Avicii would have celebrated his 31st birthday this week, and to honor him, his father Klas Bergling took the time to share some memories of his son in an intimate interview. During the discussion on SiriusXM‘s BPM channel, Bergling touched upon the many times he and his family had attempted to convince Avicii to take a break from touring. The mental and physical stress he endured while on tour played a major factor in the late dance music superstar taking his own life back in 2018.
“Almost every day, every year,” Bergling says of the frequency of the conversation. “The music business, you know it, it absorbs you, with such a success that Tim went through. All the time he spent traveling, making music, and at that time he was really happy doing it, even if it was up and down and things happened on the way. He was happy, and he was producing and he was creative. As a parent, you sit here in Stockholm, and of course, you want your son to come home and take a rest.”
Bergling went on to express that with mental illness, people are sometimes able to see the depression in the individual, making it easier to identify and help. Avicii, however, was able to mask these symptoms from his family, creating an impossible situation for the bereaved. “You may wonder, why didn’t you do anything? We did a lot of things. That’s for sure,” he continues. “Tim was a grown-up. That’s something which is important to see also, he took his own decisions. We couldn’t lock him in. That’s not the way you can handle things. He was constantly producing also, so it’s a strange situation. When you see it now with another perspective, it may be easy to say of course we should have stopped him, but we did stop him.”
The exclusive interview aired as part of BPM’s Avicii Birthday Tribute for Mental Health Awareness, which continues on through the week until September 13th as part of National Suicide Prevention Week in the United States. Included in the tribute was an exclusive never-before-heard set from Avicii that took place in Osaka, Japan in June 2016. Alongside a week of broadcasting Avicii’s most beloved tracks are commentaries from collaborators such as Aloe Blacc, Armin van Buuren, David Guetta, Laidback Luke, Martin Garrix, Nicky Romero, Nile Rodgers, Rita Ora, and more, who are sharing personal stories about the late producer, his music, and their experiences with mental illness.
The complete interview is available on-demand via the SiriusXM app and will be rebroadcasted on Friday, September 11th at 3PM ET (12PM PT), and Sunday, September 13th at 2PM ET (11AM ET). You can watch video clips of the conversation below.
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