The Weeknd

The Weeknd Bio

Abel Makkonen Tesfaye (born February 16, 1990), known professionally as the Weeknd, is a Canadian singer-songwriter, record producer, and actor. Emerging anonymously in late 2010, he gained international attention with three 2011 mixtapes, House of Balloons, Thursday, and Echoes of Silence, before compiling them into Trilogy (2012) and releasing his debut studio album Kiss Land (2013). His second and third studio albums, Beauty Behind the Madness (2015) and Starboy (2016), both debuted atop the US Billboard 200 and featured the chart-topping singles “Can’t Feel My Face,” “The Hills,” “Starboy,” and “Die for You.”

With his fourth studio album After Hours (2020), which included “Blinding Lights,” “Heartless,” and “Save Your Tears,” Tesfaye became one of the best-selling artists of his generation. He later completed the album trilogy with Dawn FM (2022) and Hurry Up Tomorrow (2025). He is also the co-founder of the XO record label and is recognized for his influence on contemporary popular music.

Early Life and Background

Abel Makkonen Tesfaye was born on February 16, 1990, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The only child of Ethiopian immigrants Makkonen Tesfaye and Samrawit Hailu, he was raised in the suburb of Scarborough by his mother and grandmother after his parents separated shortly after his birth. He is proficient in Amharic, the language he acquired from his grandmother, and is also fluent in French, having attended a French immersion school. He was further educated at West Hill Collegiate Institute and Birchmount Park Collegiate Institute.

At seventeen, Tesfaye dropped out of school and relocated to an apartment in the Parkdale neighborhood of Toronto with two friends, one of whom was La Mar Taylor, who would later become his creative director. During this period, he experienced homelessness and was incarcerated on several occasions, experiences he later said encouraged him to focus his life. Before adopting his current stage name, he performed under the alias “Kin Kane” as part of a hip-hop duo called Bulleez n Nerdz, and was also part of a production team called the Noise.

Path to Music

Tesfaye’s stage name originated from the weekend he left home as a teenager. He removed the final letter from “weekend” to avoid trademark issues with the Canadian band of the same name. In August 2009, he began anonymously releasing music on YouTube, and in December 2010, he uploaded “What You Need,” “Loft Music,” and “The Morning” under the username “xoxxxoooxo.” His identity remained undisclosed initially, although the songs quickly drew attention from outlets including Pitchfork and The New York Times, and were acknowledged in a blog post by the rapper Drake.

In 2011, Tesfaye met music executives Wassim “Sal” Slaiby and Amir “Cash” Esmailian, with whom, alongside Taylor, he founded the XO record label. His debut mixtape, House of Balloons, released on March 21, 2011, was named one of ten shortlisted nominees for the 2011 Polaris Music Prize. Following the success of his three 2011 mixtapes, Tesfaye signed with Republic Records, with XO functioning as a subsidiary label, setting the stage for his transition into the global mainstream.

The Weeknd Career

Early Career (2009–2014)

Following the release of his three mixtapes, Tesfaye compiled them with three additional tracks into the album Trilogy, released on November 13, 2012. The album debuted at number four on the US Billboard 200 and earned platinum certification from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and double-platinum from Music Canada. It also earned him a nomination for the Sound of 2013 poll award by BBC.

His debut studio album, Kiss Land, was released on May 17, 2013, debuting at number two on the Billboard 200. In December 2014, he released “Earned It” for the Fifty Shades of Grey soundtrack. The single peaked at number three on the Billboard Hot 100, earned his first and only Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song, and won Best R&B Performance at the 58th Annual Grammy Awards.

Breakthrough (2015–2020)

On August 28, 2015, Tesfaye released Beauty Behind the Madness, which debuted atop the Billboard 200 with 412,000 album-equivalent units and was certified double platinum in the United States. He made history as the first artist to occupy all three slots on Billboard’s Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart simultaneously. The album won Best Urban Contemporary Album at the 58th Annual Grammy Awards.

His third studio album, Starboy, was released on November 25, 2016, debuting at number one on the Billboard 200 with 348,000 units and earning triple platinum certification from the RIAA. It won Best Urban Contemporary Album at the 60th Annual Grammy Awards. On March 30, 2018, Tesfaye released his debut extended play, My Dear Melancholy, which debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 and featured the top-ten single “Call Out My Name.”

On March 20, 2020, Tesfaye released his fourth studio album, After Hours, which debuted atop the Billboard 200 with 444,000 units and became the most-streamed R&B album of all time. The album included the singles “Heartless,” “Blinding Lights,” and “Save Your Tears.” On February 7, 2021, he headlined the Super Bowl LV halftime show, becoming the first Canadian solo artist to do so.

Notable Works and Milestones

Among the Weeknd’s most recognized works are “Blinding Lights,” the best-performing song in the Billboard Hot 100’s history and the most-streamed song on Spotify, and the albums Beauty Behind the Madness, Starboy, and After Hours, all of which reached number one on the Billboard 200. As of December 30, 2025, he is the first artist on Spotify to have thirty songs with more than one billion streams each, and he holds the record for the highest-grossing tour by a male soloist in history with the After Hours til Dawn Tour (2022–2026).

The Weeknd Award Nominations

Throughout his career, Abel Makkonen Tesfaye has received multiple major nominations in music and film. He earned a nomination for Best Original Song at the Academy Awards for “Earned It” and three nominations at the 73rd Primetime Emmy Awards for his Super Bowl LV halftime show, including Outstanding Variety Special (Live). He has also received nominations at the Grammy Awards, Billboard Music Awards, American Music Awards, MTV Video Music Awards, Juno Awards, and Latin Grammy Awards, with a nomination for Best Urban Fusion/Performance at the 22nd Annual Latin Grammy Awards for the remix of Maluma’s “Hawái.”

The Weeknd Awards Won

The Weeknd is among the most awarded artists of his generation, with verified wins spanning every major music ceremony. He has won four Grammy Awards, twenty-two Juno Awards, twenty Billboard Music Awards, six American Music Awards, three MTV Video Music Awards, and a Latin Grammy Award. He was also named International Male Solo Artist at the Brit Awards in 2021.

The Weeknd Family

Abel Makkonen Tesfaye was born to Ethiopian immigrants Makkonen Tesfaye and Samrawit Hailu. His parents separated shortly after his birth, and he was raised in the suburb of Scarborough by his mother and his grandmother. He remains connected to his Ethiopian roots and, in 2016, he funded a new Ethiopian studies program at the University of Toronto and donated CA$50,000 to the University of Toronto to support a new course on Ge’ez, the classic language of Ethiopia.

Personal Life

Tesfaye has generally preferred to keep his personal life out of the public eye. From April 2015 to August 2019, he was in an on-again, off-again relationship with American model Bella Hadid. He dated American singer and actress Selena Gomez from January to October 2017. Since February 2022, he has been in a relationship with Saudi-born disc jockey Simi Khadra, a partnership that he has kept largely private. He is a cinephile and a longtime fan of 1980s music, influences that he frequently references in his work. As of recent reports, Tesfaye resides in Bel Air, Los Angeles, and in October 2025, purchased an estimated $54.9 million waterfront mansion in Coral Gables, Florida.