Dave Benton

Born Efrén Eugene Benita in 1951 on the Caribbean island of Aruba, he went to local schools. He was fluent in English, Dutch, Spanish and Papiamento, 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. As a drummer and a backing vocalist, he worked with The Drifters, Tom Jones, Billy Ocean, José Feliciano and The Platters.

While living in the Netherlands in the 1980s, he met his future wife Maris, an Estonian, on a cruise ship. They settled in Estonia in 1997 and had two daughters. Benton's daughter Sissi participated in Eesti Laul in 2021 with the song "Time", attempting to follow in her father's footsteps and represent Estonia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2021. She qualified to the superfinal, where she placed second.

Benton has had a varied musical career in Northern European countries. He speaks eight languages: English, Spanish, Papiamento, Dutch, French, German, Portuguese, and Estonian^{[citation needed]}. He performed in the German production of the musical City Lights, after which he was asked to replace Engelbert Humperdinck on his Australian tour.

Benton has released and produced quite a few albums already, one of which in his native tongue, Papiamento. He has had more of a career as a performing artist.

In 2001 he performed with budding Estonian rock singer Tanel Padar and boyband 2XL to win the Eurovision Song Contest 2001 with their song "Everybody".

• Benton was a contestant at the 1981 OTI Festival (Ibero-American equivalent of the Eurovision contest) held in Mexico City; he represented the Netherlands Antilles with the song "Vaya un amigo" as Efrén Benita. He finished in 20th place at this contest.
• Benton won the Eurovision Song Contest for Estonia, before he had learned to speak Estonian.
• In 2010, Benton participated as a celebrity contestant on the fourth season of Tantsud tähtedega, an Estonian version of Dancing with the Stars. His professional dancing partner was Valeria Fetissova.
• He is a grandfather.

 

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Dave Benton.

• Dave Benton at Yahoo! Music
• Dave Benton at Estonian Bands Database
• Dave Benton at IMDb
• Aruba-born Dave Benton Joins with Tanel Padar for Top 2001 Eurovision Honors, Caribia Digest
• Dave Benton: 'I was asked in Estonia and Finland'
• Estonians record previews, Dave Benton is back!, Eurovision TV

Awards and achievements
Preceded by   Olsen Brothers with "Fly on the Wings of Love"	Winner of the Eurovision Song Contest (with Tanel Padar and 2XL) 2001	Succeeded by   Marie N with "I Wanna"
Preceded by Ines with "Once in a Lifetime"	Estonia in the Eurovision Song Contest (with Tanel Padar and 2XL) 2001	Succeeded by Sahlene with "Runaway"
Preceded by Lidwina Booi with "Amor para ti"	Netherlands Antilles in the OTI Festival (as Efrén Benita) 1981	Succeeded by Sharon Ross with "Alguien que no seas tú"