Gilbert Montagné blind because of a medical error: this tragedy that occurred after his birth

Solène Delinger 2:30 p.m., October 24, 2022

Gilbert Montagné was not born blind but became so due to a medical error, several months after his birth.

This is what the 70-year-old singer explained during his appearance on the show

, broadcast in 2016 on W9.

Born very premature in December 1951, after barely six months of his mother's pregnancy, Gilbert Montagné had been placed in an incubator.

It all then weighed just 950 grams. 

Gilbert Montagné's optic nerve tissue was burned at birth

This famous incubator was in fact too oxygenated because of a setting error.

"As they did not know at the time how to measure the adequate dosage to administer so that I could live, they put too much in and it burned all the tissues of the optic nerve (retinopathy, editor's note). But what a wonder that they did, because if they hadn't put enough in, I wouldn't be here to tell you all about it", explained the singer for W9. 

"I got hooked"

At the time, Gilbert Montagné's mother had considered abortion, just before his birth.

"Mom had thought about abortion, she had tried to find a solution. But I hung on", had thus confided the interpreter of

Despite his blindness, the artist started playing the piano very early, before he was 5 years old, and he made his first appearance on TV at the age of 16.

It was in 1985, at the age of 34, that he became known with his hit