The Weeknd

In April 2020, Tesfaye relaunched his record label XO's popular line of non-medical cloth face masks in an effort to raise money for MusiCares Coronavirus Relief Fund, which is a campaign launched by the Grammys to help musicians affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. It was announced that 100% of the proceeds from the sale of the masks will be donated to the relief fund.

In January 2019, French producer Gesaffelstein (who previously worked with Tesfaye on My Dear Melancholy,) began teasing a new collaboration. On January 11, 2019, Tesfaye and Gesaffelstein released "Lost in the Fire", the second single off the latter's second studio album, Hyperion. On April 18, 2019, Tesfaye released "Power Is Power" alongside SZA and Travis Scott, a song part of a series of music inspired by the television show Game of Thrones, of which Tesfaye himself is a fan. On May 5, Tesfaye, SZA and Travis Scott released the music video for their Game of Thrones-inspired track. On August 30, 2019, during the Telluride Film Festival, Tesfaye made his debut cinematic appearance in the film Uncut Gems.

On November 24, 2019, "Blinding Lights", the expected lead single of his fourth album, was announced via a Mercedes-Benz commercial on German television. The next day, footage of its music video being shot in Fremont Street, Las Vegas surfaced. News outlets then began reporting that Tesfaye would follow up "Blinding Lights" with another single titled "Heartless". After having covered the aforementioned singles on November 25, 2019, the following day, news outlets reported that Tesfaye had registered a song titled "Like Selena", which was reported to have been possibly named after the singer's ex-girlfriend Selena Gomez. In promotion of the upcoming album, episode seven of The Weeknd's Memento Mori Beats 1 radio show was released on November 27, 2019. The single "Heartless" went on to debut at number 32 on the Billboard Hot 100 and later became his fourth number one single on the chart, the following week. With "Blinding Lights" debuting at number 11 on the chart when the aforementioned single topped the chart, and then reaching the top ten on the issue dated February 29, 2020. Tesfaye revealed the album's title, After Hours, and release date, March 20, 2020, on February 19, 2020, and released the album's title track as a promotional single simultaneously. Subsequently, the album was released on March 20, 2020, containing the singles "Heartless", "Blinding Lights" and "In Your Eyes". Shortly after the album release, on March 29, 2020, Tesfaye announced the release of three more previously unreleased songs: "Nothing Compares", "Missed You" and "Final Lullaby". After Hours had a second consecutive week at No. 1 on the Hot 100 Songwriters chart (April 2020), due to five entries on the latest Billboard Hot 100 (singles), all of which he co-wrote and co-produced. In April 2020, Tesfaye announced he would be co-writing and starring in an upcoming episode of American Dad!, which later premiered on May 4, 2020.

In April 2019, Tesfaye bought ownership in esports company OverActive Media Group, the owners of Splyce and Overwatch League team Toronto Defiant, and will serve as the company's global ambassador.

In April 2019, Tesfaye was sued by British trio William Smith, Brian Clover and Scott McCulloh for stealing their song "I Need to Love" that they had tried to sell to a number of artists in 2004 and 2005 to create his song "A Lonely Night". Smith, Clover, and McCulloh sought $150,000 from Tesfaye and Ahmed Balshe in lieu of copyright infringement. In November 2019, Tesfaye attempted to get the song-theft lawsuit dismissed which was denied by Judge Percy Anderson.

On January 31, 2018, Top Dawg Entertainment revealed the full tracklist of the Kendrick Lamar-curated Black Panther soundtrack album with Tesfaye featured on one of the tracks, "Pray for Me". On February 2, 2018, it was released as the soundtrack's third single. This marks the second collaboration between Tesfaye and Lamar, after the song "Sidewalks" on the Starboy album.

On March 27, 2018, Tesfaye began publicity for a new official release in an Instagram post. On March 29, 2018, a billboard appeared in London, England promoting a possible album titled My Dear Melancholy, and on the same day the project was officially announced. On March 30, 2018, the extended play My Dear Melancholy, was released. On June 6, 2018, The Weeknd announced his new Beats 1 radio show Memento Mori, which's first episode was released two days later. Later in the year, on November 21, 2018, the compilation album The Weeknd in Japan was released and served as his first greatest hits album.

In October 2017, Tesfaye began marketing and promotion on a partnership with Marvel on Instagram. A week later, he attended New York Comic-Con and it was revealed that a Starboy comic book would be released on June 13, 2018, with the title character being a superhero modelled after himself. In August 2018, XO released a collection of apparel in collaboration with A Bathing Ape. They released another collection in January 2020.

In 2017, Tesfaye appeared on Future's sixth studio album, as well as on the debut single from Nav, who was signed by XO in January. He became the first feature utilized by Lana Del Rey, appearing on "Lust for Life", the title track and second single from her fifth studio album. He was featured on French Montana's "A Lie", the third single from his second album Jungle Rules and on Cashmere Cat's debut single "Wild Love" from his album 9. He appeared on the Virgil Abloh-directed music video for Lil Uzi Vert's "XO Tour Llif3" alongside XO signee Nav. He was later featured on Lil Uzi Vert's debut album and Gucci Mane's eleventh studio album Mr. Davis. He gained a Grammy nomination for Best Urban Contemporary Album at the 60th Annual Grammy Awards for Starboy and ended up winning the award.

Tesfaye has also begun his own XO branded merchandise, which was furthered by a collaboration with H&M to present its Spring 2017 campaign. The campaign would feature new collaborative pieces developed with the singer's brand, and was released on March 2, 2017. Tesfaye collaborated with H&M again for a fall collection, however, after an incident which he described as "deeply offensive" in 2018, he cut ties with the company. In May 2017, Tesfaye had a limited edition pop up sale for the "Starboy 2017 Limited Capsule Collection". The collections were available in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Miami Beach, Houston, Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver. Tesfaye has collaborated with artists and designers such as Kidult, Alexander Wang and Futura for small-lived and sometimes exclusive capsule collections.

In June 2017, Tesfaye donated $100,000 to the Suubi Health Center, a maternity and children's medical facility in Budondo, Uganda. Tesfaye was inspired to support the center after learning of his friend French Montana's work with Global Citizen and Mama Hope to help raise awareness for Suubi and the people of Uganda.

In 2016, Tesfaye announced a partnership with Puma, as a Global Brand ambassador, for the company's "Run the Streets" campaign. It was launched in early November, with the final collection made available to coincide with the release of his album Starboy. He also hosted several pop-up retail stores for the "Starboy: Limited Capsule" collection, which were available across North America, including New York City, Los Angeles, and Toronto. With this partnership, Tesfaye also released three capsule collections named PUMA X XO including T-shirts, caps, sweatpants, bomber jackets and a pair of shoes called the Parallels.

Tesfaye began dating model Bella Hadid at the beginning of 2015; the couple were first seen together in May at Coachella. Hadid later starred in his music video "In the Night" in December. They also made a red carpet appearance as a couple at the 2016 Grammy Awards. On November 11, 2016, it was reported that the couple had split; citing their conflicting schedules as the rationale for the relationship's termination. Tesfaye reportedly started dating Selena Gomez in January 2017 and they moved in together temporarily in September 2017 in Greenwich Village, New York. They broke up in October 2017. By May 2018, Tesfaye and Hadid began dating again, before splitting again in 2019.

In his leisure time, he enjoys watching television and is an avid video game fan. In the context of media outlets reporting cases of police brutality, in 2016, he expressed disdain, tweeting "blue lives murder". In May 2016, Tesfaye and Belly cancelled an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! due to Donald Trump being present.

In May 2016 Tesfaye has also donated $50,000 for the St. Mary Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church in Toronto, Canada. In August 2016, Tesfaye also donated $250,000 to Black Lives Matter. In December 2015, he worked with Ryan Seacrest's foundation to visit Children's Hospital in Atlanta.

After Tesfaye won the Centric Award at the 2015 BET Awards, he performed "Earned It" with Alicia Keys, as well as debuting the song "The Hills". "The Hills" was later released for digital download, and debuted at number twenty on the Billboard Hot 100. The single later went on to top the chart, marking Tesfaye's first number-one single. The single was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).

On June 8, "Can't Feel My Face", a previously leaked track, was released as the album's third single, following its performance at the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference. The song debuted at number twenty-four on the Billboard Hot 100, and reached number-one on the Hot 100, making it his third top 10 hit, and his second number-one hit in the United States. He occupied all three slots on Billboard's Hot R&B Songs chart simultaneously with the aforementioned singles, becoming the first artist in history to accomplish this. He headlined FVDED in the Park, a festival in Surrey, British Columbia. Tesfaye was unveiled as one of the musical faces of the streaming service Apple Music, a position he harbored with frequent collaborator Drake. During the 2015 MTV Video Music Awards, Apple debuted a two-part promotional commercial featuring Tesfaye, which had a guest appearance from John Travolta. It was revealed that his second studio album would be titled Beauty Behind the Madness.

Beauty Behind the Madness was released on August 28, 2015, and debuted atop the Billboard 200, earning 412,000 album equivalent units in its first week. It reached the top 10 in over ten countries, as well as reaching number one in Canada, Australia, Norway, and the United Kingdom. The album was promoted by Tesfaye headlining various summer music festivals, including Lollapalooza, the Hard Summer Music Festival, and the Bumbershoot Festival. He announced his first large-scale tour across the United States, which began in November, and concluded in December. The album went double platinum in the US, and sold 1.5 million copies worldwide. It was reported to be the most-streamed album throughout 2015, with over 60 million, as well as being ranked on multiple lists concerned with detailing albums of the year.

In November 2015, to further promote Beauty Behind the Madness, Tesfaye collaborated with Pax Labs to release a limited edition version of the PAX 2 vaporizer, an electronic cigarette that could be used in shows during The Madness Fall Tour. The e-cigarette featured the "xo" branding on the front, as well as having the ability to play "The Hills" when turned on. With the original PAX 2 priced at $279.99, the limited edition e-cigarette cost $324.99. PAX also acted as an official sponsor for the tour, presenting special backstage VIP activations for fans who bought packages that included the e-cigarette. PAX Labs chief marketing officer Richard Mumby stated "Music and fashion have always been a natural fit for Pax...This was the perfect opportunity to bring together The Weeknd's style with our technology."

In January 2015, Tesfaye was arrested for punching a Las Vegas police officer. Tesfaye pleaded no contest, and was sentenced to 50 hours of community service.

In December 2015, Tesfaye was sued by Cutting Edge Music, who alleged that the bass line for "The Hills" had been taken from a composition featured in the score for The Machine. In September 2018, Tesfaye and Daft Punk were sued for allegedly stealing the rhythm from a self-described poet, singer and songwriter named Yasminah. Tesfaye has denied these allegations.

Tesfaye was raised by his grandmother and mother after his parents split up. While living with his grandmother Tesfaye learned Amharic, which he also spoke with his mother, and attended Ethiopian Orthodox church services. When asked about his father in an interview, Tesfaye stated: "I saw him vaguely when I was six, and then again when I was 11 or 12, and he had a new family and kids. I don't even know where he lived — I'd see him for, like, a night. I'm sure he's a great guy. I never judged him. He wasn't abusive, he wasn't an alcoholic, he wasn't an asshole. He just wasn't there."

In 2014, Tesfaye remixed "Drunk in Love", a single by Beyoncé from her eponymous studio album. Retaining the theme and concept of the song, he detailed the synopsis through the perspective of a male. The remix was well-received, and came days prior to the announcement of Tesfaye's first headlining tour, entitled the King of the Fall tour. The tour was held across the United States in September and October, and saw Schoolboy Q and Jhené Aiko as supporting acts. This oversaw his release of the single "Often", leading to speculation it was the first single from his second studio album. He later collaborated with Ariana Grande on a duet titled "Love Me Harder", which peaked at number seven on the Billboard Hot 100. Days later, he released "Earned It", a single from Fifty Shades of Grey (2015). This marked his second contribution to a movie, and peaked at number three on the Billboard Hot 100.

Tesfaye has helped broaden R&B's musical palette to incorporate indie and electronic styles; his work has been categorized with the alternative R&B tag. Mistry writes that he "will be obsequiously praised as the future of R&B music—because [he] is a black singer, not because he's making quantifiable, canonical R&B". AllMusic's Andy Kellman categorizes him as an "alternative R&B act". While promoting his third album Starboy, Tesfaye also revealed Lana Del Rey, David Bowie, The Smiths, Bad Brains, Talking Heads, DeBarge, 50 Cent, the Wu-Tang Clan, and Eminem as influences.

Prior to being presented a Bikila Award for Professional Excellence in 2014, Tesfaye donated $50,000 towards a class at the University of Toronto on Ge'ez, the classic language of Ethiopia. In August 2016 he continued donations to the University of Toronto, in the creation of a new Ethiopic Studies program.

On May 16, 2013, Tesfaye premiered the title track to his debut studio album Kiss Land, and announced the album's release date as September 10. The album was later promoted by the singles "Belong to the World" and "Live For" featuring Drake, as well as with Tesfaye embarking on The Fall tour a week prior to the album's release. Upon release, Kiss Land debuted at number two on the U.S. Billboard 200, selling 96,000 copies. It was later confirmed to have sold over 273,000 copies in the United States, as well as receiving generally positive reviews from music critics.

Tesfaye appeared on the 20/20 Experience World Tour, joining headline act Justin Timberlake for six shows. This was three weeks prior to his contributions to the soundtrack for The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013), contributing "Devil May Cry", as well as featuring on Sia's "Elastic Heart". The latter proved to be the second lead single from the soundtrack.

During the American leg of his Fall tour promoting Kiss Land, Tesfaye collaborated with condom-producing company ONE to give away limited-edition condoms at his shows. They featured the visual identity of the new album with Oxcy – the album's mascot – printed on one side.

Tesfaye often used drugs to help get over writer's block on earlier albums and also abused illegal substances such as "... Ketamine, cocaine, MDMA, mushrooms and cough syrup". Speaking in December 2013, Tesfaye said that drugs were a "crutch" for him when it came to writing music. On social media he typically suffixed his first name with "xo". According to writer Hermione Hoby, it is meant as an emoticon for "a kiss and a hug", while VH1's Zara Golden's stated that it is a reference to his recreational use of ecstasy and oxycodone. He later altered the handles on his social media to reflect his stage name in preparation for the release of Starboy.

In 2012, The Weeknd signed with Republic Records, and re-released the mixtapes as part of the compilation album Trilogy (2012). His debut studio album, Kiss Land, was released in 2013. He followed the album with Beauty Behind the Madness (2015), which was among the best-selling albums of 2015. Containing 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, while it also won Best Urban Contemporary Album at the 2018 Grammy Awards. His fourth album, After Hours (2020), featured the number-one singles "Heartless" and "Blinding Lights".

In April 2012, Tesfaye began his first tour of the United States, with a performance at the Coachella Festival. The tour culminated in New York with back-to-back sold-out shows, which were positively reviewed by Rolling Stone. Tesfaye expanded his tour to accompany Europe, performing at various European festivals, including the Primavera Sound Festivals in Spain and Portugal, and the Wireless Festival in London. Covering "Dirty Diana" at his performance in London, he received positive responses from both Katy Perry and Florence Welch, who noted the singer's ability to successfully undertake a complex song. In June, the Balloons Trilogy was revealed to have been downloaded over 8 million times, which allowed Tesfaye to initiate formal commercial release of the projects later that year.

In September 2012, Tesfaye signed with Republic Records in a joint venture with his own imprint XO. The compilation album for the mixtapes entitled Trilogy, was released two months later, and consisted of several remastered versions of songs, as well as three additional ones. It also officially credited Rose as a producer and writer on the three songs from House of Balloons for which he did not initially receive credit. Trilogy charted at number four on the U.S. Billboard 200 with first-week sales of 86,000 copies. It also debuted at number five on the Canadian Albums Chart, with similar sales. Trilogy was later certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and double-platinum by Music Canada in May 2013. He had also gained a nomination for the Sound of 2013 poll award by the BBC a week later.

On March 21, 2011, Tesfaye self-released his debut mixtape House of Balloons. The mixtape included production from Canadian producers Illangelo and Doc McKinney, and included the tracks produced by Rose, although, he did not receive production credits. House of Balloons was met with critical acclaim. It was named as one of ten shortlisted nominees for the 2011 Polaris Music Prize.

Tesfaye began a tour of Toronto, with his first live performance at the city's Mod Club venue. Drake was in attendance to view the performance, which ran for a total of ninety minutes. Drake approached Tesfaye and described a potential musical collaboration between the pair. Tesfaye accompanied Drake at his various shows, often performing as the opening act for shows scheduled at the Molson Canadian Amphitheatre, as well as appearing at the second annual OVO Fest in July. Over the summer of 2011, Tesfaye contributed to four songs on Drake's Take Care, both as a writer and a featured artist.

Tesfaye refrained from participating in interviews, choosing to communicate via Twitter, after the album was released. This was credited as an advertising tactic for Tesfayes second mixtape Thursday, which was released on August 18, 2011. Tesfaye's third mixtape Echoes of Silence was released on December 21, 2011, a year after his debut singles.

Tesfaye's hairstyle has been claimed to be partly inspired by Jean-Michel Basquiat and has been described as his most recognizable trait. In an interview, he detailed that he began growing it out in 2011, and remarked at the easiness in maintaining it, with "a hard shampoo every once in a while". He eventually cut his hair in 2016 prior to the release of Starboy.

Tesfaye met Jeremy Rose in 2010, a producer who had an idea for a dark R&B musical project. After initially trying to pitch the idea to musician Curtis Santiago, Rose played one of his instrumentals for Tesfaye, who freestyle rapped over it. This led to the two collaborating on an album. Rose produced three songs – "What You Need", "Loft Music", and "The Morning" – and others that Tesfaye had rapped on, which were ultimately scrapped. Rose let Tesfaye keep the tracks he had produced under the condition that he would ultimately be credited for them. In December 2010, Tesfaye uploaded "What You Need", "Loft Music" and "The Morning" to YouTube under his stage name, although his identity was initially unknown. The songs drew some attention online, and were later included in a blog post from Drake. The songs subsequently received coverage from various media outlets, including Pitchfork and The New York Times. Before adopting the stage name "The Weeknd", he worked under the aliases of "The Noise" and "Kin Kane".

Tesfaye attended West Hill Collegiate Institute and Birchmount Park Collegiate Institute in Scarborough, from which he did not graduate, leaving altogether in 2007, after which he also left home. Tesfaye moved to the Parkdale neighborhood of Toronto. Tesfaye has credited his stage name as being inspired by his high school dropout status, claiming "after [he] left one weekend and never came home", though producer Jeremy Rose claims the name was his idea. The spelling was modified in order to avoid trademark issues with the Canadian band The Weekend.

Abel Makkonen Tesfaye (born February 16, 1990), known professionally as The Weeknd, is a Canadian singer, songwriter, and record producer. He 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.

Abel Makkonen Tesfaye was born on February 16, 1990 in Toronto, Ontario, and was raised in Scarborough. He is the only child of Makkonen and Samra Tesfaye, who were Ethiopian immigrants to Canada in the late 1980s.