It’s been more than four months since Swedish music legend Avicii took his own life, but now his stepfather is shedding more light on the artist’s troubled emotional state before he tragically committed suicide in April.
The musician’s stepfather, Tommy Körberg, recently appeared on a Swedish podcast to discuss his thoughts on his stepson’s tragic demise.
Körberg blames the musician’s manager, Arash ‘Ash’ Pournouri, for the grueling tour schedule he imposed on the DJ in the years leading up to his suicide. In 2016, the DJ announced he would be retiring from touring due to overwork.
Körberg said booking 900 gigs in eight years wore his stepson thin to the point of breaking because of the pressure of constantly performing.
Körberg explicitly blames Pournouri’s greed for Avicii’s death, saying that if the artist had a professional company representing him, he would probably still be alive today. “When greed and stupidity go hand in hand, anything can happen,” Körberg said on the Värvet podcast.
Pournouri has responded to the criticism from Körberg, saying he had a “very limited impression of me” and that Körberg does not know the circumstances of the whole ordeal.
The manager says Körberg has drawn his own conclusions about the end of his stepson’s life, as he was not involved in the work process between the musician and his manager. Pournouri has previously gone on record stating that Avicii could “drop dead” if he continued his crazy tour schedule. He also posted a now removed emotional plea to Instagram shortly after the singer’s suicide was announced.
“Nobody will know what we went through together,” Pournouri said. “Nobody will know the bond we had and the love we had for each other. The show is a show. That was never real. It was a story we told the world. You and I were real.”
Körberg is the first of the musician’s family to speak out after he was buried in June during a private ceremony for close friends and family in Stockholm.
Uhh…900 gigs in 96 months (8 years) is 9.375 gigs a year. That’s hardly to the “point of breaking because of the pressure of constantly performing”. Most touring bands eclipse that number per year.
I don’t see how that is his managers fault.
Why did you convert it to months and then conclude with years? It was 9.375 gigs per month, or 112.5 gigs per year.
In the late 80s through the mid-90s (when there was live music in LA and Vegas), I worked in a cover band that did at least 275 4-hour gigs per year. I taught on the side to make ends meet, made a fraction of what this guy made, and traveled in an old van.
I feel no empathy. He was a drunk who killed himself, period.
Angelito, comparing apples and oranges here? The difference between playing in a cover band and doing your own thing. You can hardly earn as much in a cover band as a successful artist. On the other hand, you can earn better in a cover band, than in a starting original band… or even than more known niche indie bands.
Did you travel as much as Avicii, too?
Have fun in hell
I would slow down before comparing yourself and your cover band to Avicii. Also that was a very rude and disrespectful thing to say. At least everyone who reads it can see through that – but also won’t give a shit.
You might want to re-check your math. He did over 830 shows over 8 years. that comes to apx 250 shows a year, not 9.375. His manager was responsible for the shows and pressured him into doing them, even when Tim said he did not want to do them. You should do more research first. Or maybe you’re just a paid promoter under Ash posting these asshole comments.
Your maths is VERY WRONG.
the math works out to about 1 gig every 3 days. Which could translate into 1 week on, two weeks off (strictly counting gigs, not preparation, making new music, collaborations, etc.)
Is that THE Tommy Korberg, the Swedish singer who sang in the Chess musical back in the day? He of all should know what he’s talking about, having been a touring musician himself.