Born on February 16 of the year 1990 in Toronto, Ontario Abel Makkonen Tesfaye was born to Ethiopian immigrants; Makkonen Tesfaye and Samrawit Hailu. It is said that both his mother and grandmother raised Tesfaye and Tesfaye himself would later state in an interview with Rolling Stone in 2015 that the topic eventually landed on his father Tesfaye stated “ I never judged him. He wasn’t abusive, he wasn’t an alcoholic. He just wasn’t there.”. When Tesfaye turned 17 he decided to drop out of school and shortly moved in with his two best friends one of whom is now “La Mar Taylor” a creative director. During this part of his life, he would consume drugs, and illegal substances as well would often drink which would later have had him end up homeless and living in his car until Tesfaye decided to better his life.
In 2009, Tesfaye would release YouTube videos anonymously of his singing. The following year in 2010 Tesfaye met Jeremy Rose a producer who would later produce the songs titled “What You Need”, “Loft Music”, and “The Party & The After Party” the same year in December Tesfaye would release more songs named that included “The Morning” and songs that are now deleted due to being scraps, Tesfaye would upload to YouTube under the name “xoxxxoooxo” and while Tesfaye was still very unknown by anyone these songs ended up becoming popular which eventually led to the rapper “Drake” posting one of Tesfaye’s songs on what at the time was a popular blog.
Tesfaye was also known as “The Noise” and “Kin Kane”. Tesfaye’s current stage name was a tribute to when he had left “a weekend and never came back”. Rose claims the name was his idea because he wanted to avoid copyright since there was a pop band with the name “The Weekend” which led to him taking the last ‘e’ out of the name. It is said the first song Tesfaye released under the name “The Weeknd” was a song titled “Do It”.
In 2011, Tesfaye met with music executives Wassim “Sal” Slaiby and Amir “Cash” Esmailian in March of that same year, Tesfaye soon released a mixtape titled “House of Balloons”. The title came from when Tesfaye would once throw house parties in his grandma’s house. He would use big amounts of balloons as decorations due to the house lacking decor. “House of Balloons” was also one of the ten nominees for the “2011 Polaris Music Prize”, later on in the year on August 18, Tesfaye released another mixtape titled “Thursday” which was given positive reviews on the songs. “Echoes of Silence” was soon released on December 21 and was a nominee for the “2012 Polaris Music Prize”
Shortly a performance with rapper “Drake” at the “OVO Festival” is what led Tesfaye’s fame to skyrocket. Tesfaye later on would release songs with “Drake” after the rapper released his album “Take Care” in which had a song with Tesfaye which was titled “Crew Love” a song that went viral all across fans for the unique beats and for Tesfaye’s voice who at the time wasn’t quite known. Eventually, Tesfaye would release his albums with different artists and would become popular and known.
Interviews with multiple students at PVHS have agreed that Tesfaye’s music is not like other artists and has made songs that they love and are always listening to. Students have stated that “He doesn’t make songs how everyone else does and we always like to listen to his music late at night because of the vibe he has and it makes the songs better” Tesfaye has come a long way with his music and now is the first artist in the world with over 100 millions of listeners and gaining more each day.
Although Tesfaye has made a huge career with The Weeknd nothing can last forever, in the year 2023 Tesfaye chose to bring the end of “The Weeknd” in the upcoming album that is yet to be released Tesfaye will no longer be using the name “The Weeknd” and fans all over are saddened with the news while others will continue supporting him “He is mostly likely just ending the toxic era that ‘The Weeknd’ had” is what Ari Gomez had stated in an interview. Tesfaye has yet to announce the actual date of the new album but fans are waiting each day for the day to come where “The Weeknd” will be no longer.
