Dave Benton


Efrem Eugene Benita, also known as Dave Benton, is an Aruban-born Estonian pop musician. He won the Eurovision Song Contest 2001 along Tanel Padar and 2XL with the song "Everybody" representing ; becoming the oldest singer ever to win the contest.

Biography

Efrem Eugene Benita was born 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.
In 1981, after winning the Antillean national final for the OTI Festival with his own song "Vaya un amigo", he represented the Netherlands Antilles in the OTI Festival 1981, where he finished in 20th place –second-to-last– with two points.
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. He has had a varied musical career in Northern European 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 Australian tour.
He 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.
On 3 February 2001, Benton participated along budding Estonian rock singer Tanel Padar and boyband 2XL in ', the national final organised by Eesti Televisioon in order to select its entry for the of the Eurovision Song Contest. They won the competition with their song "Everybody", so they went to represent in Eurovision. On 12 May 2001, they competed with their song in the Eurovision Song Contest held in Copenhagen, which they eventually won after receiving 198 points. At the age of 50 years and 101 days at the day of the contest, Benton is the oldest singer ever to win the Eurovision Song Contest.
In 2021, Benton's daughter Sissi participated in ' 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.

Other information

  • 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.