The Weeknd is a Canadian singer-songwriter and record producer. who is best known for his explicit songs about sex and drugs, many of which were autobiographical.
Abel Makkonen Tesfaye was born on February 16, 1990, in Toronto, Ontario, to Ethiopian immigrants Makkonen Tesfaye and Samrawit Hailu. He is an only child and was raised by his grandmother and mother in the district of Scarborough after his parents separated.
While living with his grandmother, he learned Amharic, which he also spoke with his mother. He attended services at the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church.
Tesfaye began his recording career in 2009 by anonymously releasing music on YouTube. Two years later, he co-founded the XO record label and released the mixtapes House of Balloons.
Full Name: Abel Makkonen Tesfaye
Date of Birth: February 16, 1990
Age: 32
Birth Place: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Nationality: Canada
Profession: Singer, Songwriter, Record Producer, Actor, Businessman
Genre: R&B, Pop Hip hop, Dance Alternative, New Wave
Net-worth: $100 million
Career:
In August 2009, Tesfaye began anonymously releasing music on YouTube.
The following year, he met Jeremy Rose, a producer who had an idea for a dark contemporary R&B musical project. After initially trying to pitch the idea to musician Curtis Santiago, Rose played one of his instrumentals for Tesfaye, who freestyle rapped over it, although Tesfaye’s early work does not feature much rap. This led to the two collaborating on an album.
Rose produced three songs – “What You Need”, “Loft Music”, and “The Morning” – and others that Tesfaye had sung on, which were ultimately scrapped. Rose let Tesfaye keep the tracks he had produced under the condition that Rose would be credited for them.
In December 2010, Tesfaye uploaded “What You Need”, “Loft Music” and “The Morning” to YouTube under the username “xoxxxoooxo”.
The songs drew some attention online, and were later included in a blog post from rapper Drake.
The songs subsequently received coverage from various media outlets, including Pitchfork and The New York Times.
On October 18, Tesfaye announced that his upcoming tour, originally titled The After Hours Tour, will be held entirely in stadiums due to arena constraints and is now scheduled to commence in the summer of 2022. The tour was renamed as the After Hours til Dawn Stadium Tour, and will incorporate elements from his fourth and fifth studio albums.
On October 22, Tesfaye appeared on Swedish House Mafia’s single “Moth to a Flame” from their studio album Paradise Again.[218] On November 5, he appeared on Post Malone’s single “One Right Now” from his fourth studio album Twelve Carat Toothache.
On November 11, he was featured on Rosalía’s single “La Fama” from her third studio album Motomami.
On December 16, Tesfaye was featured on FKA Twigs’ single “Tears in the Club” from her debut mixtape Caprisongs.
Tesfaye released his fifth studio album Dawn FM on January 7, 2022. Upon release, the album debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 with 148,000 units, marking Tesfaye’s eighth top ten entry and his second non-consecutive album to debut at number two.
He also broke the record for the most simultaneous entries for a male soloist on the Billboard Global 200, with twenty-four songs on the chart.
Acting Career: On August 30, 2019, during the Telluride Film Festival, he made his acting debut in the film Uncut Gems.
On March 7, 2020, during his third appearance as a musical guest on Saturday Night Live, he starred in the skit “On The Couch” with actors Kenan Thompson and Chris Redd.
On May 4, he co-wrote and starred in an episode of American Dad!. In July, he voiced three characters during the 200th episode of Robot Chicken.
Other Ventures:
In 2016, Tesfaye announced a partnership with sportswear brand Puma, as a global brand ambassador, for the company’s “Run the Streets” campaign. It was launched in early November, with the final collection made available to coincide with the release of his album Starboy.
He also hosted several pop-up retail stores for the “Starboy: Limited Capsule” collection, which were available across North America, including New York City, Los Angeles, and Toronto. With this partnership, Tesfaye also released three capsule collections named PUMA X XO including T-shirts, caps, sweatpants, bomber jackets and a pair of shoes called the Parallels.
Personal Life:
Tesfaye began dating American model Bella Hadid in early 2015. The couple were first seen together in April at Coachella, and Hadid starred in his music video for “In the Night” a few months later.
They made their red carpet debut as a couple at the 58th Annual Grammy Awards. In November 2016, the couple broke up due to their conflicting schedules.
In January 2017, Tesfaye entered a relationship with American singer-actress Selena Gomez. They moved in together temporarily later on in September but broke up a month later. Tesfaye and Hadid got back together in May 2018 and split once again in August 2019.
Studio Albums:
Kiss Land (2013)
Beauty Behind the Madness (2015)
Starboy (2016)
After Hours (2020)
Dawn FM (2022)
Awards:
Tesfaye has won three Grammy Awards, nineteen Billboard Music Awards, six American Music Awards, two MTV Video Music Awards, and fifteen Juno Awards.
He has also received nominations for an Academy Award, a Latin Grammy Award, and a Primetime Emmy Award.
In October 2014, Tesfaye was awarded the Allan Slaight Honour by Canada’s Walk of Fame for “making a positive impact in the fields of music, film, literature, visual or performing arts, sports, innovation or philanthropy”.
In 2021, the Mayor of Toronto John Tory announced that the city will observe February 7 as “The Weeknd Day” to commemorate Tesfaye’s Super Bowl halftime performance.
