ABOUT
The Weeknd, byname of Abel Makkonen Tesfaye, (born February 16, 1990, Toronto, Ontario, Canada), Canadian rhythm-and-blues singer and songwriter who was perhaps best known for his explicit songs about sex and drugs, many of which were autobiographical, and for his soaring falsetto and its singular tremolo.Tesfaye’s mother and grandmother immigrated in the 1980s to Canada from Ethiopia, and his first language was Amharic. When he was in grade 11, he quit school and left home, devoting himself to unbridled partying. Tesfaye eventually landed a job at American Apparel and at the same time began writing songs about drug use, casual sex, and alienation. He crossed paths with musician and producer Jeremy Rose, and they started working together. Their collaboration yielded three atmospheric songs—“The Morning,” “Loft Music,” and “What You Need”—with lyrics that were partly sung and partly rapped. The songs, credited to The Weeknd, were uploaded as audio files to the video-sharing Web site YouTube in late 2010; their popularity grew exponentially after they were posted to the blog of Canadian rapper Drake.
With Drake as an admirer and backer, Tesfaye had greater access to recording opportunities, and by March 2011 he had put together a nine-song mixtape, House of Balloons, which he released as a free download. The album gained critical notice and was short-listed for Canada’s Polaris Music Prize. Tesfaye made his first public appearance as The Weeknd in a Toronto nightclub in July that year. He released two more free mixtapes in 2011, Thursday and Echoes of Silence. In addition, he contributed to the 2011 Drake release Take Care. The Weeknd partnered with Republic Records in September 2012. Two months later he released Trilogy, made up of remastered versions of the songs on the three mixtapes; it became a best seller. However, The Weeknd’s first studio album, Kiss Land (2013), failed to penetrate beyond his fan base.
The Weeknd took over pop music & culture on his own terms filtering R&B, Pop,& hip-hop through an ambitious widescreen lens. The multi-platinum 3X GRAMMY Award winner has emerged as one of the most successful & significant artists of the modern era. 2012’s 3X platinum Trilogy collated 3 breakout mixtapes—House of Balloons, Thursday & Echoes of Silence—into his 1st chart-topping collection followed by his debut LP Kiss Land in 2013. Two years later, “Earned It (Fifty Shades of Grey)” won “Best R&B Performance” & received an Academy Award nod for “Best Original Song” & 4X Platinum Beauty Behind The Madness won a GRAMMY for “Best Urban Contemporary Album.” In 2018, Starboy won the same award, making him the 1st artist ever to win twice. His 6-track project My Dear Melancholy marked his 3rd consecutive #1 bow on the Billboard Top 200, & “Pray For Me” with Kendrick Lamar was featured in the trailer for the Academy Award winning Marvel film Black Panther. In 2020 the 80’s-nostalgic track Blinding Lights became a worldwide sensation, igniting viral dance challenges across social media, peaking at #1 in 30+ countries & headlining Mercedes Benz EQC campaign. After Hours held the #1 spot on Billboard 200 for 4 consecutive weeks, marking his 4th #1 album & becoming the first to ever rank #1 on the Billboard 200, Hot 100, and Artist 100 simultaneously. After Hours is the #1 R&B streaming album of all time (followed by Starboy at #2).