Abel Makkonen Tesfaye (born February 16, 1990), known professionally as the Weeknd, is a Canadian singer, songwriter, and record producer.
Noted for his versatility in vocal style, music production, and eccentric presentation, the Weeknd is often cited as an influence to contemporary music, as well as by other artists.The Weeknd began his recording career in 2010, anonymously uploading several songs to YouTube. A year later, the Weeknd released the mixtapes House of Balloons, Thursday, and Echoes of Silence, and quickly earned a following and critical recognition from several mainstream publications due to his dark style of R&B and the mystique surrounding his identity. In 2012, he signed with Republic Records and re-released the mixtapes in the compilation album Trilogy (2012). His debut studio album, Kiss Land, was released in 2013. He followed it with Beauty Behind the Madness (2015), which was among the best-selling albums of 2015. With the Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles "Can't Feel My Face" and "The Hills", Beauty Behind the Madness won Best Urban Contemporary Album and was nominated for Album of the Year at the 2016 Grammy Awards.The Weeknd's third album Starboy (2016) was a similar commercial success and included the number-one single of the same name, and also won Best Urban Contemporary Album at the 2018 Grammy Awards. His fourth album, After Hours (2020), featured the Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles "Heartless" and "Blinding Lights", the latter of which has since become the first ever song to spend over a year in the top ten of the chart.Among the world's best-selling music artists with over 75 million records sold, the Weeknd has won three Grammy Awards, five American Music Awards, nine Billboard Music Awards, two MTV Video Music Awards, and nine Juno Awards, and has been nominated for an Academy Award. He holds several chart records, being the first artist to simultaneously hold the top three positions on the Billboard Hot R&B Songs chart with "Can't Feel My Face", "Earned It", and "The Hills". He was awarded the Allan Slaight Award by Canada's Walk of Fame.
