However, in December 2010, Tesfaye uploaded "What You Need", "Loft Music" and "The Morning" to YouTube under the name "The Weeknd", though his identity was initially unknown. Rose let Tesfaye keep the tracks he had produced under the condition that he would ultimately be credited for them. He produced three songs – "What You Need", "Loft Music", and "The Morning" – and others that Tesfaye rapped on, which Rose ultimately scrapped. After trying to pitch the idea to musician Curtis Santiago, Rose played one of his instrumentals for Tesfaye, who freestyled over it, and they began working on an album. Tesfaye met producer Jeremy Rose, who had an idea for a dark R&B musical project called "The Weeknd". The spelling was modified to avoid trademark issues with the Canadian band The Weekend.Ĭareer 2010–2011: Career beginnings and mixtapes
His stage name was inspired by his high school dropout status, adopting the name "The Weeknd" after he left one weekend and never came home", although producer Jeremy Rose claims the name was his own idea. He attended West Hill Collegiate Institute and Birchmount Park Collegiate Institute, but did not graduate from either of these high schools. Describing his teenage years as " KIDS without the AIDS", he would shoplift from the local supermarket with his high school friend, and began using MDMA, Xanax, cocaine, psilocybin and ketamine. He started smoking marijuana at age 11, and later moved on to hard drugs. She would also take him to services at an Ethiopian Orthodox church.Abel and his grand mother would listen to Ethiopian music which further influenced his mysterious and sexy type of music he puts out. This allowed him to become fluent in Amharic, with the Semitic language acting as his first language. His father later abandoned the family, prompting his maternal grandmother to take care for him. During his youth, his mother would work several jobs to support the family, often as a nurse and caterer, while also attending night school. He was raised in a multicultural neighbourhood in Scarborough. He is the only child of Makkonen and Samra Tesfaye, who were Ethiopian migrants to Canada in the 1980's.
In 2013, he released his debut studio album Kiss Land, which was supported by the singles " Kiss Land" and " Live For". It was released under Republic Records and his own label XO. The following year, he released a compilation album Trilogy, thirty tracks consisting of remastered versions of the mixtape material and three additional songs. In late 2010, Tesfaye anonymously uploaded several songs to YouTube under the name "The Weeknd." He released three nine-track mixtapes throughout 2011: House of Balloons, Thursday and Echoes of Silence, which were critically acclaimed.
Kanye West, Ariana Grande, Drake, Travis Scott Abel Makkonen Tesfaye (born 16 February 1990), known professionally by his stage name The Weeknd is a Canadian singer, songwriter and record producer.