If "The Voice" was looking for a strong story to start its new season, there it is. "Me, it's Maria. And I'm the blind man in history, "will launch this Saturday evening on TF1, this Irish girl dressed in white, advancing on stage, in the arms of her husband and five of her seven children. Maria Cuche, singer with a thousand lives, who refuses to give her age has lived in Lorraine for 27 years.
This fan of Barbra Streisand and Donna Summer was only 5 years old when she won her first singing contest in an Irish pub. It was four years before a genetic disease put her in the dark.
“I was sent to an institute for the blind in Dublin. For us, at that time, life was all mapped out: becoming a telephone operator, not having children. My dream was to be a singer. So I took my life in my hands, and at 9, I ran away, ”says Maria Cuche in perfect French. She will cross Ireland on foot to find the family home, inheriting the nickname "homing pigeon" by her adoptive father.
Sixth in Eurovision in 1985
His mother educates his blind gaze so that nothing appears there, and repeats to him: "If God has deprived you of your eyes, He has given you a voice." »That she performs from scene to scene, winning competitions in bars, from Ireland to the United States ... Until being chosen to represent her country at Eurovision, in 1985, where she ranked sixth, without to have revealed his blindness.
"You don't have what it takes to become a star," says a member of the team. The start of a long parenthesis. She meets a French, technical-commercial, marries her and settles in Lorraine. They will have seven children, now aged 13 to 27, all musicians. "I couldn't teach them how to read, so it was music," says Maria.
This Saturday evening, they will watch the show - recorded a few weeks ago - as a family, around the birthday cake of one of his daughters. “My children will describe to me second by second what is going on. On the stage of The Voice , I was like in a bubble ... I want this performance to remain forever engraved in their soul. His powerful voice, on the words of the Irish ballad "Oh Dany Boy", blew the new jury into an emotionally scripted emotional sequence. "You are an inspiration," compliments Lara Fabian, in tears. "A dove," continues Marc Lavoine.
"I would like to tell the public that anything is possible"
The casting director of the show, Bruno Berberes had already met Maria three years ago. But it was while reading her book "We don't see that with the heart" (Editions Plon) published in 2018 that he decided to contact her, struck by "her incredible destiny and her boundless love". "We wanted to have it for a long time, but it was not ready," says producer Pascal Guix. The Voice is about songs and emotions, here we are right in the middle. "
After having shown a sharp drop, and closed the previous season with 4.7 million followers (23% of PDA, allowing the front page to rank leader on Saturday evening), tele-hook to the 8 years of existence wants to find voice, and will span fourteen weeks, up from eighteen last year. And in this contest which revealed Amir, Louane, Slimane or Kendji Girac, Maria aims far.
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"A blind person can do more than you imagine, the limits are where we set them. My handicap has adapted to me. I would like to tell the public that anything is possible, ”warns the singer, who already tried her luck in the Irish version of“ The Voice ”in 2016.“ I was disappointed, but it was a good training session. You have to lose battles to win wars. "She tells us of her secret desire. “I did all of this because since childhood my father has not known that I exist. He lives in Spain somewhere. I dream that this media exposure will allow me to find it. I'll give it my all. "
The new jury enters the scene
"The Voice" has revised its formula and returns with a recomposed jury, responsible for coaching candidates aged 16 to 78: Marc Lavoine, Amel Bent, Lara Fabian and Pascal Obispo. New arrivals far from being novices. Pascal Obispo already played this role two years ago. Lara Fabian too, but in the Quebec version of the program. And Amel Bent was a juror for "The Voice Kids".
"We had to renew, these coaches have given us something new," says the producer of the show Pascal Guix. And no question for them to remain stashed in their new red chair when a service does not pack them: they will be required to explain it to the candidates, even unsuccessful. A return to basics, since this rule prevailed until 2017.
Another change: the “theft” of talent, which spiced up the competition between coaches, it's over. After the blind auditions, each coach will have 14 talents in his or her bag. And Nikos Aliagas will chain the hot reactions of their loved ones, in the "Family room", just off the stage. The "live" will be held on a Parisian stage.
