Avicii’s Longtime Manager Ash Pournouri Shares Heartfelt Message Following Death

By Mitchell Peters, Billboard

Ash Pournouri, the longtime manager of superstar DJ/producer Avicii, has shared a heartfelt message following the Swedish artist’s untimely death on Friday (April 20). He was 28.

“Shock. Grief. Anger. Rage. Apathy. Despair. Misery. Pain. Pain. Pain.,” Pournouri begins the note, which he posted to Instagram Saturday. “I don’t even know what this feeling is called. You were my family. My brother. My Friend. My ally. Part of my heart. Now that’s gone. I’ve never experienced deep sadness like this.”

Pournouri discovered an 18-year-old Tim Bergling (later known as Avicii) in 2008, while balancing law school with club promotion. His empire later expanded from At Night Management and the AshAlliance booking agency to the PRMD label and studio in Stockholm. Avicii and Pournouri parted ways in 2016.

Pournouri’s Instagram post trails off with, “Nobody will know what we went through together.” He posted a longer version of the note on Facebook, but stressed it isn’t for sharing.

Avicii was found dead in Muscat, Oman, on Friday afternoon, according to his publicist Diana Baron. Further details about his death have not yet been released. Avicii’s health issues were known to the public for several year. He suffered from acute pancreatitis, in part due to excessive drinking. The DJ retired from touring in 2016.

This article originally appeared on Billboard.

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