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DJ Mag Top100 DJs
6
Avicii
33

One of the big success stories of the last couple of years in dance music has been the unstoppable rise of Avicii. The Swedish house star may not be part of any mafia, but he is certainly well connected - David Guetta and Tiësto are just two of the big names he has already worked with.
While international DJs like Carl Cox and Paul Oakenfold - featured elsewhere on these pages in the Top 100 - were helping to kick off house music in 1989, Tim Bergling was only born on 8th September in Stockholm, Sweden that year. He began producing at quite a young age, and soon adopted the name Avicii - but why?
“Avicii is kind of like Dante's Inferno… it's the lowest level of hell in Buddhism,” he has said. “A friend of mine told me about it, and it stuck in my head.”
In 2008, Avicii won Pete Tong's Fast Track competition on BBC Radio 1 and had his track 'Manman' released on Tong's Bedroom Bedlam label. This really brought him international attention, and two years ago he was tipped by Laidback Luke, Tiësto and others as Breakthrough DJ/producer 2009 in DJmag's Top 100 issue, after remixing the likes of Guetta, Dizzee Rascal and Tiësto himself.

His big room house cut 'Seek Bromance' as Tim Berg in 2010 was picked up by Ministry Of Sound after a vocal was added, charting in Belgium, the Netherlands and Sweden, and then the UK, while it also topped the Beatport chart. And his productions have gone from strength-to-strength: tracks like the Cassius-sampling disco houser 'My Feelings For You', big room trouse track 'Fade Into Darkness' that samples the cult jazzy '80s minimalists Penguin Café Orchestra, and more recently, the massive feel-good Etta James-sampling 'Levels' - named by Guetta as his track of the year - have cemented his worldwide rep.
As has multiple waves of virtually non-stop touring. Bergling has rapidly become massive in America, and recognizes the necessity for DJs to put on a show these days.
“With EDM growing at such a rapid rate, the shows are getting bigger, and the crowds larger, and it's not just club gigs anymore, it's concerts,” he tells DJmag. “People attending the events do it for a full experience, and not only for the music.”

When Simon Cowell's protégé Leona Lewis was about to release her new summer single 'Collide', it was noticed that it bore a remarkable resemblance to Avicii's 'Fade Into Darkness'. It turns out that execs from Cowell's SyCo label heard a vocal treatment for Avicii's instrumental track, originally called 'Penguin', had producer Sandy Vee re-record it and lined it up for Lewis' lead single from her new album. Avicii's people weren't happy and slapped down an injunction, as they were about to release 'Fade Into Darkness' themselves on Ministry.
“I'm just upset for someone taking credit of our idea before I had a chance to release it,” tweeted Avicii at the time.
The dispute was settled at the 11th-hour, just before it was due to be heard in the high court, with Avicii agreeing to work with Lewis in the future, and to receive a credit on 'Collide'.
Now, Bergling is happy to draw a veil over the whole messy affair to concentrate on future hit-making. “The last 12 months have just shown me that when you think things can't go any faster or get any bigger - my fans prove me wrong. I have experienced things I've only heard or dreamed about and I can't think of anything in this world I'd rather do than be on the path I am.