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 ...

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, a ...

. 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 primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

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

The Drifters The Drifters are several American doo-wop and R&B/Soul music, 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, f ...

, Tom Jones,

Billy Ocean Leslie Sebastian Charles, (born 21 January 1950), better known by his stage name Billy Ocean, is a British recording artist who had a string of R&B international pop hits in the 1970s and 1980s. He was the most popular British R&B singer-son ...

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 ac ...

. 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, 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 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

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 54th parallel north, 54°N, or may be based on other g ...

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 state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

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 OTI Festival ( es, Festival OTI de la Canción, pt, Festival OTI da Canção), often known simply as La OTI, was an international song competition, organised annually between 1972 and 2000 by the Organización de Televisión Iberoamericana (OTI) ...

(

Ibero-American Ibero-America ( es, Iberoamérica, pt, Ibero-América) or Iberian America is a region in the Americas comprising countries or territories where Spanish or Portuguese are predominant languages (usually former territories of Portugal or Spain). P ...

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 Estonian. * 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 o ...

'', an Estonian version of '' Dancing with the Stars''. 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 of ...

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