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If winning the Eurovision Song Contest was his destiny, then 50-year-old Dave Benton took the long, winding road to reach it. He was born on the Caribbean island of Aruba in 1951 and in his 20s moved to the United States to sing back up for the likes of Tom Jones, Billy Ocean and the Platters. While living in Holland a decade ago, he met his future Estonian wife on a cruise ship, then settled in Estonia in 1997. He teamed up with budding Estonian rock singer Tanel Padar in 2001 and, well, the rest is history.
By winning the Song Contest in Copenhagen last year, Benton and Padar became national heroes in Estonia-where the two are permanent fixtures in local society magazines. Benton didn't only make history by bringing the
Eurovision trophy to Eastern Europe for the first time: he was also the first person of African descent to win.
CITY PAPER spoke to Benton at his music management company's office in
Tallinn just prior to the 2002 Contest.
CITY PAPER: Taking your life as a whole, how important was your Eurovision victory with Tanel Padar?
I look at Eurovision as one achievement in my career, not the only one. Was it the biggest achievement? I'd have to say it was.
Eurovision is like the cherry on the top of the cake. But it's not the cake.
CITY PAPER: What doors have opened to you since winning Eurovision—doors that might not have been opened otherwise?
I got a record deal faster than I would have. I'd already been dealing with record companies before
Eurovision. But after we won, it all just happened faster. Two or three other companies were suddenly knocking at the door.
CITY PAPER: What would you say to those who believe that winning Eurovision will make their career?
They're wrong. You can win Eurovision, but to have a successful career, you have to be good. You have to have the talent. You have to have good management. You have to have a good lawyer.
Look, from all the winners of Eurovision, there was only one ABBA and one Celine Dion. Let's face it, they're the only ones who came out of it and became real world stars.
CITY PAPER: So what you're saying is that you have to be realistic. Were you always realistic after winning
Eurovision?
Always. There are a lot of youngsters who look at Eurovision as a trampoline to world fame. It's not like that. I'm glad I went into
Eurovision as a professional, with experience behind me. Like one saying goes: The old devil's not wise because he's the devil, but because he's old. Winning
Eurovision didn't blow my mind.
CITY PAPER: Can winning Eurovision hurt some careers?
Yes. If someone who wins starts thinking, 'Yes!, Now I've made it. I can just sit back, and the record producers are going to start calling. I'm going to make loads of money.' You're going to be so disappointed. We are talking about the professional music world here. Producers aren't stupid. They have to know they can make money with you. They have to be able to work with you. If they can't, you'll be out of the business. You'll be sitting at home watching your
Eurovision trophy collect dust. People are going to say, 'So you won
Eurovision? Then what did you do?'
CITY PAPER: What advice would you give to this year's winner about how to best take advantage of the victory?
To start with, get a good lawyer. And don't get carried away. Stay realistic. Be as happy as you want, sure. Jump up and down. But winning
Eurovision alone is not it. It's what you do afterwards that counts.
CITY PAPER: What is the secret to winning Eurovision? Why did
Everybody win in 2001?
I believed from the beginning that we had something different from the other songs. At
Eurovision, you do tend to hear the same kinds of beats and swings all the time. Then you get something unique like Sweden's ABBA or Israel's Diva that stand out. Our song stood out. As performers, we stood out, too: this dark guy and this young guy from an unknown country. These were all pieces to the puzzle that made me quite sure we would win.
CITY PAPER: So, to win, you must stand out from the crowd somehow.
Definitely. It's like sending a recording in the mail to a record producer. You have, maybe, 10 or 20 seconds to make an impression. The guy listening to this clip is sitting there, and he's going to go, 'Wow!' or he's going to say, 'Okay, when is something going to happen with this song?' That's also how people assess
Eurovision songs.
I believe ABBA made such an impact on
Eurovision, and is still having an impact. All the songs they wrote were super songs, and they became superstars. So musicians who aren't from Sweden are still trying to make songs like that, like ABBA. But ladies and gentlemen, please!, there's only one ABBA. So, do your own thing. Be yourself.
The comment I heard most often from people who like our song was last year was: 'Finally something different!'
CITY PAPER: Did it work to your advantage that it was callers who voted, not a panel of judges?
Absolutely. You can always influence 50 panel judges in advance, through the press or however. But you can't influence 300 million potential callers. Also, with judges, you are dealing with personal tastes of just a handful of individuals. If a guy loves calypso, there's no way you're going to get his vote with a funk song. If he loves Pavarotti, and you're singing a Johnny Logan-type song, forget about it. These are the things you have to grapple with a panel. I was very, very happy the public could vote. They just want a good song and a good act. We gave that to them.
CITY PAPER: How have you been at picking Eurovision winners in the past?
In many years of watching, I've picked the winner beforehand all but three or four times. And when I haven't picked the winner, the song I thought would win went on to have the greatest commercial success. Like at
Eurovision 2000, when the Latvian entry BrainStorm came in third. I was so sure they were going to win. They didn't. But then their song,
My Star, was the song everyone was talking about. You heard it all over. It made it onto the charts in many countries, too. And with Britain's entry in 1997, Katrina & The Waves singing
Love Shine a Light. After the first few bars, I told people I was watching TV with, 'This is the winner. Forget the others. Here's your winner.' And sure enough, it won. This is how it works: A song has to impress people in the first five to eight bars. If you don't, no chance. If you do, you may have a winner.
You can hear excerpts of Dave Benton's latest album, From Monday to Sunday, at
www.dave-benton.com.
—CITY PAPER-The Baltic States
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“Winning
Eurovision alone is not it. It's what you do afterwards that counts.”
