Dave Benton (born 31 January 1951, birth name Efrén Eugene Benita) is a pop musician from

Aruba Aruba ( , , ), officially the Country of Aruba ( nl, Land Aruba; pap, Pais Aruba) is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands physically located in the mid-south of the Caribbean Sea, about north of the Venezuela peninsula of P ...

who lives in

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, an ...

. He is one of the winners of the

Eurovision Song Contest 2001 The Eurovision Song Contest 2001 was the 46th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Copenhagen, Denmark, following the country's victory at the with the song "Fly on the Wings of Love" by Olsen Brothers. Organised by the E ...

. At the age of 50 years and 101 days at the time of his victory, Benton is the oldest singer ever to win Eurovision.O'Connor, John Kennedy. The Eurovision Song Contest - The Official Celebration. Carlton Books, 2015. . Pages 32-33

Biography

Born Efrén Eugene Benita in 1951 on the Caribbean island of

, he went to local schools. He was fluent in English, Dutch, Spanish and

Papiamento Papiamento () or Papiamentu (; nl, Papiaments) is a Portuguese-based creole language spoken in the Dutch Caribbean. It is the most widely spoken language on the Caribbean ABC islands (Aruba, Bonaire, Curaçao), with official status in Arub ...

, the creole language of the island. He married and had a daughter. In his 20s, he separated from his wife and moved to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

. As a drummer and a backing vocalist, he worked with

The Drifters The Drifters are several American doo-wop and R&B/ soul vocal groups. They were originally formed as a backing group for Clyde McPhatter, formerly the lead tenor of Billy Ward and his Dominoes in 1953. The second group of Drifters, formed i ...

Tom Jones Tom Jones may refer to: Arts and entertainment *Tom Jones (singer) (born 1940), Welsh singer *Tom Jones (writer) (1928–2023), American librettist and lyricist *''The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling'', a novel by Henry Fielding published in 1 ...

, Billy Ocean,

José Feliciano José Montserrate Feliciano García (born September 10, 1945) () is a Puerto Rican musician, singer and composer. He recorded many international hits, including his rendition of the Doors' "Light My Fire" and his self-penned Christmas song " F ...

and

The Platters The Platters was an American vocal group formed in 1952. They are one of the most successful vocal groups of the early rock and roll era. Their distinctive sound bridges the pre-rock Tin Pan Alley tradition and the new burgeoning genre. The a ...

. While living in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

in the 1980s, he met his future wife Maris, an

Estonian Estonian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Estonia, a country in the Baltic region in northern Europe * Estonians, people from Estonia, or of Estonian descent * Estonian language * Estonian cuisine * Estonian culture See also * ...

, on a cruise ship. They settled in

in 1997 and had two daughters. Benton's daughter Sissi participated in Eesti Laul in

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October 2021 coup in Sudan; Crowd shortly after t ...

with the song "Time", attempting to follow in her father's footsteps and represent Estonia in the

Eurovision Song Contest 2021 The Eurovision Song Contest 2021 was the 65th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Rotterdam, Netherlands, following the country's win at the with the song " Arcade" by Duncan Laurence. The Netherlands was set to host the ...

. She qualified to the superfinal, where she placed second. Benton has had a varied musical career in

Northern Europe The northern region of Europe has several definitions. A restrictive definition may describe Northern Europe as being roughly north of the southern coast of the Baltic Sea, which is about 54°N, or may be based on other geographical factors ...

an countries. He speaks eight languages: English, Spanish, Papiamento, Dutch, French, German, Portuguese, and Estonian. He performed in the German production of the musical ''City Lights'', after which he was asked to replace Engelbert Humperdinck on his

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

n tour. Benton has released and produced quite a few albums already, one of which in his native tongue,

. He has had more of a career as a performing artist. In 2001 he performed with budding Estonian rock singer

Tanel Padar Tanel Padar (born 27 October 1980) is an Estonian singer and songwriter. He is best known internationally for winning the Eurovision Song Contest 2001. Padar became famous by winning the ''Kaks takti ette'', a biennial televised competition for ...

and boyband 2XL to win the

with their song " Everybody".

Other information

* Benton was a contestant at the 1981 OTI Festival ( Ibero-American equivalent of the Eurovision contest) held in

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...

; he represented the

Netherlands Antilles nl, In vrijheid verenigd"Unified by freedom" , national_anthem = , common_languages = Dutch English Papiamento , demonym = Netherlands Antillean , capital = Willemstad , year_start = 1954 , year_end = 2010 , date_start = 15 December , ...

with the song ''"Vaya un amigo"'' as Efrén Benita. He finished in 20th place at this contest. * Benton won the

Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), sometimes abbreviated to ESC and often known simply as Eurovision, is an international songwriting competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), featuring participants representing pr ...

for

, before he had learned to speak

. * In 2010, Benton participated as a celebrity contestant on the fourth season of ''

Tantsud tähtedega ''Tantsud tähtedega'' (Estonian: ''Dancing with the Stars'') is an Estonian television reality show that aired on Kanal 2 and season six on TV3. It debuted on 8 October 2006, and it became a popular television show in Estonia. It is based on ...

'', an Estonian version of ''

Dancing with the Stars ''Dancing with the Stars'' is the name of various international television series based on the format of the British TV series '' Strictly Come Dancing'', which is distributed by BBC Studios, the commercial arm of the BBC. Currently the form ...

''. His professional dancing partner was Valeria Fetissova. * He is a grandfather.

References

External links

Dave Benton
at

Yahoo! Music Yahoo! Music was a brand under which Yahoo! provided a variety of music services, including Internet radio, music videos, news, artist information, and original programming. Previously, users with Yahoo! accounts could gain access to hundreds o ...

Dave Benton
at Estonian Bands Database *

''Caribia Digest''
Dave Benton: 'I was asked in Estonia and Finland'

Estonians record previews, Dave Benton is back!
Eurovision TV {{DEFAULTSORT:Benton, Dave 1951 births Living people Aruban singers Estonian pop singers Eurovision Song Contest winners Eurovision Song Contest entrants for Estonia Eurovision Song Contest entrants of 2001 21st-century Estonian male singers Dutch people of Aruban descent Aruban emigrants to Estonia Papiamento-language singers People from Oranjestad, Aruba