Abel Makkonen Tesfaye (born February 16, 1990), better known by his stage name The Weeknd, is a Canadian singer, songwriter, actor and record producer. In 2010, he anonymously uploaded several songs to YouTube under the name "The Weeknd" and released the mixtapes House of Balloons, Thursday, and Echoes of Silence in 2011 which quickly gained him a following and recognition from several mainstream publications due to his dark wave-style of R&B and the mystique surrounding his identity. House of Balloons, Thursday, and Echoes of Silence were later remastered and re-released on the compilation album Trilogy (2012). In 2013,