PEOPLE WORTH KNOWING
Abel Makkonen Tesfaye, known to the world as The Weeknd, was born on February 16, 1990, in Toronto, Ontario, to Ethiopian immigrant parents. He emerged from anonymity in 2011 by uploading three mixtapes — collected as Trilogy — to YouTube under a veil of mystery, his face hidden and his identity unknown. The music was dark, sensual, and unlike anything else in R&B at the time, drawing immediate comparisons to Michael Jackson while charting entirely new sonic territory. By the time he released his major-label debut Kiss Land (2013), The Weeknd had already become one of the most talked-about new artists in the world.
His commercial breakthrough arrived with Beauty Behind the Madness (2015), which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, produced the era-defining hits "Can't Feel My Face" and "The Hills," and won him two Grammy Awards including Best Urban Contemporary Album. Starboy (2016), featuring Daft Punk, debuted at No. 1 in multiple countries. After Hours (2020) delivered his signature moment — the haunting, maximalist "Blinding Lights," which became the longest-charting song in Hot 100 history, spending 57 weeks in the top 10. The song has since surpassed 4 billion streams on Spotify.
The Weeknd's Super Bowl LV halftime show in 2021 was a landmark television moment watched by over 96 million viewers. Dawn FM (2022) demonstrated his relentless push toward multimedia and conceptual artistry. His collaboration with Swedish House Mafia on "Moth to a Flame" and work with artists ranging from Ariana Grande to Future illustrated his genre-spanning appeal. Despite nine Grammy nominations, his well-documented boycott of the Recording Academy following the snubbing of After Hours made international headlines and sparked an industry-wide conversation about eligibility rules.
In 2025, The Weeknd released Hurry Up Tomorrow, the final installment of his trilogy. The accompanying film of the same name, in which he stars alongside Jenna Ortega and Barry Keoghan, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival to critical acclaim. The album debuted at No. 1 in over 25 countries. With a world tour announced and a new creative chapter beginning, Abel Tesfaye continues to reinvent himself with the confidence of an artist who has already conquered everything once.
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