Weeknd - Biography
The Weeknd is a Canadian musician, rapper, producer, and songwriter who initially rose to fame as an anonymous YouTube artist. He's known for hit singles like "Starboy" and "I Feel It Coming." A two-time Grammy winner and Oscar nominee. Since 2017, he's topped Forbes' list of the 30 highest-paid musicians under 30, earning over $90 million annually.
Childhood and youth
The musician's real name is Abel Makkonen Tesfaye. He was born and raised in Toronto. A third of the city's population at that time consisted of immigrants, including his parents - Makkonen and Samra Tesfaye. In the late 1980s, they moved to Toronto from civil war-torn Ethiopia.
Growing up in the inner city, the future musician started smoking weed at 11 and got into stealing. By 17, he was completely out of control and hooked on harder drugs.

Career
From early childhood, the future singer was inspired by Prince and R. Kelly, with Michael Jackson as his idol. As a teenager, Abel dreamed of becoming a famous performer but had no idea how to make it happen. He tried creating bands and writing music and lyrics, but all his attempts seemed to fade against the massive success of Justin Bieber and other pop stars dominating the charts.
Together with Jeremy, Abel recorded three tracks. Rose's instrumentals perfectly complemented Abel's clean, melodic vocals. In 2010, the project was named "The Weeknd." Abel chose this pseudonym to commemorate the period when he started living alone and left school. As the musician explained, he "left home at the weekend and didn't come back." The singer deliberately omitted a letter in his pseudonym in order to avoid litigation with the Canadian band The Weekend.
The collaboration with Rose looked promising at first, but eventually they hit a conflict of interest. In December 2010, Abel cut ties with the producer. Then he posted the tracks What You Need, Loft Music, and The Morning on Youtube. One of his songs caught the attention of the already-established Drake.



The legendary album Starboy dropped in fall 2016. The musician created a short film directed by Grant Singer to support the record. Fans had explosive reactions not only to the new music but also to the singer's dramatic image change — Abel cut off his signature dreadlocks.


Private life
The singer's private life is a hot topic on social media, with fans just as fascinated by his love life as his meteoric career. It's no surprise considering he's been linked to two of the world's most desirable women — an American top model Bella Hadid and a popular singer and actress Selena Gomez.Abel met Bella in 2015 at Coachella, the trendy festival that draws celebrities from around the world every year. The Weeknd was deeply impressed by her pure beauty and offered the girl to take part in his video for the track In The Night. The collaboration worked its magic, and the two started dating.



Still, they've remained on friendly terms, staying in touch through calls and social media. Based on Instagram photos, Abel attended Bella's 23rd birthday celebration. After releasing his album After Hours, fans speculated that the track "Heartless" was about Hadid, suggesting the singer was trying to rekindle old feelings.
The Weeknd now
In March 2020, The Weeknd dropped his fourth album After Hours, which immediately shot to the top of global charts just like his previous releases. Most tracks dive into his past — exploring what might have been if he'd become a different person and fixed the mistakes of his youth.The singer regularly donates to organizations that promote and preserve Ge'ez, the traditional language of Ethiopia's native population. Abel also champions the fight against Black community discrimination and even cut ties with a major global clothing brand over a racist photo they posted on their website.Today, The Weeknd has nearly achieved his ambitious goal of becoming music's new king — his earnings reach tens of millions of dollars. In 2017 the singer topped the Forbes "thirty" in the rating of sports and show business stars under 30 years old.