We’re hopping in our time machine and turning the dial back to the noughties for a very special chat with 2005 X Factor legend Chico Slimani.
Chico captured the hearts of the UK with his colourful performances and infectious energy and charisma. He was mentored on the show by Sharon Osbourne and made it all the way to the quarterfinals before being eliminated.
The 2005 show would eventually be won by Shayne Ward, but it was Chico who was the real breakout star. After exiting the show, Chico released his debut single ‘Its Chico Time’, a song that he performed on the contest – becoming the first contestant in the history of X Factor to perform their own composition.
It’s Chico Time would go on and top the UK and Irish single charts for two weeks, knocking Madonna off the top of the charts. The song sold 140,500 units and was the fortieth highest selling single of the year.
To celebrate the twentieth anniversary of It’s Chico Time topping the charts, Zingo Bingo sat down with Chico.
Tell us about your experience on the X Factor
X Factor was the best experience ever for me. By performing on the show, and the platform the show gave me, it has allowed me to go on to do some amazing things – different TV shows, releasing music and some amazing charitable initiatives where I was able to raise huge sums of money for people that really needed it.
I’ve been in 17 different pantomimes; I toured the world with The Osmonds. I met some of my musical heroes – none of it would have been possible without the X Factor.
It was the greatest experience. When people talk to me about it, I always look at it and say I would do it all again in a heartbeat. It was amazing for me. It’s crazy to think that it was 21 years ago!
It was a show that defined the time in many ways
It was! I was on the second version of it, it was still finding its feet, and it had a rawness to it. It was real, it was new, it was exciting.
There were so many talented performers on the show that year. You had me, a former goat-herder from Morocco, a singing bin man, Andy Abraham, who had the voice of Stevie Wonder. Brenda Edwards who’s now on Loose women, Maria Lawson & Journey South. Fleur East, who would have an amazing career. And the eventual winner, Shayne Ward, he was like a British version of Justin Timberlake at the time.
The level of talent on the show was incredible. In terms of singing ability and entertainment, I think our show was up there with the best series of X Factor.
How did It’s Chico Time come about?
It was actually a song that was born out of a bad moment. I can remember reading something really negative about me in The Sun newspaper, and I was ready to walk away from the X Factor.
They ran a piece asking the question ‘Is this the most talentless person in the country, you decide’. I didn’t get it because all I’d experienced, bar a few comments from Simon, was love. Kids loved me. Mums loved me. Grans loved me. Even builders wanted a photo and an autograph on the street.
I phoned Sharon Osbourne and told her, I said I’m done. She was really supportive and said speak to my mentor Mark Hudson (a music producer who was part of Sharon’s team), and he convinced me to keep going – he was really supportive.
I started talking to Mark Hudson about how I was feeling, and he just said let’s turn this around with positivity. I said to him, “You can get delirious, if you take life too serious,” and he nodded, smiled and said: “It's Chico Time”. That is how the first shoots of the song came about.
We worked it up a bit more, sang it for Ozzy and Sharon for the first time, they loved it, Ozzy said it could be a number one single, and the rest was history.
Simon then heard it and suggested a couple of tweaks. He said I should perform it on the show. Everyone loved it.
It was released after the show finished, 20 years ago in Feb and knocked Madonna of the top spot. What was that like?
Honestly, I had dreams of climbing on top of Madonna as a boy, but I never thought they would come true! Talk about crazy. Madonna is a legend, and I knocked her off the top spot.
She is one of the greatest artists of all time. It’s amazing really, but it just shows that people really loved that song.
Can you tell us anything about Simon that people may not know about him?
When I come out of the X Factor, I didn't realise that he was kind of beating me up verbally on stage and criticising my performances for the camera, but he was absolutely playing a role of the nasty judge. He was the pantomime baddie – he added drama to the show!
The truth is that despite what he said or how he acted in front of the cameras, he absolutely loved me. He couldn’t have been nicer or more professional.
Ben Shepherd was trying to get me to say something negative about him on the X Factor, but I couldn’t. He was saying, don’t you think Simon’s comments about you were unfair… I said to him, listen, I may be many things, but a hypocrite, I'm not. I agree with Simon. And 99% of the time he's right. 1% of the time he's wrong. I just happened to be that 1%.
And then after I was eliminated, I went into his dressing room to say thank you for the opportunity, I’ve had a great time.
Simon then said to me, Chico, my dear boy, contrary to what you think or what the country thinks, I loved you from the first moment you walked into the show and thank you for making the show.
That was a huge moment for me. That is what Simon was doing on the X Factor, he was playing a role – he’s a pussycat away from the cameras.
There has been a lot of former contestants discussing the X Factor in the media recently, saying the show and Simon Cowell should have done more to protect them. What are your thoughts on that?
Do you know what? I can’t possibly even think of criticising Simon or the X Factor. For those that have, I wasn't there, so it’s really hard for me to form an opinion on individual cases.
I'd like to be Marvellous Marvin the mind reader, but I'll be honest with you, I haven't got a clue and I don't know. I can only speak for myself, but to be honest, some of these comments from some of the people that were on the show – who did well out of it – it has left me scratching my head. I don’t get it.
All I know is this. Nobody was forced to go on the show. Right, we are all self-governing, free-willed, sovereign beings. People went on the show of their own volition. People wanted to become superstars, or they wanted to be famous.
For some, it worked out great. For some, it didn't work out great. I can only speak for myself. For me, it worked out great.
I'm really sorry if somebody had a bad experience, but that wasn't my experience. I can only say thank you very much, Simon. Thank you very much, X Factor. Thank you very much to all my beloved friends that were on the show with me and are still my friends now.
It’s not nice to see Simon Cowell taking heat. I can only speak for myself, but to me he was a good man & treated me very well. He gave us a platform. What we chose to do with that platform was always up to us. It’s a show. It’s nothing personal. It’s the music business.
Artists must understand that it’s a business. The ones that last must know the business side of things.
Tell us about the relationship that you had with your mentor Sharon Osbourne
I adore Sharon, and I adored Ozzy. Both of them were so kind and generous towards me.
They both gave me so much confidence and support, and if it wasn’t for Ozzy, then I don’t think I would have had the career I had.
After the Judges’ House auditions, Ozzy came out and really championed me. By getting that backing from such an icon; a music legend, it made everyone who may have doubted me think, if Chico is good enough for Ozzy Osbourne, if Ozzy believes in him, then maybe he does have something.
I called Sharon mamma and I still think of her like that. She was my telly mum – she would have done anything for her acts. She really cared.
I owe a great deal to them. I really do. Everything that's transpired since then was because of them. And they're the real deal.
When I did that audition at Sharon’s, tore off my shirt and jumped into the pool, Ozzy applauded. He really championed me.
I was kind of used to taking my clothes off. Before the X Factor I as an exotic dancer, so I thought let’s hit them with the musical, let’s hit them with the physical, and I jumped right in after singing the ‘take your clothes off line’ from Living La Vida Loca. I knew how to put on a show.
I genuinely loved Ozzy. He was so kind. Wherever you are brother, rock on.
You’ve got real affection for Sharon and Ozzy. Can you share a funny story about that time at her house that people may not know?
When I got to Sharon’s house in LA, I was looking around, and it felt smaller than it looked on TV.
I wanted to have a tour of the place. So, we’re walking around the house. I was expecting dungeons and bats, but it wasn’t like that at all. It was lovely.
Kelly’s room was all pink, there were scented candles all through the house…
It was quite a spiritual place. There was a huge bible, it must have been a couple of hundred years old sat in front of a beautiful mosaic.
As we’re walking up the staircase, I noticed all these black and white pictures of dogs hanging on the wall with little crosses.
I said to Sharon, if you don't mind me asking, these beautiful pictures of all these dogs, why are they on there in black and white? And why do they have crosses? And Ozzy went, well, he's f*****g dead. This one has been run over. This one always used to s**t all over the house – they’re all f*****g gone, but we love them.
It was one of the most surrealist moments in the world. It was beautiful. I absolutely adored Ozzy because like I said, he was really instrumental in the success I had. And he genuinely did like me.
Sharon Osbourne recently teased on social media that she was going to move to Birmingham and run for a seat on the council. Would Sharon be a good leader – could she throw her hat in for PM?
Sharon Osbourne in politics? You know what, I think she is just what this country needs.
Sharon would absolutely put everyone straight; I can tell you that.
Mama is the nicest person in the world, but you wouldn’t want to mess with her.
There is that side of her where she's like, no nonsense. And I think we need a little bit of no nonsense in leadership, because, you know, things have gone a little bit snowflakey, let's just say that.
I think she would be the perfect candidate for Birmingham council. I think she would be the perfect candidate for PM too.
I'd love her to be a Prime Minister. Oh my, can you imagine? Ladies and gentlemen, vote for Sharon.
She’s got my vote.
The X Factor is currently on hiatus. Is there a place for the competition in these times? How does it need to adapt to remain relevant?
Look, we are always going to need entertainment. And I don't care what anyone says, the X Factor is up there, its second to none. There's nothing like it. However, times change, times move on, and you've got to move with the times.
I think they've got to restructure it. In a way that fits the new demographics and the social media world.
I've got a really good idea on how to fix the show for these times, but I can’t tell you what it is. I can only share that with Simon!
Simon, if you want to know how to save the X Factor and make it relevant for today, get me on as a judge! I can revamp it and give you something extraordinary. And it will be as big or bigger than the X Factor was twenty years ago. 100%.
Would you be up for appearing in the forthcoming X Factor documentary?
I’ve seen the reports that Simon’s going to be involved. Would I like to be involved? Absolutely. I’ve only got good things to say about my time on the show.
I actually watched Simon’s new documentary that he did for Netflix, The Next Act. It was great.
What advice would you give to Simon Cowell’s new boy band December 10?
They are all such young guys, but you know what, I really like the look of them. I think they all have something special – and I’m pleased that they are in a group because they can look after and support each other.
Listen up boys, life is about to get pretty crazy. When that happens, you must have good people around you because your life is going to change rapidly. When people start treating you differently, some people start to believe the hype.
My advice to these boys is keep people around you who are always honest, people who give it you straight and don’t tell you things because you want to hear them.
Stay grounded. Stay humble. Enjoy it.
The other thing they need is original material to perform. Simon, don’t give these boys covers – nobody wants to hear covers anymore. The music industry has moved on so much since 2005.
Give them good, original songs. Kids will relate to them.
Are you working on any new music at the moment?
I've got an albums worth of material in the tank. And as a matter of fact, last year, I had a number one dance track. My track was number one around the world, but it was recorded and put out under a pseudonym because, and this is a shame, if people in the industry knew that it was a Chico record, they would have dismissed it without even playing it.
So, I recorded a reggae influenced dance tune that smashed the charts globally. It was number one in the dance charts around the world; it’s quite a funny story really.
I played this song to a music producer and he loved it, was desperate to know who the artist was.
I told him he was Jamaican, but doesn’t want the limelight, wants to fly under the radar. He was like, oh man, I'd love to get in touch with this person. I went, do you know, I know somebody who knows him, you know.
He said, really? I went, yeah, yeah, yeah. I left it a few weeks. He goes, man, I'm loving this track. How can we get hold of him? So I went, can we meet again? So we had some dim sum, and I went, it's me. He went, oh, f**k off!
I'm telling you, that's me. He goes, who wrote it? I said, I wrote it. I sang it. That's me. He said you sound like Bob Marley. I went, that's why I said, he's a Jamaican artist.
I’m a Jafakean!
And he went, great, let's not tell anyone. And I've not told anyone who it is up till now and I'm not going to tell anyone. We had number ones in the dance charts all over the globe.
If you could collaborate with any artist on a duet, dead or alive, who would it be and why?
I’ve got two people in mind. Michael Jackson from an entertainment point of view, because I think he's the greatest entertainer that's ever lived. But I would have to say Bob Marley.
Where I am at now, spiritually, the kind of music that I'm making has got a reggae-esque kind of feel to it. And I’m all about the message, the spiritual message.
For me, it would have to be Bob Marley. If I had to pick one, I would say Bob Marley, because his message was timeless, one heart, one love.
You’re in rude health and you’re really passionate about health, fitness and wellbeing.
The X Factor allowed me to look at and develop different fitness brands and it’s something I’m hugely passionate about.
I set up Block Fit classes across the country, and at the moment I’m running HU Breath retreats all over the world.
How we help people improve their physicality and spirituality through fitness and meditation is something I’m really proud of.
Guiding people, taking away their fear and saying, get educated, not indoctrinated and understand how your body works. Because once you know how to connect with it from an immune system point of view, alkalize the body and understand that healing can take place when you arm your body with the right nutrients, with the right essential oils, and with the right protocols.
Scripture says, whoever saves a life saves all humanity. And whoever kills a life, kills all humanity. As the great Bob Marley would say, one love, one heart.
What else have you been up to recently?
I’ve written my first book called Secret 19: Cancer questions worth asking. What I saw, what I learned and what you should know.
It’s an Amazon best-seller that is all about helping people that have loved ones in their life suffering from cancer.
