Rita Ora paid an emotional tribute to her late friend Avicii at a tribute concert to benefit mental health charities in his native Stockholm on Thursday night (05Dec19).
The singer fought back tears as she performed Lonely Together, the 2017 hit she recorded with the tragic DJ who committed suicide last year (18), and later took to Instagram to thank Avicii's family for organising the event and inviting her to be a part of it.
"I want to thank @avicii's family for organising this to raise awareness for mental health especially within the music industry," she wrote. "Often success can be seen as a representation that someone is also doing well mentally, however we can see here that there is sooo much more work to be done thank you to all 60,000 of you and the ones watching at home and Tim’s family."
Rita also shared a quote from the late DJ's father, Klas Bergling, which read: "We want this concert to help put the topic on the agenda and pay attention to the stigma surrounding mental illness and suicide. Policies and tools are needed to detect the risks and prevent suicide, especially among young people."
Avicii, real name Tim Bergling, was found dead in a hotel room in Oman, in April, 2018, aged 28. His death was ruled a suicide.
The tribute gig, co-organised by the hitmaker's friend David Guetta, also featured appearances from Adam Lambert and Aloe Blacc. The benefit was live-streamed on Avicii’s YouTube channel
