Avicii warned management touring would kill him, but was pressured to do more gigs anyway
A documentary from 2017 about the life of Swedish DJ Avicii has unearthed a chilling fact about the young artist, who tragically passed away last week. As the documentary reveals, Avicci claimed he’d warned management "so many times" he was "going to die" if he didn’t stop touring.
But despite the eerie premonition, the late Swedish DJ said he was pressured to continue touring even after he had decided to quit live shows in 2016 following several struggles with anxiety and alcoholism, among other things.
“I have told them this. I won’t be able to play anymore," said the EDM icon - who was found dead in Oman last week aged just 28 - in the 2017 documentary 'Avicci: True Stories'.
As The Mirror reports, after doing 813 shows in eight years, the exhausted star insisted, “I have said, like, I'm going to die. I have said it so many times. And so I don't want to hear that I should entertain the thought of doing another gig.”
The 'Wake Me Up' hit-maker also added:
"When I decided to stop, I expected something completely different.
I expected support, particularly considering everything I have been through.
I have been very open with everyone I work with, and everyone who knows me.
Everyone knows that I've had anxiety and that I have tried. I did not expect that people would try to pressure me into doing more gigs.
They have seen how ill I have felt by doing it, but I had a lot of push-back when I wanted to stop doing gigs."
The documentary was shot by acclaimed director Levan Tsikurishvili between 2012 and 2016, and showed Avicii (real name Tim Bergling) insisting that his decision to withdraw from touring had not been well received. The film also features interviews of fellow musicians David Guetta, Nile Rodgers, Wyclef Jean, Tiësto and Coldplay frontman Chris Martin.
In 2016, Avicii stunned fans by announcing his retirement when he was just 26, saying that he wanted to leave the high-flying electronic music lifestyle. Avicii — who for years was one of the world's most lucrative electronic musicians — in 2016 made number 12 on the list of top-paid DJs of Forbes magazine, which said he earned $14.5 million in the previous year.
With global chart-busting hits like 'Le7els', 'Hey Brother', and 'Wake Me Up', the young Swedish DJ took the EDM world by storm and became the first DJ of his ilk to do a worldwide arena tour.
But the shy star was not comfortable in the spotlight and turned to alcohol to help cope with his debilitating anxiety. As a result, he suffered acute pancreatitis aged just 21, and had his appendix and gallbladder removed in 2014. At the time, Avicci had said in a statement that he had given up alcohol and that the pancreatitis attack forced him "to do a 180 and stop drinking."
The cause of Avicci's death remains unknown but according to a report by Sky News, a source said two post-mortem examinations have been conducted and that there is "no criminal suspicion of death."