Dundalk’s Maria on The Voice in France
DUNDALK-BORN singer Maria Doyle Cuche has won through the first selection of the blind auditions to earn a place in ninth series of The Voice on French television.
Maria, who was accompanied by five of her seven children, moved the judges and audience to tears when she sang ‘Danny Boy’ on the show which was televised on the French channel TF1 on Saturday night.
The 54 year old singer, who represented Ireland as Maria Christian in the 1985 Eurovision Song Contest, when she finished sixth with ‘Wait Until the Weekend Comes’. She also competed in the ‘ The Voice of Ireland’ in 2018.
Maria, who is legally blind, moved to a small village in France with her husband Emmanuel Cuche in the early 1990s and raised seven children, all of whom are musicians.
She detailed her amazing life story in her book ‘We See Only with the Heart’, which was published in 2018, and hopes to inspire others.
‘A blind person can do more than you imagine, the limits are where we put them. My handicap has adapted to me. I would like to tell the public that anything is possible,’ she told French media. In particularly she would like to catch the eye of one person: ‘I did all this because since childhood, my father does not know I exist. He lives in Spain somewhere. I dream that this media exposure will allow me to find him. I will give my all.’
Posting on Facebook she described the experience of taking part in the audition as ‘an unforgettable night, it was amazing!!!’. Maria moves on to the next round with singer Lara Fabian, as her coach.
As she took to the stage, Maria told the audience: ‘When I was little, I was fascinated by the stars but for 40 years, I have not seen them any more. It doesn’t matter because over the years the stars have come to me, my seven children.’