Abel Makkonen Tesfaye (born February 16, 1990 in Scarborough, Ontario), popularly known as The Weeknd, is an R&B/pop/hip-hop singer-songwriter and record producer from Toronto, Canada. He has been referred to as the songbird of his generation and the best musical talent since Michael Jackson throughout his career.
The Weeknd gained widespread critical acclaim for his three mixtapes, House of Balloons, Thursday, and Echoes of Silence, which he later compiled to make a remastered, three-disc album titled Trilogy after signing his record deal with Republic. In 2013, he released Kiss Land, which was considered to be his debut studio album.
In 2014, he dropped “Often,” a remix of Beyonce’s “Drunk In Love,” and “King of the Fall.” The Weeknd released two songs in collaboration with the film Fifty Shades of Grey, with “Earned It” becoming his solo breakout hit.