The Weeknd

The Weeknd is the stage name of Abel Tesfaye who was born on the 16th of February, 1990 in Scarborough, Ontario. In his childhood, he liked to listen to music of different genres, from soul to funk and post-punk.

The story of why he chose the stage name under that he performs now is also very interesting. As he himself says: “When I was 17, I simply went away from home with some of my friends on weekend. I never came back”. He had to use “The Weeknd” instead of “The Weekend” since the name was already used by a Canadian band.

In the beginning of his career, he performed in different clubs, on streets and online. Tesfaye’s first mixtape entitled “House of Balloons” was presented to the public in 2011. The same year, he presented the albums “Thursday” and “Echoes of Silence” that included songs written by him during the years before he started to work in collaboration with Rolling Stone, New Your Times and other big publishing houses. All 3 albums gained recognition on the part of both public and critics.

In 2012, he took part in the Coachella Music festival and released the album “Trilogy” that included his best songs. Sometime later, he presented a couple of new songs under his own label named XO. His official debut album was released in 2013. The singles “Kiss Land”, “Live For” and “Belong to the World” became the most popular singles from the album. The first two songs were created in collaboration with Drake. “Kiss Land” became the song №2 in Billboard Hot 200 music chart. Tesfaye says that “Kiss Land” song is the description of the world he created in his head. This single turned out to be commercial as well as critical success.

In 2014, The Weeknd went on “King of the Fall” tour together with SchoolBoy and Jhene Aiko. Before the tour, he presented to the public a number of his new songs. 2014 was also the year when the songs “Earned It” and “Love Me Harder” were released. Both the songs were included in the official soundtrack of the controversial “Fifty Shades of Grey” movie. “Love Me Harder” is the song written in collaboration with Ariana Grande. It became the song №7 position on Billboard Hot chart while his own single “Earned It” became the song №3 in the same chart.

The next year, two new singles from his album entitled “Beauty Behind the Madness” were presented to the public. “The Hills” as well as “Can’t Feel My Face” singles turned out to be the top songs on the Hot 100 chart. The album itself was no less successful. One of the most successful singles of 2016 was “Starboy” single that was created together with Daft Punk.