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Abbol Makkon Testify
Abel Makkonen Tesfaye[a] was born on February 16, 1990, in Toronto -
2009
In August 2009, Tesfaye began anonymously releasing music on YouTube.The following year, he met Jeremy Rose, a producer who had an idea for a dark contemporary R&B project. -
The name
Before adopting the stage name the Weeknd, Tesfaye released music under the aliases the Noise and Kin Kane.His current stage name was chosen in tribute to when he dropped out of school, took his mattress, "left one weekend and never came home." -
2011
In July 2011, Tesfaye held his first live performance at the Mod Club Theatre in Toronto.After the performance, Drake met with Tesfaye to discuss collaborations, which led to Tesfaye earning an appearance at his OVO Festival He also participated in concerts hosted by the Black Student Association at the University of Toronto. -
2012
Between January and March 2012, Tesfaye performed at several Ontario universities, including Waterloo's Laurier University, Hamilton's Mohawk College and McMaster University. In April, he began his first international tour; which included performances at Coachella,sold-out shows at such venues as the Bowery Ballroom in New York City, which were positively reviewed by Rolling Stone, and various European festivals. -
2012
On November 13, 2012, Tesfaye released Trilogy, a compilation album consisting of re-mixed and remastered versions of his 2011 mixtapes and three additional tracks. The album officially credited Rose as a producer and writer on the three songs from House of Balloons for which he did not initially receive credit -
2013
On May 17, 2013, Tesfaye released the title track to his debut studio album Kiss Land,[79] and announced the album's release date of September 10.[80] Upon release, the album debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 with 96,000 copies,[81] and received generally positive reviews from music critics