YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Debórah Benton keeps making strides with Deja Vu, her Dionne Warwick tribute show.

The Youngstown-based singer has performed in multiple states and countries over the past five years.

She’ll increase her exposure further through her new gig as the opening act for Russell Thompkins Jr. and the New Stylistics. 

Thompkins is the original singer of the iconic vocal soul act the Stylistics. The Philadelphia-based quintet, known for Thompkins’ falsetto voice, had a dozen hits in the 1970s including “You Are Everything,” “Betcha by Golly Wow,” “I’m Stone in Love with You,” “Break Up to Make Up” and “You Make Me Feel Brand New.”

Thompkins left the band in 2000 and formed his own group. The remaining members of the band continue to perform under the act’s original name.

Thompkins and the New Stylistics are on a pause right now, but they do have some events on the books, including a Dec. 12 show at Youngstown’s Powers Auditorium. 

Benton typically starts the evening with a 30-minute set of Warwick songs. Later in the evening, Thompkins will bring her back on stage during his set for a few duets.

Benton has been friends with Thompkins for years – starting with his appearances on her “Valley Gold with Debórah” television variety show that aired in the Youngstown market.

She had been a singer earlier in her career and was often told her voice sounded like Dionne Warwick – her favorite artist.

But she put singing on the backburner to focus on her show. Her only performances for many years came as brief snippets on the show.

Benton’s desire to become a professional singer eventually reemerged. 

She wanted to put all of her effort into it but worried whether anyone would be interested.

“I had been putting other people in the spotlight [on her show] for years, helping their careers,” she said. “But I wanted to get back into singing and started praying for a sign. I asked God to open a door for me so I could get back to doing the thing I love the most.”

She got her answer in September 2019 via an unusual phone call.

“G.C. Cameron, the lead singer of The Spinners, called and said, ‘You need to do a Dionne Warwick project,’” she recalled. “He knew I liked Dionne’s music, but he didn’t know that she was my go-to.”

Benton had befriended Cameron in 2010 when she had him as a guest on her TV show. On that episode, she and Cameron sang the duet “Then Came You,” which was made famous by Warwick and The Spinners. That’s how he knew Benton could sing and could capture Warwick’s style.

“G.C. said nobody sounds more like Dionne  than I did, and he felt that I could do it justice,” Benton said. “That was all I needed. I was  looking for someone to say, ‘You can do this.’ And so I started working on it.”

Benton took her act to Australia in early 2020, just before the Covid-19 pandemic. When she returned home, and venues were ordered to close, she spent the time refining her show.

Her initial hometown concert came in 2024 at Ford Family Recital Hall in downtown Youngstown.

She would land more gigs, including shows at City Winery locations in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh in 2025.

To spur interest in the show in Philadelphia, where she had no following or friends, she asked Thompkins if he would show up to make a cameo appearance onstage. Not only did he  show up, but he brought the New Stylistics and they sang two numbers with her.

Thompkins repeated the feat at her Pittsburgh show. After that show, he told Benton that she was all his bandmates were talking about and they wanted her as their opening act. Benton promptly agreed and did her first show with Thompkins and the New Stylistics in Chichester, Pa., in April.

Benton most recently performed in a Burt Bacharach tribute show in Rochester, N.Y. The show, presented by bandleader Billy Goodness, also featured Thompkins.

Pictured at top: Debórah Benton with Russell Thompkins Jr.