Over a year later, the dance music community still mourns the loss of one of its figureheads. Avicii was know the world over for his innovative ideas, incredible work ethic and creative genius. The day he died, speculation abounded as to the cause, but we all learned over time that it was ultimately suicide cause by longterm mental stress and pressure over years of touring, drinking, and producing.
We learned last month that the remainder of Avicii‘s estate was being used to create the Tim Bergling foundation to spread awareness for mental health issues and their effects. All of this is being spearheaded by Avicii's father Klas Bergling, who has been extremely vocal about the tragedy. This past week, the eyes of the industry fell on IMS Ibiza where Klas spoke out about the cause in an interview hosted by DJ/Producer Pete Tong. Klas spoke on what he believed to be the contributing factors to Avicii's death, including lack of sleep, relentless touring and producing, and a co dependence on alcohol.
“It’s not many Jobs that you can drink while you work, or you’re allowed to. If you start drinking at your job, your manager is supposed to take care of you quickly […] Life as a DJ and travels where you don’t get any rest between, you travel a lot you sleep less. The pressure is great depending on the individual, some people handle it perfectly, others don’t.”
Klas continued to speak about the foundation, noting that they have plans to work internationally but will start small and local. They will ultimately work to educated people and business on the effects of industry pressure and mental health. He also mentioned a few more issues that were close to Tim that they will work to highlight.
“We are setting up the foundation to focus preventative work for mental illness and suicide, we are also looking at threatened animals and nature which was Tim’s passion as well as climate.”
Read more about the Tim Bergling Foundation here.
