Tanel Padar

Tanel Padar (born 27 October 1980) is an Estonian singer. 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 young Estonian singers, in 1999.

Career

In 2000, Padar was one of the backing vocalists for Ines – who at the time was also his girlfriend – at the Eurovision Song Contest 2000. In 2001, he, along with the boyband 2XL and Aruba born Dave Benton claimed the spotlight by winning the Eurovision Song Contest 2001 with the song "Everybody".

Padar performs in a band called Tanel Padar & The Sun, one of the most popular bands in Estonia. In 2006, Tanel Padar & The Sun had the following positions in the Estonian 2006 chart (top 40): #1, #4, #12, #23, #29, #31. One of their songs also claimed the R2 Hit of the Year prize. The song "Hopelessness You" made it to the MTV World Chart Express.

Personal life

Tanel Padar was married to Katarina Kalda, a former model.

Discography

Everybody (Tanel Padar and Dave Benton song)

"Everybody" was the winner of the Eurovision Song Contest 2001, performed in English by Tanel Padar, Dave Benton and 2XL, representing Estonia. The song was performed twentieth on the night, following Germany's Michelle with "Wer Liebe lebt" and preceding Malta's Fabrizio Faniello with "Another Summer Night". At the close of voting, it had received 198 points, with the win coming at the head of a 23-song field.

Estonia were the first from the occupied Soviet Union countries to win the Contest, with the second and third following shortly thereafter. Tanel had previously provided backing vocals for Estonia's 2000 entry, sung by Eda-Ines Etti, his then-girlfriend.

Tanel and Dave got supported by a backing group of 4, 2XL, Lauri Pihlap, Kaido Põldma, Sergei Morgun and Indrek Soom.

The song was succeeded as Estonian representative at the 2002 contest, held in the Estonian capital of Tallinn, by Sahlene with "Runaway".

Content

Lyrically, the song is simply an invitation to party, with the duo singing that "every night's a Friday night". The song is famous for two major reasons. The first of these is that Benton is the oldest contestant to win the grand prize. The second is that he is the first black contestant to do so. Maarja-Liis Ilus has recorded a cover version.

Dave Benton

Dave Benton (born 31 January 1951, real name Efrén Eugene Benita) is a pop musician and 2001 winner of the Eurovision Song Contest.

Biography

Benton was born in 1951 on the Caribbean island of Aruba and in his 20s 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 Estonian wife Maris on a cruise ship, then settled in Estonia in 1997. He has had a varied musical career in Northern European countries. He now lives in Estonia with his wife and two daughters, Sissi and Lisa. He performed in the German production of the musical 'City Lights' after which he was asked to replace Engelbert Humperdinck on his Australian tour.

Though he has released and produced quite a few albums already, one of which in his native tongue, Papiamento, his career to date shows him to be more of a performing artist rather than a recording one.

Benton is octolingual, speaking English, Spanish, Papiamento, Dutch, French, German, Portuguese, and Estonian.

WCIA

WCIA is the CBS-affiliated television station for the Central Illinois region of the United States that is licensed to Champaign. It broadcasts a high-definition (HD) digital signal on UHF channel 48 from a transmitter in Seymour, Illinois; along the Champaign and Piatt County line.

Owned by the Nexstar Broadcasting Group, it is a sister station to MyNetworkTV affiliate WCIX (which is also carried on the WCIA's digital subchannel) and the two share studios on South Neil Street (also known as U.S. 45) in downtown Champaign. They also operate a sales office and news bureau on East Edwards Street near the Illinois State Capitol in Springfield along with a newsroom on North Water Street in downtown Decatur. The station can also be seen on WCIX's second digital subchannel on VHF channel 13 from a transmitter east of Springfield. WCIX (X-49) is now broadcasting in high-definition (HD) 16:9 on WCIX 49.1 and WCIA 3.2 as of 6/19/15

History

The station's first broadcast was on November 14, 1953, and it was owned and operated by Midwest Television, headquartered in Champaign. August C. Meyer Sr., a lawyer and chairman of the board of the Champaign-based Bank of Illinois, founded Midwest Television in 1952. Meyer expanded the company's market presence by buying WMBD-AM–FM–TV in Peoria, Illinois, in 1960 and KFMB-AM–FM–TV in San Diego, California, in 1964. Midwest sold off controlling interest in its Illinois television holdings to Nexstar in 1999. That company acquired Midwest's remaining interest in the Illinois stations in 2001.