Abel Tesfaye is slowly growing more and more popular in the music industry. Tesfaye is more commonly known as The Weeknd, and he is gradually earning a name for himself.

     Tesfaye is originally from Canada, where he met producer Jeremy Rose. Rose had the idea for The Weeknd, and after pitching it to Tesfaye and another artist, decided to go with Tesfaye after hearing him freestyle.

     Performing under the name “The Weeknd,” Tesfaye released songs, “What You Need,” “Loft Music,” and “The Morning,” in 2010. Other songs were recorded, but Rose made the decision to discard them.

     Taking action himself, Tesfaye made a Youtube channel for The Weeknd and uploaded songs without revealing his actual name. The channel ended up getting a lot of attention and a high amount of views.

     At one point, fellow rapper Drake caught wind of “The Weeknd” and encouraged people to look into him. Tesfaye slowly started to gain more fans as time went on.

     In March of 2011, Tesfaye released a 9-track mixtape called House of Balloons for free in his website. Three months later, he set out on his first tour.

     “’House of Balloons’ was special because I had no deadlines, and nobody knew me, so there were no expectations. Spent a year making it perfect. Every song had at least, like, 7 different versions to them before picking the right one,” The Weeknd said.

     He then appeared as a special guest performer for Drake at his second Annual OVO Fest. Tesfaye would always refuse interviews and would only speak through Twitter.

     His second mixtape, Thursday, and his third mixtape, Echoes of Silence, eventually were grouped together with his House of Balloons mixtape and became known as The House of Balloons Trilogy.

     September of 2012, The Weeknd signed with Republic Records in a joint deal with his own impact label, OX. Tesfaye officially gave Rose credit for the songs he wrote for him.

     Having been featured in songs with Drake, Ariana Grande and Sia have certainly helped promote The Weeknd and has helped contribute to his success thus far.

    He has been featured in movies as well, such as The Hunger Games: Catching Fire with his song “Devil May Cry,” and Fifty Shades of Grey with his song, “Earned It.”

    While most people might not know the name Abel Tesfaye, many people are familiar with The Weeknd. The Weekend keeps getting more popular with every song he puts out, and he has no intention of stopping.