Abel Makkonen Tesfaye (born 16 February 1990), known professionally by his
stage name The Weeknd (pronounced "the weekend"), is a Canadian singer, songwriter and record producer. In late 2010, Tesfaye anonymously uploaded several songs to
YouTube under the name "The Weeknd". He released three nine-track mixtapes throughout 2011:
House of Balloons,
Thursday and
Echoes of Silence, which were critically acclaimed. The following year, he released a compilation album
Trilogy, thirty tracks consisting of remastered versions of the mixtape material and three additional songs. It was released under
Republic Records and his own label XO.