Advertising helps fund Big Issue’s mission to end poverty
Turning house music into homes: The James Hype special edition is out!
BUY magazine
Music

Andrea Bocelli defied the odds after doctors warned his parents to abort

The Italian tenor told The Big Issue he is thankful his parents did not listen to doctors who warned he would be seriously ill from birth

Andrea Bocelli

Massive-selling Italian opera star Andrea Bocelli has told The Big Issue his parents ignored advice to abort him after doctors said he would be born with severe illnesses.

The tenor, who has sold over 90 million albums worldwide, emerged relatively unscathed when he came into the world in 1958, although he was diagnosed with congenital glaucoma – he eventually went completely blind aged 12 following a sporting accident.

Despite the misfortune he later suffered, Bocelli says he’ll always be grateful for his parents’ intervention.

He said: “My father Sandro and my mother Edi moulded my character, offering me an education that was invaluable during my whole life.”

Bocelli said his parents made him determined to never give up: “This is what my parents showed during my mother’s pregnancy when the doctors advised her to have an abortion because the baby would be born with severe illnesses. She ignored their advice and carried on with my father’s support. Without their courage and faith I would not be here today to tell the story.”

Read the full interview in this week’s Big Issue, on sale now.

Advertising helps fund Big Issue’s mission to end poverty
Advertising helps fund Big Issue’s mission to end poverty
Read the full article in this week's Big Issue.
Find your vendor
Turning house music to homes
Advertising helps fund Big Issue’s mission to end poverty

READER-SUPPORTED SINCE 1991

Reader-supported journalism that doesn’t just report problems, it helps solve them.

Recommended for you

View all
Belinda Carlisle: 'I never felt like I was good enough or that I was worthy'
Letter To My Younger Self

Belinda Carlisle: 'I never felt like I was good enough or that I was worthy'

Leona Lewis: 'I would tell young Leona, I see your pain and I feel you – but you'll be OK'
Letter To My Younger Self

Leona Lewis: 'I would tell young Leona, I see your pain and I feel you – but you'll be OK'

Opera performers are using Palestinian flags to make a stand. And why shouldn't they?
Classical music

Opera performers are using Palestinian flags to make a stand. And why shouldn't they?

How the Trainspotting soundtrack changed the world
Music

How the Trainspotting soundtrack changed the world

Most Popular

Read All
Renters pay their landlords' buy-to-let mortgages, so they should get a share of the profits
Renters: A mortgage lender's window advertising buy-to-let products
1.

Renters pay their landlords' buy-to-let mortgages, so they should get a share of the profits

Exclusive: Disabled people are 'set up to fail' by the DWP in target-driven disability benefits system, whistleblowers reveal
Pound coins on a piece of paper with disability living allowancve
2.

Exclusive: Disabled people are 'set up to fail' by the DWP in target-driven disability benefits system, whistleblowers reveal

Cost of living payments: Where to get help in 2025 now the scheme is over
next dwp cost of living payment 2023
3.

Cost of living payments: Where to get help in 2025 now the scheme is over

Strike dates 2023: From train drivers to NHS doctors, here are the dates to know
4.

Strike dates 2023: From train drivers to NHS doctors, here are the dates to know