The Story of The Weeknd | Life Before Fame

Few have cultivated the career in catalogs such as pop superstar The Weeknd. From humble beginnings to today, where he's sitting on 81 awards, including AMAs, Billboards, Grammys, and two Guinness World Records, there's always been a near-mythical vibe surrounding The Weeknd. His own insecurities and shyness resulted in him being reserved to give up interviews during his initial come up. This mysteriousness only bolstered his image and brought more attention to his music, making him the songbird for a whole new generation. Want to learn more about the story of one of the music industry's biggest stars? Then stay tuned to The Famous Life. Abel Makonnen Tesfaye was born on February 16, 1990, in Toronto, Canada. His parents, Makonnen and Samra, came to Canada in the 80s from Ethiopia. His father abandoned the family when he was just two years old. Speaking with Rolling Stone, Abel revealed, 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. When Abel's mom wasn't at night school, she was working several jobs, including that of a nurse or doing catering. To help his mom's out with her busy schedule, Abel's grandmother helped raise him. His grandmother lived through Ethiopia's so-called Red Terror after Emperor Haile Selassie's Through his grandmother, a young Abel's first spoken language was Amharic. He was a lonely little kid, dreaming of having a brother, and attended an Ethiopian Orthodox church where he was first introduced to music. The next icon who would influence him greatly, and to this day, was none other than Michael Jackson. MJ had become somewhat of a hero to the people of Ethiopia through his song, We Are The World, a song dedicated to the nation. Abel cites Don't Stop Till You Get Enough as the song that helped him find his voice. In elementary school, Abel was in French immersion and spoke French all day, something other kids get made fun of for at recess. Growing up in Scarborough, he attended Samuel Hearn Middle School and started loving the sweet R&B sounds of the 90s. He was listening to Aaliyah, Missy Elliott, Neptunes, Timbaland, and Genuine. Then he started smoking pot when he was 11 years old, so naturally Pink Floyd and Zeppelin were thrown in the mix. He also watched a ton of television and old films, and having no male role model, he was raised by what he saw on the television screen. Later, he attended Birchmount Park Collegiate Institute, and slowly but surely began using harder and harder drugs. When he was 16, he was at a college toga party and lost his virginity in a drunken sloppy encounter. He remembers it being a horrible experience, but has clearly made up for it if his music is evidence for anything along those lines. When he was 17, Abel was kicked out of school and forced to attend a much rougher one on the other side of town. After six months, he dropped out in the 11th grade. Self-conscious about his intellect, he would do crosswords to keep up his vocabulary. He soon convinced two of his friends to move out with him, at first with him putting a mattress in the back of a van. Eventually, they ended up taking up residence at 65 Spencer in the run-down Toronto neighbourhood of Parkdale. There was also another apartment that he lived at for some time at 70 Shooter Street. Teenagers out of school, they could do whatever the hell it is that they wanted to do. They started going to local bars and developed quite the reputation with the ladies. They spent what money they could on alcohol and drugs, including ketamine, cocaine, MDMA, mushrooms, cough syrup, and kept themselves going on food that they would steal from the supermarket. Knowing his passion and God-given talent for music, Abel would entertain his friends during their chill sessions. Eventually, this led to the development of the hip-hop duo Bullies and Nerds, and he When that didn't take off, he wrote songs for a production company called Noise, keeping in mind artists like Justin Timberlake and Drake. He soon formed XO with his roommates and adopted the moniker of The Weeknd. To avoid copyright issues with an existing band, he dropped the final E. Abel then met producer Jeremy Rose and pitched him a dark, self-titled R&B album. Rose supplied the brooding instrumentals with Abel's soaring vocals and pumped out three tracks in one sitting. In December 2010, he uploaded The Morning, Loft Music, and What You Need, and started messaging all his friends via text and Facebook to take a look. All of the friends that he had made in Toronto via the party and music scene tuned in and the views started to climb to the hundreds and then the thousands. His tracks reached the ears of Drake's manager, who posted it on Drizzy's blog, and from there, his voice was heard all over the world. The Weeknd released his House of Balloons mixtape a few months later, again for free download on his website, but the cover art didn't show his face. He told Rolling Stone, Abel wasn't sure he packed any star appeal. Instead, he used artful nudes of some young hotties instead to sell his music for him. His mixtape gained critical praise and even though people had no idea if The Weeknd was a person or a group, people were eating it up. Abel was dodging interviews left and right, and then in July 2011, decided to lift the veil and go on tour. Inspired by artist Jean-Michel Basquiat, Abel wanted to be an icon, so he began to grow his hair into whatever shape he desired. He also began taking some dance classes to better his performances. He collaborated steadily with Drake as he was starting out and contributed on a ton of tracks to Drake's Take Care album, which was bittersweet because he got paid, but states that he gave up nearly half of his album in the process. He released his two and three mixtapes that year as well, again available for free download on his website. Thursday and Echoes of Silence completed what would be known as the Balloons Trilogy. Afterwards, major labels came knocking. He signed with Republic Records, started playing massive concerts and music festivals, dating supermodels and bumping up his net worth to $92 million. The Weeknd would go on to make major strides in the music industry, like performing at the Super Bowl halftime show, winning countless awards and sold out tours. He just released an album titled Don FM that features the likes of Quincy Jones and fellow Canadian Jim Carrey. If you enjoyed hearing about the story of The Weeknd, then please be sure to like and subscribe, and don't forget to let us know who you would like to see featured next on The Famous Life. Thanks for watching, and I'll see you in another video.