout Tim’s short lifetime, he got to experience performing at festivals and tours, and he got to collaborate with many talented singers and musicians which led him so far in his musical career .

In January 2012, Bergling was hospitalized for eleven days in New York City with acute pancreatitis caused by excessive alcohol use. Two years later he underwent surgery and had both his appendix and gallbladder removed. In 2016, Tim’s health deteriorated and he subsequently retired from performing live.

The 28 year old was found on April 20, 2018 near Muscat, Oman where he was staying. His brother flew to Oman to bring him home and arrived only a couple of hours too late. For a couple of days his cause of death wasn’t determined.

A fan of his, junior, Caitlyn Chaisson explains how she feels about this tragedy,

“He was so young and had such great music. I feel like he was really going somewhere in his career, and it is sad to see him go so early,” says Chaisson.

On April 26, his family released an open letter stating that Bergling “really struggled with thoughts about meaning, life, happiness. He could not go on any longer. He wanted to find peace.”

This week, more details about the singer’s last moments were released in a gruesome report from TMZ which indicated that the late musician died from a self-inflicted wound involving a shard of glass.

Fox News published an article saying that the news of the 28-year-old’s cause of death comes after his family released a recent statement alluding to the fact that the DJ had intended to kill himself,

“Our beloved Tim was a seeker, a fragile artistic soul searching for answers to existential questions. An overachieving perfectionist who traveled and worked hard at a pace that led to extreme stress. When he stopped touring, he wanted to find a balance in life to be happy and be able to do what he loved most, music,” states the family of Bergling.  

The news of his death was really heartbreaking especially for his girlfriend, model, Tereza Kacerova. She posted a bunch of photos on her instagram account expressing her shock and saying,

“When I saw they had changed your bio on Wikipedia from ‘is’ to ‘was,’ I sobbed,” Kacerova wrote.

Yahoo published an article saying, although the DJ’s death was very tragic and unexpected, it’s also not an anomaly. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, suicide is the tenth leading cause of death overall in America. It is an issue the primarily affects the young and middle-aged.

Data from the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) notes that there is not one single cause for suicide but points out an interesting fact: 90 percent of people who commit suicide experience mental illness, associating with anxiety, posttraumatic stress disorder, and depression.

In Avicii”s case, his family will have to hold on to the memories they made with him while he was still alive – a fact they allude to at the end of their letter,

“Tim, you will forever be loved and sadly missed,” they write. “The person you were and your music will keep your memory alive.”