Saving children's lives and being a best-selling author: it's Chico time, but not as we know it
Though he’s most famous as the original life and soul of The X Factor, Chico Slimani wears a coat of many colours, and his story is a thing to behold.
“I was born in Wales, in Bridgend,” he said as we sat down to get to know the man behind "It’s Chico time!", ahead of his stint in the upcoming Stourbridge panto.
“My parents went their separate ways, so I ended up in Morocco and lived with my grandparents.
“At the age of 13 and a half, I came back to England. I went on to become a trainee hairdresser, and one of the first people on the YTS youth training scheme, and then I went into a college, and I ended up becoming an electrical mechanical engineer.”
A born entertainer though, who would later go on to knock Madonna off the top of the UK charts with The X Factor’s first original record - Chico quickly turned his gaze to different pastures.
“A friend of mine just stared at me and said 'does that look like an engineer? What do you want to do?' So from there, I went on and I became an exotic dancer, and then I went into music, and from there went on to the X Factor.”
The quintessential cheeky chappie of the talent show’s second series, Chico stands as one of The X Factor’s most memorable alumni. Since his stint on the show back in 2005, he has maintained an entertainment career but has also branched out into philanthropy and wellbeing.
“It's really funny,” he said. “When I look back, I started in the physical and now I'm into the spiritual. Obviously I was into martial arts, natural bodybuilding and exotic dancing. And then I went into the music world - I'm still gigging all over the place. And then the ‘spiritual’ has been my journey that led me on to what I'm doing right now, running breath retreats around the world.
“They started in the Atlas Mountains. Now we've got Portugal, Croatia, Thailand, Bali, the UK, Cyprus.”
Thanks to a recent development, Chico can also add ‘best-selling author’ to his bio and business cards.
“I’ve got to share some great news with you,” he said. “I am now a number one selling author on Amazon. I've just released this book three weeks ago, and it's been number one since.
