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The Weeknd Bio

Toronto-native and Abel Tesfaye, otherwise known as The Weeknd, has been building a name for himself in the R&B world as a singer, rapper and producer and the 22-year-old musician has been heralded by music critics and fans everywhere as a rising star to watch. Find out more in his Kidzworld Bio!

The Weeknd has a new album out in November
Courtesy of XO

The Weeknd has sold out shows across North America

Fellow Toronto-native Drake is a big Weeknd fan

Online to Onstage

Born on February 16^th, 1990, 22-year-old Canadian musician Abel Tesfaye is of Ehtiopian descent but grew up in Toronto, Ontario. He first began recording songs with his friend Jeremy Rose and uploading them to YouTube under the name The Weekend, but after he went solo he decided to drop that extra “e” and perform as The Weeknd, initially keeping his identity a secret and allowing fans online to judge the quality of his music themselves.

House of Balloons

In March 2011 The Weeknd released a 9 track free album online called House of Balloons that blew music critics and fans away! Using classic songs like Siouxsie and the Banshees “Happy House” as a starting point The Weeknd would layer his own lyrics and sounds on top of the tracks, creating a wholly new and unique sound, according to tastemaker Pitchfork:

"all the thematic and sonic pieces fit together - these weird, morning-after tales of lust, hurt, and over-indulgence ... are matched by this incredibly lush, downcast music.

That wasn’t the only praise he received, The Weeknd was championed by established artist and fellow Torontonian rapper Drake, who publicly stated how much he loved The Weeknd’s sound, and helped raise awareness about the under-hyped artist.

Thursday to Trilogy

The Weeknd started to sell out shows in venues across North America, but that didn’t stop him from putting out a mixtape Thursday and another album Echoes of Silence in 2011, and has plans to release yet another album in November of 2012 called Trilogy.

Despite becoming a recognizable name he remains somewhat elusive, The Weeknd mostly interacts with fans and artists via Twitter, and regularly refuses to do interviews.