Chico Slimani

Yousseph 'Chico' Slimani was born in Wales, but moved to Morocco when he was a baby. Until the age of 13 he was in Morocco working as a mountain goat herder, then he moved back to the UK at 14 to live in Crawley, West Sussex. Chico has had a number of jobs in his life. He was a hairdresser and also an electrician, before joining exotic dance troupe Extreme Force, to raise money for his ill grandmother. He then auditioned for The X Factor. Chico says he practiced his singing most in the bathroom, and he grew up with Arabic and Indian music. Chico was mentored by manager Sharon Osbourne during The X Factor competition. His dancing impressed X Factor judges, and viewers grew fond of him, but he was voted out in the penultimate episode, failed to reach the final of the ITV talent show. Shayne Ward eventually won in December 2005. Slimani's original song, "It's Chico Time" was planned to be released before Christmas. He eventually released the following year, February 2006 and it became #1 on 5th March 2006. He stayed at the top for two weeks. He is currently taking part in a nationwide X Factor tour.