The Weeknd

Known as The Weeknd, Canadian singer Abel Tesfaye was born in Toronto's Scarborough neighborhood on February 16, 1990, of Ethiopian parents. First noticed for his anonymous YouTube videos in 2010, the Drake protégé released three mixtapes the following year: House of Balloons, Thursday and Echoes of Silence. The reworked songs form the basis of the Trilogy album, released in 2012. Ranked No. 4 on the Billboard 200 and certified platinum, the compilation earned him the title of Revelation of the Year at the Juno Awards. The darker Kiss Land album, which followed at #2 in 2013, was made up of original songs and included a duet with Drake on "Live For". Also a songwriter for Wiz Khalifa ("Remember You") and Juicy J ("One of Those Nights"), The Weeknd continued his ascent with Beauty behind the Madness (2015), his first album to reach No. 1 in several countries, following individual hits with the singles "Often", "The Hills", "Earned It", "Can't Feel My Face", and his duet with Ariana Grande on "Love Me Harder". This success is accompanied by two Grammy Awards, in the category of Urban Album of the Year and R&B Song of the Year for "Earned It" . Further collaborations followed with Kanye West, Future and Beyoncé, before the release of the Daft Punk-produced track "Starboy ", the first single from the album of the same name, which reached number one at the end of 2016. In addition to the other collaboration with the French duo, "I Feel It Coming", Starboy welcomes performances with Kendrick Lamar, Lana Del Rey and Future. The My Dear Melancholy EP released in 2018 reaches the top of the Billboard charts, sees The Weeknd working with another French DJ, Gesaffelstein. The track "Call Out My Name", taken from it, is followed by the singles "Heartless" (#1) and "Blinding Lights" (#2), heralding the release of the fourth album After Hours (#1 in 2020). Just two years later, he returned with the album Dawn FM (#2), represented by the single "Sacrifice " and featuring Tyler, the Creator and Lil Wayne. In 2023, he delivers his first live album, Live at SoFi Stadium, then unveils a series of EPs called Idol, Vol. 1-5 (Music from the HBO Original Series), in support of Idol, the TV series he created and in which he appears. The R&B star then set to work on his fifth album, Hurry Up Tomorrow (2025), preceded by the release of the singles "Timeless" with Playboi Carti (No. 3), "São Paulo" with Brazilian singer Anitta and "Wake Me Up" with electro duo Justice. The Mike Dean-produced project also features Lana Del Rey, Travis Scott with Florence + the Machine, Future, Swedish House Mafia and veteran producer Giorgio Moroder. It inevitably tops the R&B/hip-hop charts in some 20 countries, including the U.S. and the U.K.