Avicii
Background information
Birth name	Tim Bergling
Also known as	Tim Berg, Tom Hangs
Born	(1989-09-08) 8 September 1989 (age 22)
Origin	Stockholm, Sweden
Genres	House, Progressive House, Electro House
Occupations	Electronic musician, DJ, record producer
Years active	2007 – present
Labels	LE7ELS, Strike, Joia, Vicious Vinyl, Ministry of Sound
Associated acts	DJ Daaar, Leona Lewis, Flo Rida, Etta James, Amanda Wilson, DJ Shadow, Sebastien Drums, David Guetta, Afrojack, The Eye, DJ eiiBollex, aLmAd
Website	www.avicii.com

Tim Bergling (born 8 September 1989), known professionally as Avicii, Tom Hangs, Ashwin, and Tim Berg, is a Swedish DJ, remixer, and record producer.^[1] His debut single, "Seek Bromance", reached the top 20 in several countries including Belgium, France, the Netherlands, United Kingdom, and Sweden. In 2011, Avicii released "Levels" (sampling the song "Something's Got a Hold On Me" by Etta James), which reached the top ten in India, Croatia, Bosnia, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, and topped the charts in Hungary, Norway and Sweden.

In 2011, Avicii was ranked No. 6 on the Top 100 DJs list by DJ Magazine.^[2] In 2012, Avicii was the main headliner Saturday night at Ultra Music Festival in Miami, FL, where he appeared onstage with Madonna. He is scheduled to headline at EDC NY, Austin City Limits Music Festival and EDC Vegas this year.^[3]

Early life[link]

Tim Bergling was born on 8 September 1989 in Stockholm, Sweden.

Avicii emerged in the music industry in 2008, when he was 18 years old, compiling a remix of the theme song to the Commodore 64 video game Lazy Jones. This led to his first release on Strike Recordings, entitled "Lazy Lace."

In 2010, Avicii released a collaboration with fellow Swedish DJ John Dahlbäck, titled "Don't Hold Back." He is additionally working on projects with internationally-recognized DJs Tiësto and Sebastian Ingrosso.^[4] While his work is primarily electronic synthetic tracks, EMI released a vocal version of his track "Bromance," titled "Seek Bromance."^[5]

In October 2010, Avicii signed with the European A&R team with EMI Music Publishing, one of the recording industry's "big four".

In 2011, his collaboration track, "Sunshine", with David Guetta was nominated for a Grammy award under the category for Best Dance Recording.^[6] His track 'Fade into Darkness' was sampled by Leona Lewis on single "Collide". The sampling was not accredited and lead to controversy as Avicii attempted to block the singles release. However, matters was resolved outside of court with representatives stating "that Leona Lewis and Avicii will work together on the forthcoming single of Collide". ^[7]

Influences[link]

Avicii's influences include Tiësto, Daft Punk, Laidback Luke, Jean Moreno, Sebastian Ingrosso, Steve Angello, Axwell, Ryan Blair, Eric Prydz, Josef Kelly and Ste Kirwan.

"I’ve always been into music, and growing up with older siblings. I’ve also had loads of different influences when it comes to my music taste. There are loads of other people that have influenced me but I think the biggest inspirations I’ve had aside from my manager has been the Swedish House Mafia guys and Eric Prydz, they were the ones who first got me into house!" Avicii – April 2011^[8]

His first big track, "Manman," was released on Pete Tong's label, Bedroom Bedlam, after winning Pete Tong's Fast Trax with 70% of the votes.

Touring[link]

2010/2011[link]

North America[link]

In North America, he played at Palace and The Guelph Concert Theatre in Guelph, Ontario; Club Glow in Washington, D.C.; SET and Nikki Beach in Miami; Club Pacha in New York; Electric Zoo Festival at Randall's Island in New York; Ultra Music Festival in Miami; Electric Daisy Carnival at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum; Ruby Skye in San Francisco; Vision Night Club in Chicago; The Guvernment in Toronto; Beta Night Club in Waterloo, Ontario; Stages in Kingston, Ontario; Tokyo Club in Montreal; Club Mansion in London, Ontario, The Majestic in Madison, Wisconsin, Congress Theater in Chicago, Illinois, Wet Republic's Daylife in Las Vegas and The Edmonton Event Centre in Edmonton, among other locations.^[9] His New Year's Eve 2010 party in New York City had to be cancelled due to too many tickets being sold and the venue being overbooked.^[10][11]

The largest crowd Avicii has played for to date was on the main stage at the Electric Daisy Carnival in Las Vegas on 26 June 2011. On 7 September 2011, Avicii performed at Brock University in St. Catharines, Canada. On 15 September, he played a private set for students of McGill University in Montreal. On 9 September he played at The Necto (nightclub) in Ann Arbor, MI. On 11 September, he performed in Syracuse, NY as part of the annual fall concert series Juice Jam. London, Ontario as part of the O-Week celebration for The University of Western Ontario. On 12 September, he performed at the Washington Avenue Armory in Albany, New York to a crowd of mostly University at Albany students. On 22 October 2011 Avicii performed at Bert's Warehouse in Detroit, Michigan. On 28 October, he performed at Petco Park in San Diego, CA. On 29 October 2011 Avicii performed at Pic-a-Chic farm in Bloomington, Indiana as part of a Halloween and Indiana University Homecoming celebration.^[11][12] Avicii also played at the Susquehanna Bank Center in Camden, NJ on 29 October 2011 and at Spring Party Weekend at Colgate University in Hamilton, NY on 20 April 2012.

Europe[link]

Avicii headlined at the 2011 Inox Festival in Toulouse, France. Other appearances include Space in Ibiza; Monaco International Clubbing Show at Grimaldi Forum in Monaco; Fabulous Festival in 's-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands; Ms Connexion in Mannheim; Aquarius Zrće in Novalja; La Dune in Toulouse; Illusions at Festivalpark Complex in Hradec Králové, Czech Republic; AF-Borgen in Lund, Sweden; and Mach 1 in Nuremberg.^[9]

Several of his concerts have been recorded for Sirius XM Radio's Trance and Progressive House channel. On 23 October 2010, in support of his world tour, Avicii presented his work in an exclusive hour-long set on Channel 52 of the Electric Area on Sirius XM Radio.^[13]

Dominican Republic[link]

Avicii has played at Tara's in Port-au-Prince, Haiti on 8 July 2011, at Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic on 9 July 2011, Governors Island, NYC on 17 July 2011.

Belgium[link]

Avicii played at the Tomorrowland in Boom, Belgium on 23 July 2011.

Slovenia[link]

On 15 October, he performed in Ljubljana, Slovenia at the International Foam Festival with David Morales and Ian Carey.

2012[link]

Australia[link]

December 2011 Avicii was on the line up for the country wide festival Stereosonic. Avicii and Calvin Harris attended homebar Sydney, Australia on 14 January for charity.

Sweden[link]

Avicii performed three shows in his hometown, Stockholm, on 2 and 3 March. The concerts were at Ericsson Globe Arena. During the first concert on the afternoon of Friday 2 March, a temporary platform built for the audience collapsed. A total of 26 people were sent to the hospital, and one 17-year old teenage girl suffered a severe concussion. As a result of the accident, the second concert, scheduled for Friday evening, was canceled. A new platform was built in hope that the Saturday evening concert could continue.^[14]

South Africa[link]

Avicii completed a tour of South Africa in 2012, performing in three different cities over two days. The first show was at Wave House in Durban on 30 March, where he played at 22:00. The second show was at Wild Waters in Johannesburg on 31 March. The venue plays host to South Africa's premier outdoor music festival, H2O. Avicii played the "sunset set" at 17:00 in perfect weather conditions to a fantastic crowd. After playing for 1 hour and 30 minutes, he flew to Cape Town to play the midnight set at Thunder City, where he played for 2 hours and 45 minutes to an even more fantastic crowd. Various South African DJ's accompanied him on the tour, including DJ Fresh, Euphonik, Pascal & Pearce and Goldfish.

Mexico[link]

Avicii performed at Electro Beach Music Festival in Puerto Vallarta on 8 and 15 March; he also performed at Six Flags Mexico on 9 March 2012. ^[15]

Taiwan[link]

Avicii performed at Taipei World Trade Center Nangang Exhibition Hall on 6 April.

Singapore[link]

Avicii Performed at Zoukout 2011 in Sentosa Siloso Beach,Singapore.

Sri Lanka[link]

Avicii performed as the headlining act for the innaugural Sunset Music Festival in Colombo,Sri Lanka December 2011.

Israel[link]

Avicii performed in Tel Aviv on May 31, 2012 at the XL night awards competition.

Turkey[link]

Avicii had stage for 3 hours at Samsung Galaxy SIII party at Caddebostan/Istanbul ^[16]

Music[link]

[edit] Levels

Avicii's most notable song has been the single "Levels" which was released officially 28 Oct 2011. The song had already been a major hit in the EDM world all through 2011, but after its official release it became a huge mainstream hit, giving Avicii and the EDM movement even greater notoriety. The song was written by Avicii, Ash Pournouri, and an unidentified third party, and contains a vocal sample from the 1962 gospel-inspired "Something's Got a Hold on Me" by Etta James. The same vocal sample was used first by Pretty Lights in his 2006 song "Finally Moving". This sample was also used by Flo Rida in his single "Good Feeling", which was produced by Avicii and holds a close resemblance to "Levels".

[edit] 2012

On 23 March 2012, Avicii's unsigned single "Last Dance" was previewed on Pete Tong's show on BBC Radio 1. At Ultra Music Festival 2012 he played a teaser of his remix of Ruth-Anne's "All You Need Is Love". Also, Avicii played two new remixes, Madonna's "Girl Gone Wild" titled "Avicii vs Madonna – Girl Gone Wild" (Avicii's UMF Remix) and Avicii vs Lenny Kravitz – Superlove (Avicii's Space Mix).

He is set to play one of the largest shows by a DJ at The O₂ in London. The date is billed simply as "Avicii in London".^[17]

Avicii recently released a new song after reaching two million followers on Facebook. This song, "2 Million" was put out as a free download on his official Soundcloud. ^[18]

Discography[link]

Mixed Albums[link]

• 2011 – Avicii presents Strictly Miami^[19]

• 2011 – The Singles - EP^[20]

Singles[link]

As featured artist[link]

Guest appearances[link]

Songs & Remixes[link]

2009[link]

Songs[link]

• "Ryu"
• "Alcoholic (Avicii Edit)"
• "Manman"

Remixes[link]

• "Set Me Free (Avicii Remix)" - Phonat
• "Holiday (Avicii Remix) - Dizzee Rascal (Feat. Chrome)"
• "New New New (Avicii Remix) - Bob Sinclar"

2010[link]

Songs[link]

• "Bromance (Avicii's Arena Mix)"
• "My Feelings For You (Feat. Sebastien Drums)"
• "Seek Bromance"

Remixes[link]

• "Gettin' Over You (Avicii Vocal Remix) - David Guetta (Feat. Chris Willis, LMFAO & Fergie)"
• "Gettin' Over You (Avicii Dub Remix) - David Guetta (Feat. Chris Willis, LMFAO & Fergie)"
• "Hang With Me (Avicii's Exclusive Club Mix)" - Robyn
• "Escape Me (Avicii's Remix At Night) - Tiësto (Feat. CC Sheffield)"
• "Rapture (Avicii's New Generation Mix)" - Nadia Ali
• "One Love" (Avicii Remix) - David Guetta (Feat. Estelle)

2011[link]

Songs[link]

• "Street Dancer"
• "Blessed (Feat. Shermanology)"
• "Collide (Feat. Avicii)" - Leona Lewis
• "Fade Into Darkness (Feat. Andreas Moe)"
• "Levels"
• "Nothing Without You"
• "Penguin"
• "Sunshine" - Feat.David Guetta

Remixes[link]

• "Drowning (Avicii Remix) - Armin Van Buuren"
• "Derezzed (Avicii Remix) - Daft Punk"
• "Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall (Avicii ‘Tour’ Mix) - Coldplay"

2012[link]

Songs[link]

• "All You Need Is Love (Ruth-Anne)"
• "Last Dance"
• "Dancing In My Head (Feat. Eric Turner)"
• "Two Million"
• "Silhouettes"

Remixes[link]

• "Girl Gone Wild (Avicii's UMF Mix)" - Madonna
• "Superlove (Avicii's Space Mix)" - Lenny Kravitz

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• Avicii on Myspace
• Avicii on Twitter
• Avicii on Facebook
• Avicii on Best4Ears.com
• Salacious Sound Interviews Avicii

Eric Turner may refer to:

• Eric Turner (American football) (1968–2000), American football player
• Eric Turner (singer), American singer-songwriter
• Eric Gardner Turner (1911–1983), English papyrologist and classicist

See also[link]

• Erik Turner (born 1964), musician from Omaha, Nebraska

This disambiguation page lists articles about people with the same name. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

Nadia Ali
Nadia Ali in 2011
Background information
Birth name	Nadia Ali
Born	(1980-08-03) August 3, 1980 (age 31) Libya
Origin	Queens, New York, U.S.
Genres	Electronic dance music, trance, house
Occupations	Singer-songwriter
Instruments	Vocals
Years active	2001–present
Labels	Smile in Bed
Associated acts	iiO, Armin van Buuren, Morgan Page, Avicii, Starkillers, Sultan & Ned Shepard
Website	nadiaali.com

Nadia Ali (Urdu: نادیہ علی; born August 3, 1980) is a Pakistani American singer-songwriter, born in Libya and raised in Queens, New York. She gained attention as the frontwoman and songwriter of the band iiO, after their 2001 hit "Rapture" reached No. 2 on the UK Singles Chart.^[1] The song also charted across several countries in Europe.^[2] Their 2006 single, "Is It Love?", reached the top of the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play Chart.^[3]

After embarking on a solo career in 2005, Ali became successful as an oft-requested vocalist in electronic dance music. She released her debut album Embers in 2009. Critics praised her unique songwriting, which combined electronica with ballads, Eastern and acoustic music. Three singles from the album reached the top-ten of the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play Chart, including the No. 1 hit, "Love Story".^[4][5][6] The song was also nominated at the 25th International Dance Music Awards at the Winter Music Conference, while "Fantasy" was nominated for a Grammy award.^[7][8]

In 2010, she released a remix compilation titled Queen of Clubs Trilogy to mark her decade-long career as a singer-songwriter. "Rapture" was re-released as the only single from the compilation and the song was once again a chart success in Europe.^[9] Ali released the single "Pressure" with Starkillers and Alex Kenji in 2011, which became a club and festival anthem and received an International Dance Music Award.^[10] She has also collaborated with several notable producers and DJs, such as Armin van Buuren, Schiller, BT and John Creamer & Stephane K. Ali is currently working on her second studio album titled Phoenix, which is due to be released in 2012.

Life and career[link]

1980–2005: Early life and iiO[link]

Nadia Ali was born in Libya to Pakistani parents in 1980. The family relocated when she was five years old and she was subsequently raised in Queens, New York.^[11][12] An eight year old Ali used any opportunity she could get to sing after a friend heard her humming a Madonna song at school and complimented her.^[13] While continuing singing as a hobby and for the thrill of performing and receiving no formal vocal training, she had also started writing poems and songs for her friends by the time she was 15.^[11] As a teenager her interest in dance music developed after visiting nightclubs in Manhattan and inspired her to dream that she would one day be featured on one of the records playing in the club.^[14]

Ali started working in the New York offices of Versace when she was 17, where she attracted attention by singing at the Christmas parties.^[11] A colleague from Versace introduced her to producer Markus Moser, who was looking for a female singer to collaborate on some of his original production for a girl group in Germany.^[13] The two teamed up with Moser working on production, while Ali wrote the lyrics and vocals for the songs.^[15] Her first song was the single "Rapture", which she wrote in 30 minutes based on an encounter with an Australian nightclub patron.^[16] A demo of the song was first played at the New York club Twilo in 2001 and received early support from influential DJ Pete Tong who played the demo on his show on BBC Radio 1. The song eventually became an Ibiza favourite after support from prominent DJ's such as Sasha, Danny Tenaglia and Sander Kleinenberg during the summer season.^[17] Released in late 2001 by Ministry of Sound, the single became a commercial success peaking at No. 2 on UK Singles Chart and Billboard's Hot Dance Club Play Chart, while charting in several countries in Europe.^[1][2][3] The success of "Rapture", Ali said, caused the formation of iiO as the music they were initially working on was quite different from dance music and were asked to come up with a project name to promote the single.^[18] They originally named themselves Vaiio after the Sony VAIO laptop Ali used to write the lyrics on.^[2] The duo toured internationally and released several more singles, including "At the End", "Runaway", "Smooth", and "Kiss You". Their first studio album, Poetica followed in 2005.^[4]

Ali left the group in 2005 to pursue a solo career, while Moser continued to release iiO material featuring her on vocals. Most notably, these releases include the 2006 single "Is It Love?", which reached No. 1 in America on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play Chart,^[3] the 2007 remix album Reconstruction Time: The Best Of iiO Remixed^[4] and the 2011 studio album Exit 110.^[4] When asked about her decision to pursue a solo career, she said her time with iiO was a great learning experience but she decided to leave because she didn't want to restrict herself to one style of music but explore her creativity and also to have the freedom to collaborate with others artists.^[19]

Her decision to pursue a career as a singer was not initially encouraged by her Pakistani parents who were academically inclined and wanted her to pursue a more stable career. She has said since then they have evolved and are one of her biggest supporters.^[12] Speaking of her identity as a Pakistani and Muslim woman, she has said it is very important to her to set an example that they are able to contribute positively and capable of taking their career into their own hands. Explaining further, she said that she feels it as her responsibility to any women who are sometimes stereotyped to show that they can contribute to arts or any professional field.^[11] Her ethnicity, she has stated, has been an advantage and helped her stand out in the entertainment industry.^[20] She has said that over the years, she has met South Asian women who have told her that her story has inspired them to pursue something they loved.^[21]

[edit] 2006–09: Embers

Nadia Ali performing at Avalon, Boston in 2006

Ali started working on her debut solo album soon after leaving iiO, a process which took her four years. She attributed the delay to her busy tour schedule and the fact that she was still learning and "trying to establish her identity as a songwriter and co-producer".^[18][22] Her first solo release was the 2006 single, "Who is Watching?", a collaboration with Dutch DJ Armin van Buuren, which appeared on his album Shivers.^[23] She has described "Who is Watching?" as one of her most meaningful songs, the song described one's struggle to reach the top, only to realise once one is there how lonely it is and how one has forgotten their priorities and the important people in their life.^[24] This was followed by "Something to Lose" in 2006, a duet with singer-songwriter Rosko, produced by John Creamer & Stephane K and released by Ultra Records. The track was licensed to Roger Sanchez's Release Yourself, Vol. 5, as well as Sharam Tayebi of Deep Dish for his Global Underground debut Dubai.^[25][26]

In June 2008, she released "Crash and Burn", the first single from her solo album. The single became a club success peaking at No. 6 on Billboard's Hot Dance Club Play Chart.^[5] She released the second single, "Love Story" from the as-yet untitled album in February 2009. It topped Billboard Hot Dance Club Play Chart in April 2009 and was nominated for the Best Progressive/House Track at the 2010 International Dance Music Awards at the Winter Music Conference.^[6][7] Ali was featured on MTV Iggy in March 2009, where she recorded three live acoustic videos, performing "Rapture", "Crash and Burn" and "Love Story".^[27]

The third single "Fine Print" was released in July 2009. Ali announced that the single preceded the release of her debut solo album Embers.^[28] The single peaked at No. 4 on Billboard's Hot Dance Club Play Chart.^[29] Embers was released in September 2009. Co-produced by Sultan & Ned Shepard, Alex Sayz and Scott Fritz, Ali self-released the album on her own label, Smile in Bed Records.^[22] Embers generally received positive reviews, Chase Gran from About.com called it a "well rounded, gourmet album with impressive songs".^[30] Gail Navarro from Racket magazine complimented Ali on her songwriting saying, "It wasn’t just her sultry sound mixed in together with that enchanting singing voice; her songwriting got me hook, line and sinker".^[31] Speaking about the self-release of the album, she has cited her creative independence and the pressure of deadlines as the main reasons why she created her own record label.^[32][33] She chose to release her singles and albums digitally citing the nature of the electronic music audience with the listener choosing to click a button and getting music instantly and the traditional method of distribution deals in the United States.^[32]

Ali released two collaborations in 2009, the first "Better Run" with Tocadisco was released on his album TOCA 128.0 FM and "12 Wives In Tehran" with Serge Devant was released on his album Wanderer.^[34][35]

[edit] 2010–2011: Queen of Clubs Trilogy

Ali's first release in 2010 was the track "Try", a collaboration with German producer Schiller, chosen as the lead single from his album Atemlos, the music video premiered on YouTube in February 2010.^[36] In April 2010, Ali released "Fantasy", the fourth single from Embers. The track was chosen as a single by her fans after a poll conducted by Ali on her Facebook page.^[22] The music video for "Fantasy" was set to the Morgan Page remix, which served as a prologue to Ali's next project; Queen of Clubs Trilogy: The Best of Nadia Ali Remixed. Speaking about the project, Ali mentioned that she wanted a remix compilation, which spanned the 10 years of her career from her one-half as iiO, to her solo album and collaborations.^[37] Explaining the name of the concept, she said she wanted to incorporate her upbringing in Queens and the fact that her music is predominantly played in nightclubs.^[38] Using that inspiration, she decided to use the playing card "Queen of Clubs" as the title, portraying herself as the Queen, a move she described as "audacious" but something she felt she could prove because she had the substance.^[37] The package was broken into three releases: Ruby Edition (August 2010), Onyx Edition (October 2010) and Diamond Edition (December 2010). It featured collaborations with, and remixes by, Armin van Buuren, Gareth Emery and Avicii amongst several other prominent DJs and producers.^[39]

I think the fact that it (electronic dance music) is mostly male dominated makes females stand out that much more if they are driven enough. I believe anything is possible with hard work.

– Nadia Ali^[40]

With a decade-long career, MTV described Ali as one of the "enduring empresses" of electronic dance music and the Queen of Clubs Trilogy as "aptly titled".^[41] Noted for being the "definitive" and "unmistakable" voice of dance music, she is said to have "enriched" and "invigorated" the genre.^[21][42] Ali has went on to become an oft-requested collaborator by DJs and producers.^[22] She was praised for acquiring notability in a male and DJ-dominated genre where vocalists serve as supporting acts.^[40][43] In December 2010 she received her first Grammy nomination when the Morgan Page remix of "Fantasy" was nominated in the Best Remixed Recording, Non-Classical category.^[8]

Her first track with iiO, "Rapture" was re-released as a single from Queen of Clubs Trilogy with remixes by Tristan Garner, Gareth Emery and Avicii. A new music video for the track was shot based on the "Queen of Clubs" theme and released on January 24, 2011.^[44] The song peaked at No. 3 on the Romanian Top 100 chart, while charting in other European countries.^[9]

Nadia Ali performing at Armin Only in Poland

Throughout 2010, Ali's collaborations with DJs and producers were released. These included remixes of her upcoming collaboration "That Day" with Dresden and Johnston, which were released on compilation albums. The next, "The Notice" with Swiss duo Chris Reece was released on July 13 on all digital retailers.^[45] Ali was featured on the track "Feels So Good" on Armin van Buuren's fourth album Mirage. Released as the fifth single from the album, the song was voted as the Best Trance Track at the 27th International Dance Music Awards in the Best Trance Song category.^[10][46] She was also a featured guest on his Armin Only tour.^[12]