By now the Weeknd is a man who needs little introduction but roll back the clock a decade
and he was a Toronto street kid with a love for drugs who thought his best shot at making
it was writing for other artists.
He told Rollingstone, At the time, I thought I’d be a punk star
— grow my hair out, acne on my face, super f***ing-skinny.
I was looking at artists like Iggy Pop and the Ramones, or Afropunk.
But you evolve and realize your potential.
And then it’s like, ‘F*** yeah.
Let’s go.'
Today he's sitting on 81 Awards including AMA's, Billboards, Grammy's and two Guinness
World Records.
There has always been a near mythical vibe surrounding the Weeknd, his own insecurities
and shyness resulted in him being reserved to give interviews during his initial come
up.
This mysteriousness only bolstered his image and brought more attention to his music making
him the song bird for a whole new generation.
What's going on guys?
It's your boy Michael McCrudden documenting the life and career of The Weeknd prior to
fame, here for you of course on Before They Were Famous and this is an Epic video.
We only save these for the best of the best and once their done we don't update them again.
Enjoy, hit subscribe and now let's get into this video.
Abęl Makkonen Tesfaye was born 16 February 1990 in Toronto, Canada.
His parents Makkonen and Samra came to Canada in the 80's from Ethiopia.
His father abandoned the family when he was just two.
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 a**hole.
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 moms out with her busy schedule Abel's grandmother helped raise him.
His grandma lived through Ethiopia’s so-called Red Terror, after Emperor Haile Selassie’s
death, during which tens of thousands of civilians were killed by a military junta.
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 a hero to the people of Ethopia through his song We Are The World,
a song dedicated to the nation.
Abel cites Don't Stop Til 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 made fun for at recess.
Growing up in Scarborough he attended Samuel Hearne Middle School, and started loving the
sweet R&B sounds of the 90’s.
He was listening to Aaliyah, Missy Elliot,
Neptunes, Timberland
Ginuwine.
Then he started smoking pot when he was 11, 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 his 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 since made it up for it with plenty
of sexier encounters in the sheets.
When he was 17, Abel was kicked out of school and forced to attend a much rougher one on
other side of town.
After 6 months he dropped out in the 11 grade.
Self-conscious about his intellect, he would do crosswords to keep up his vocabulary.
He soon convinced 2 of his friends to move out with him at first with them 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.
Just a 5 minute walk from where I film these videos.
There was also another apartment he lived at for some point in time at 70 Shuter St.
Teenagers outta 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 had on drink and drugs including ketamine, cocaine, MDMA, mushrooms,
cough syrup, and kept themselves going on food 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 Bulleez N Nerdz, and he rap
and sang under the name Kin Kane.
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 monkier 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 them friends he had made in Toronto via the party and music sceen tuned in and the
views started to climb to the 100's and then the thousands.
His tracks reached the ears of Drake's manager, who posted it on Drizzy's blog.... from there
his voice was heard the world over.
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.
I was everything an R&B singer wasn’t.
I wasn’t in shape.
I wasn’t a pretty boy I was awkward as f***.
I didn’t like the way I looked in pictures —
when I saw myself on a digital camera, I was like, ‘Eesh.'
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, then in July 2011 decided to lift the veil
and go on tour.
Inspired by urban artist Jean-Michel Basquiat, Able wanted to be an icon he began to grow
out his hair into what ever shape it 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 bitter sweet because he got paid
but he states he gave up nearly half of his album in the process..
He released his 2nd and 3rd 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
super models and bumping his net worth up to $92 Million.
As for the rest of the story, well we are gonna wrap this one
up here, because this is Before They Were Famous...